Decreasing Test Anxiety: A View from a Special Education School SUMMARY doesn’t simply evaporate once the tests A special school in are done. The lingering effect of anxiety upper Manhattan serves a distinct Test anxiety is sometimes spills over into other classroom work population of high-need atypical learn- an unintended and further inhibits effective learning for consequence influencing ers, including students who present on a population of students already encoun- our current school the autistic spectrum and those who climate as states and tering obstacles to their educational exhibit any of the array of conditions districts rely more and development, such as an inability to classified under the diagnosis of emo- more on the use of learn that cannot be explained by intel- testing data to drive tional disturbance (ED). At the heart of lectual, sensory, or health factors. Under decision making. These this diagnosis are behaviors and social normal circumstances these students authors discuss the deficits that make test-taking even under atmosphere of testing and have an inability to build or maintain sat- ideal conditions difficult (Roughan & its impact on students’ isfactory interpersonal relationships with emotional well-being. Hadwin, 2011), to say nothing of test peers and teachers and demonstrate They also suggest some situations that require these students to inappropriate types of behavior or feel- practical ways to help sit and focus for the two to three hours students and teachers ings. Many of these same students are a day necessary to complete many of cope with anxiety that characterized as having a general perva- these instruments. When this difficult results from the pressures sive mood of unhappiness or depression of mandated annual time demand is further compounded that tends to develop physical symptoms testing. by tests that must be administered over or fears associated with personal or several days, or even weeks, the poten- school problems. On test days, incidents tial for acting out and/or shutting down of students ripping up tests, attempting behaviors on the part of ED students is to run out of their classrooms, or just greatly increased. putting their heads down and complete- An additional challenge for administra- ly giving up, are commonplace and on tors, staff and students is that the anxiety the rise as tests now reflect the new, produced in this testing environment more demanding Common Core Learning Standards. Barry Daub is principal of P.S. M811, Mickey Mantle School. Brian Joyce, a member of the United Federation of Teachers, is a school social worker at P.S. M811. Educator’s Voice n Volume VII n Page 64 Barry Daub, P.S. M811, Mickey Mantle School Brian Joyce, United Federation of Teachers Confronted with this pronounced test social needs, demonstrated greater taking anxiety, and the classroom dis- general and specific improvement than The lingering ruptions created by inappropriate did their ED peers served in self-con- effect of anxiety behaviors, it was time to put our heads tained classrooms in the general educa- together and figure out how we could tion environment. Mattison attributed spills over into support our students and staff through this “stability” to the “comprehensive other classroom this incredibly challenging process and and intensive levels of both educational create a learning environment that pro- and mental health interventions” char- work and further vides, Social and Emotional Learning acteristic of the self-contained school inhibits effective (SEL), including instruction in self- (Mattison, 2011, p. 31). management of challenging behaviors, learning for a positive behavior supports, and social This self-contained school environ- population of skills development. ment places the psychological and physical well-being of the students at students already the center of all planning and curricu- encountering lum efforts. In keeping with much of Emotional Disturbance and the the current research on effective edu- obstacles to Challenge of Meeting Students’ cational delivery to ED populations, Social, Emotional and Academic their educational Needs the emphasis is on creating a context for social and emotional learning. As development. Mattison (2011) observed that approx- Adams (2013) noted, the discourse imately 40 percent of American stu- around definitions of SEL “can some- dents classified with ED (roughly times seem frivolous,” but in fact there 200,000 nationwide) are taught in self- are “real implications with regards to contained classrooms or specialized creating a shared understanding and schools; many ED students experience framework around a student’s growth” both school settings over the course of (p. 107), particularly when that stu- their educational careers. While greater dent has special learning needs. investigation of the strengths and dif- ferences of these educational settings is Our staff and administration have indicated, Mattison reported that ED adopted an SEL framework similar to students in specialized schools, despite that used in school districts in Alaska, having more