Why PreTest?

A pretest is an assessment that teachers give students prior to teaching any concepts. My students complete a pretest on the first day of class as soon as I discuss my rules and pocedures. A pretest tells teachers the level of their students' skills and gives teachers a good indication of the areas in which students are weak.

I give my students a similar test that is comparable in difficulty to the Mississippi English II Subject Area Test. Students will have to learn the material sooner or later, and the sooner they see the type of questions they will be asked, the better off they will be.

There are many reasons to give students a pretest including:

1. It tells teachers what concepts their students need to work on.
2. It serves as a baseline so that you can show students how much they learned during the class.
3. It shows parents and students that the teacher was effective (or ineffective).
4. It can get teachers out of a bind if they are hit with a failure to educate lawsuit
5. It serves as documentation on the teacher's part
6. It exposes students to the type of material they will learn over the duration of the course. In some cases, a pre-test will get the attention of some students who may think they can just pass the class while doing nothing other than showing up. Some students realize the material on the pre-test is hard, and that in order to pass, they are going to have to buckle down, study diligently, and work hard.
7. It shows students that you are serious about teaching. When you present students with a "test" on the first, day, it sends a message.
8. It sets the tone of your classroom for the coming term, and helps you may avoid those rough starts.

A pretest does assess students on concepts that they do not know. So, in a sense, a pretest is unfair, but no one said you have to grade it. I do not tell my students that I do not grade their pretest. In fact, I hand grade it and assign a numerical grade, but I do not record it in my gradebook.