Soon after the time you read this article, eighth grade students at the Middle School in my school district will have completed the State Basic Standards reading test given each year about this time. Yes today, February 6th, as I write this, is the big day. Students in our public schools are required to pass this test in order to graduate from high school. Any time this kind of requirement is placed on students, there are those who rise up in protest for one reason or another. This is one test, however, that really has made teachers, students and parents focus on some very important skills and strategies that everyone should be able to use. They are skills that really are essential for understanding a large percentage of what we read throughout our lives.

Appropriately, the test students completed this morning, if similar to the format of the past four years, was made up of newspaper and magazine articles. Important skills such as understanding main idea and supporting details, identifying the author's point of view, using context to determine word meaning, knowing the difference between fact and opinion and determing inferred meaning are measured many times throughout the test.

This past week I went into each eighth grade language arts class to reinforce what teachers have been teaching our students for years and to help ease their anxiety as they anticipated this high-stakes test. I told the students that this test was not one containing big surprises. Every skill that would be tested is one that they should already know. There would be nothing on the test that was useless, that would never be needed again. This test gets right at the heart of what we all need to know and do to be successful as readers and learners.

As we discussed some simple preparations that would insure the students' best performance, it was exciting to hear many of them showing good understanding of and confidence in what I knew they would need to succeed. Certainly, when the test is taken and the results are in , we will be pleased over strong performance on the part of many. But more importantly, we will know that each student who passed the test is well on the way to being able to handle whatever printed material may come along in life. Confidence in knowing that you can get the author's intended meaning out of any print that comes your way goes a long way in helping to build the self-assurance needed for many of life's challenges.

In reading the list of nonfiction reading skills above, you may be wondering how adept you are at using some of them. As we continue this series in understanding the skills and strategies that a good reader must be able to use, we will look specifically at those on the list. In thinking about the reading development of your pupils or children, do not be restricted to this list. If, from your observations of your child or your students in the workplace, you feel there is a skill upon which you need to place a greater emphasis on in preparation for reaing success, please do what you can so the result will be that we all do a better job of preparing our kids for life.