An essential item on a principal's checklist for achievement tests is to train new teachers. Principals should meet with new teachers individually or by grade level to discuss strategies for preparing students for exams. Principals should provide new teachers with literature about the school's initiatives or strategies to improve test scores, so that they have materials to reference as issues or questions arise. Further, principals should encourage new faculty to consult administrators or other veteran teachers if they have questions or problems implementing initiatives.
Principals should review the previous year's test scores to identify problem areas. Specifically, they should target teachers whose students, on the whole, scored low, as well as students that scored at the lowest levels on achievement tests. They should also assess the data to identify other problem trends, such as significantly lower verbal scores.
It is critical for principals to respond to data of previous year's scores. They should meet with teachers whose students performed poorly to review practices and policies to improve scores and to emphasize the urgency of achievement tests. Importantly, principals should meet with these teachers well in advance of tests so that they have time to adopt new practices; they should also periodically check in with teachers to ascertain about student progress and to confirm that policies and procedures are being implemented. If necessary, a principal may need to observe the teacher in class to evaluate instructional methods.
An important item on the principal's checklist is to contact parents about achievement tests so that parents know in advance of test dates and what actions they should take at home to prepare students in the weeks and days prior to the test and on the actual test day. In a letter to parents, the principal should encourage parents to mark the calendar with test dates and to encourage responsible test preparation behavior. For instance, parents should be advised to make sure students get a good night's sleep and a nutritious, well-rounded breakfast on the day of the exam. For students who performed poorly on previous years' exams, the principal should send another letter cautioning parents about the importance of the achievement test and potential penalties for students that do not achieve a certain score.
Importantly, principals should schedule a school-wide practice test day. On this day, all teachers should use class time to administer a practice test. The practice test may be designed by the teacher or provided by the state, if practice tests are made available. Importantly, teachers should be instructed to simulate the environment of the actual test day. Students must observe the rules that the school will enforce during the real exam. Principals should advise teachers to score practice tests in time to provide feedback to students -- and parents -- about areas of strength and areas for improvement. Teachers should also use class-wide score results to inform instruction. For instance, if students score poorly on analytical assessment, teachers should focus on this area and, if necessary, implement new methods of instruction that may be more effective.