ABSTRACT
How often have you been in the middle of a class and heard someone ask, “Is this going to be on the test?” Think about the ramifications of the teacher’s response. If the teacher says “no,” then the class has an excuse for shutting down and not participating because students know that they will not be held accountable for the information. However, a response of “yes” tells the students that they will need to know the material to succeed in the class, and the message is to stay alert and keep working. In other words, the teacher’s response sends out a message about what is important-what is valued-in the classroom. And, after all, isn’t that what the student is really asking? “Is this going to be on the test?” loosely translates to, “Is this important enough for me to have to worry about?” Ideally, virtually everything we do in the classroom should be “tested” because if students didn’t need to know it, the material was probably not worth spending time on in the first place. As many experts on assessment have maintained, we should not be upset about students asking whether something is on the test; they are simply doing what is natural for human beings-determining whether mastering a particular skill should be a priority.
