US/Global 
CANFree Reproducibles
De-Stress the Test
Brain-Friendly Strategies to Prepare Students for High-Stakes Assessments
Acquire actionable steps you can take throughout the school year to alleviate student test anxiety and create brain-friendly classrooms full of focus and learning. Understand what causes testing anxiety and discover how to implement social-emotional learning strategies in the classroom to help prepare students mentally, emotionally, and physically for high-stakes assessments.
Benefits
- Understand the negative effects tests can have on students, teachers, and parents.
- Help students develop social-emotional learning skills and a growth mindset.
- Use formative assessments to accelerate learning and build students’ confidence.
- Implement mindfulness strategies in the classroom to mitigate student stress and anxiety.
- Learn long- and short-term practical methods for ensuring students’ mental, emotional, and physical readiness for tests.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1: High-Stakes Tests and Stress
Chapter 1: The Meaning of High-Stakes Tests
Chapter 2: The Stress of High-Stakes Testing
Part 2: Stress Prevention and Management Strategies
Chapter 3: Body- and Brain-Friendly Classrooms and Testing Environments
Chapter 4: The Development of Student Agency Through Self-Efficacy, Growth Mindset, and Perseverance
Chapter 5: Mindfulness Practices for the Classroom
Part 3: Ways to Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests
Chapter 6: Feedback and Formative Assessments
Chapter 7: Academic Vocabulary Instruction
Chapter 8: Test Prep for Students and Teachers
Epilogue
Appendix: Reproducibles
REPRODUCIBLES
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 8
Appendix
- Personal-Praise Statements and Process-Praise Statements
- Activity to Evaluate Inner Thoughts
- Classroom Poster on Failure
- Critical Academic Vocabulary
- Practicing Positive Self-Talk
- Can You Follow Instructions?
- Top-Ten Test-Taking Tips
- Planning to De-Stress the Test
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
BOOKS
- Anderson, J. (2021). The agile learner: Where growth mindset, habits of mind, and practice unite. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Marzano, R. J. (2017). The new art and science of teaching. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Marzano, R. J. (2020). Teaching basic, advanced, and academic vocabulary: A comprehensive framework for elementary instruction. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Resources.
- Marzano, R. J., Norford, J. S., & Ruyle, M. (2019). The new art and science of classroom assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Marzano, R. J., & Simms, J. A. (2013). Vocabulary for the Common Core. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Resources.
- Mason, C., Rivers Murphy, M. M., & Jackson, Y. (2018). Mindfulness practices: Cultivating heart centered communities where students focus and flourish. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Mason, C., Rivers Murphy, M. M., & Jackson, Y. (2020). Mindful school communities: The five Cs of nurturing heart centered learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Muhammad, A. (2015). Overcoming the achievement gap trap: Liberating mindsets to effect change. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Simms, J. A., & Marzano, R. J. (2019). The new art and science of teaching reading. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
WEBSITE
- ADHD data
- Brain Breaks Bank
- Common Core State Standards
- Crossword-puzzle generator
- Edcite
- Education Corner’s “Test Taking Strategies”
- Enrichment Therapies
- Five breathing techniques for students
- Five-minute breathing exercise
- Five minutes of breathing for relaxation
- Flipgrid
- Flubaroo
- Foldable booklet instructions
- Google Forms
- Healthy mind platter
- Inspiration
- Jennifer Findlay’s Online Testing Strategies
- K12 Reader
- Khan Academy
- MindMeister
- One minute of triangle breathing
- Padlet
- Poll Everywhere
- Psychology Today’s “10 Failsafe Test-Taking Tips”
- Research Collaborating Lab at University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning questionnaires
- RULER
- Screencastify
- Sight Words
- Smarter Balanced
- Socrative
- Ten-minute resonant-breathing exercise
- The Test Taking Tips
- Tribes Learning Community
- Vocabulary builder
