As standardized testing season approaches, many teachers feel caught between two competing goals: building authentic literacy skills and preparing students for high-stakes assessments. But what if the best test preparation is simply excellent reading instruction?
The truth is standardized tests pose genuine challenges that many students face as readers and writers. When we address these challenges through strategic, year-round instruction, we're not just preparing students for tests—we're building flexible, confident readers and writers. And in the days and weeks leading up to the test, we can draw on authentic reading strategies and teaching structures to prepare students for the genre-switching, high-complexity texts and challenging questions they'll encounter.
Understanding the Real Challenges
Standardized literacy tests don't just assess whether students can read—they also evaluate whether students can navigate complex formats, sustain attention, think critically across diverse texts, and articulate their thinking under pressure. These are real-life literacy skills that require year-round attention, explicit instruction, and practice.
Consider what typically trips students up on test day. Sometimes students struggle when they encounter unfamiliar academic vocabulary in questions, face text structures they haven't learned to navigate, or need to cite evidence in ways they haven't been explicitly taught. The good news? These are all teachable skills.
A Strategiec Approach to Test-Taking
Building Academic Language Fluency
When tests ask students to 'summarize,' 'analyze,' or 'cite evidence,' they're using a specific academic register. Rather than teaching these terms in isolation during test prep week, weave them into your daily instruction all year long. For example, during read-aloud lessons, say 'turn and summarize' instead of 'tell your partner what happened.' During shared writing, prompt students to 'cite evidence that supports your thinking.' This consistent, low-stakes practice helps students internalize academic language, so it feels natural when they encounter it on test day.
The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 offers 24 strategies specifically designed to help students comprehend vocabulary and figurative language (Goal 11). Rather than assuming students will pick up these skills through exposure, teach strategies that help them unlock unfamiliar words and phrases through context, word part analysis, and morphonology.
Developing Reading Stamina and Flexibility
Standardized tests often require students to pivot quickly from narrative to informational text, from poetry to primary sources. This flexibility doesn't happen by accident. Strategy 2.9 from The Reading Strategies Book 2.0, 'reading with a purpose in mind,' helps students quickly identify what kind of text they're encountering and adjust their approach accordingly. When students can recognize genre at a glance and call up relevant strategies, they navigate tests with confidence rather than confusion.
Building stamina is equally important. This free Engagement Inventory helps you assess how long students can sustain focus during reading. Once you understand their stamina levels, teach strategies that help students recognize when they've zoned out and how to get back on track through retelling, rereading, or taking purposeful breaks.
Teaching Evidence-Based Thinking
One of the most critical test skills is supporting ideas with textual evidence. Shared writing is invaluable for teaching this skill. During shared writing lessons, model the entire process: read the prompt carefully, identify what it’s asking, plan your response, gather relevant evidence from the text, and construct a clear answer. Make your thinking visible as you demonstrate how to connect evidence back to claims.
The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 provides 12 specific strategies for writing about reading (Goal 13). Strategy 13.12 helps students organize their thinking and cite evidence effectively. The Writing Strategies Book offers additional support, particularly strategy 6.10, which helps students focus on what the question is truly asking and structure their response to match. And Teaching Writing in Small Groups offers support (lesson templates, videos, and more) for planning and delivering effective shared writing lessons.
Addressing the Knowledge Gap
Here's an uncomfortable truth: while tests aim to assess reading comprehension, they often advantage students with broader background knowledge. A student reading about the Revolutionary War or climate change will comprehend more easily, and respond more accurately, if they already know something about these topics.
When working to build knowledge, the answer isn't to abandon strategy instruction—it's to recognize that strategies are an essential part of a complete lesson. Every lesson—whether it's a read-aloud, shared reading, or close reading—should build both literacy skills and knowledge and vocabulary. Strategies such as 2.21, 'Prime Yourself with Prior Knowledge,' and 6.7, 'Add Text Clues and Background Knowledge to Get Ideas,' (from The Reading Strategies Book 2.0) help students connect what they already know to new information in the text.
Knowledge building should happen in every subject, all year long. The more content-rich instruction students receive through science, social studies, and read-aloud lessons, the better equipped they'll be to comprehend passages on tests about those same topics.
The Right Kind of Practice
As test time approaches, examine sample questions from your specific assessment and identify what type of thinking each requires. Does it ask about the main idea? Character motivation? Vocabulary in context? Once you’ve identified the question types, turn to the relevant chapter in The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and select a few targeted strategies to teach.
For example, if your test regularly includes vocabulary questions, you might teach strategy 11.20, which helps students get 'in the ballpark' of a word's meaning and eliminate obviously wrong answers. If questions about complex sentence structure trip students up, turn to The Writing Strategies Book's chapter on grammar and syntax, particularly strategies 9.22, 9.24, and 9.25, which help students analyze complex sentences as readers and construct them as writers.
The Bottom Line
Excellent test preparation doesn't mean drilling students on practice passages. It means teaching the authentic literacy skills that tests attempt to measure: comprehending academic language, reading flexibly across genres, citing evidence thoughtfully, building knowledge, and sustaining engagement with challenging texts.
When we teach these skills strategically throughout the year, students arrive at test day not just prepared for a particular format, but genuinely more capable as readers and writers. And that's preparation that lasts far beyond any single test.
For hundreds of additional strategies to strengthen your students’ reading and writing skills, explore The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and The Writing Strategies Book.
Jennifer Serravallo is the author ofThe New York Times' bestselling The Reading Strategies Book 2.0 and The Writing Strategies Book. These and some of her other titles have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, and Chinese. Her popular books and resources help teachers make goal-directed, responsive, explicit strategy instruction doable in every classroom. Her newest titles are The Reading Strategies Book 2.0; Teaching Writing in Small Groups; A Teacher’s Guide to Reading Conferences, and the assessment and teaching resource Complete Comprehension for Fiction and Nonfiction.
Jen is a frequently invited speaker at national and regional conferences. She and her team of literacy specialists travel throughout the US and Canada to provide full-day workshops and to work with teachers and students in classrooms. She and her team are also experienced online educators who regularly offer live webinar series and full-day online workshops.
Jen began her career in education as an NYC public school teacher. Now as a consultant, she has spent the last twenty+ years helping teachers across the country create literacy classrooms where students are joyfully engaged, and the instruction is meaningfully individualized to students' goals. Jen served as a member of Parents Magazine Board of Advisors for education and literacy, and is on the NYC Reads Advisory Council as the city works to bring Science of Reading, Writing, and Learning-based practices to every classroom.
Jen holds a BA from Vassar College and an MA from Teachers College, where she has also taught graduate and undergraduate classes.
Learn more about Jen and her work at Hein.pub/serravallo, on Twitter @jserravallo, or Instagram @jenniferserravallo.