intensive emotional and continued on following page Educator’s Voice n Volume VII n Page 65 Decreasing Test Anxiety: A View from a Special Education School Learning to Illinois, and Minnesota, that priori- preventing and managing unwanted tizes active listening and feedback feelings and conflict. By working identify and label across all school constituencies together to build the charter, “every- emotions is a (Adams, 2013). Consistent with a one establishes common goals and focus on social and emotional learn- holds each other accountable for cre- critical step ing, administrators and staff have ating the positive climate they envi- toward been working to incorporate ele- sion” (Yale Center. ., n.d., para. 2). ments of the RULER program: cultivating Recognizing, Understanding, The classroom charters are revisited emotional Labeling, Expressing, and weekly to ensure that all members of Regulating, developed by the Yale the class remain on the proverbial intelligence. Center for Emotional Intelligence. “same page” of expectations and RULER identifies four “Anchors of agreement. The RULER program Emotional Intelligence”: Charter, defines mood meter as a practice for Mood Meter, Meta-Moment and identifying and labeling feelings as Blueprint. These anchors are the they’re experienced, as this is a criti- fundamental RULER tools that cal step in learning to appropriately enhance individuals’ ability to under- regulate those feelings. The teachers stand and regulate their own emo- have developed and share a practice tions and to consider and empathize of daily check-ins with their students, with how others are feeling. The modeling and reinforcing the use of anchors also foster the kind of accurate and targeted language. As healthy emotional climate essential to the RULER website explains: personal growth. “Learning to identify and label emo- tions is a critical step toward cultivat- The school’s evolving SEL program ing emotional intelligence. Using the has effectively incorporated the char- mood meter, students and educators ter and mood meter anchors, in our become more mindful of how their classrooms. Each classroom creates emotions change throughout the day its own charter, a collaborative docu- and how their emotions in turn affect ment that helps establish a support- their actions. They develop the self- ive and productive learning awareness they need to inform their environment. It is created by mem- choices. Students learn to expand bers of the community, outlining their emotional vocabulary, replacing how they aspire to treat each other. basic feeling words with more Together, the community describes sophisticated terms. They graduate how they want to feel at school, the from using words like ‘ok’ or ‘fine’ to behaviors that foster those feelings, using words like ‘alienated’ and and pro-social guidelines for ‘hopeless,’ or ‘tranquil’ and ‘serene.’ Educator’s Voice n Volume VII n Page 66 By teaching subtle distinctions Sample Classroom Charter between similar feelings, the mood meter empowers students and educa- tors to recognize the full scope of their emotional lives and address all feelings more effectively.” (Yale Center…, n.d., para. 3). Using SEL to Battle Student Test Anxiety The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs established Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) to provide concrete guidance to schools and staff serving special needs stu- dents. PBIS is a systems approach to establishing the social culture and natural group to embrace this chal- behavioral supports needed for all chil- lenge. We charged the team to work dren in a school to achieve both social closely with our teachers and leverage and academic success. PBIS is not a our established schoolwide SEL and packaged curriculum, but an approach PBIS initiatives together in devising that defines core elements that can be ways to counter the mounting student achieved through a variety of strate- test anxiety. gies. Recognizing we needed to arrive at some supports to help motivate our One example of this effort was using students to face their social and emo- the existing mood meter practice, tional deficits, and to alleviate our stu- which students and teachers were dents’ high levels of test anxiety and already familiar with, to explore and corresponding negative behaviors, we acknowledge students’ feelings about looked to the school’s own Universal taking these standardized tests. They PBIS Team, staffed with a cross sec- were encouraged to identify their spe- tion of dedicated teachers, counselors, cific concerns and to distinguish anger and paraprofessionals. The core of the from fear, frustration from boredom, Universal PBIS Team’s mission and so on. The charter component of involves advocating for our students’ our SEL programming was also academic success and social emotional employed by the Universal PBIS well-being, so we knew this was a continued on following page Educator’s Voice n Volume VII n Page 67 Decreasing Test Anxiety: A View from a Special Education School Team and our teachers to this same to parents to inform them that we end.