Soon students throughout Utah will begin taking RISE and Aspire Plus, those end-of-year exams that show how much students have learned over the course of the year.

Why do schools test? What do the results mean, and why should students and parents care? Tests are a sign of what’s working in the classroom and what can be done differently.

Tests give parents a measure of their child’s learning, which, along with grades, help answer the question: Is my child making progress? But did you also know that students’ performance today can predict how well they’ll do tomorrow? The

Utah Aspire Plus test, which is administered in high school, is free of charge, and a great way to see what students need to practice before tackling college-entrance exams like the ACT and SAT.

Practice for year-end tests is the instruction students receive throughout the school year—the skills and knowledge they acquire each day. There are a few things, however, that families can do to prepare for test day at home:

• Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep and eats a healthy breakfast.
• Make the morning of testing as relaxing as possible by arriving to school on time.
• Encourage children to focus and pace themselves without rushing. It’s important to take your time, and read each question carefully.
• Remind children that if the test questions seem hard, that means they’re doing well. The RISE, for grades 3-8, is computer adaptive, which means it adapts to the examinee’s abilities by proposing harder questions when a student gets something correct, and easier questions when the student gives a wrong answer.
• Remind kids that they’ve worked hard all year in class. Now is their chance to show how much they’ve learned. #Don’tStress #JustDoYourBest

Read more at canyonsdistrict.org.