NCLB standardized tests

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm a fan of standardized testing or not. To be honest, I know I'm not. Who likes testing? Nevertheless, I'd like my kids to do well. I'm not a big fan of last-minute test prep are spending a lot of time worrying about test-taking tricks. I'm more a believer in the idea that kids' scores will reflect their skills so they should build skills and then not worry about the tests.

I found an educational website that has the same mentality that I do. They talk only about building fundamental skills, never about test taking tricks. and they have useful info for most states nclb stuff. Here....

Standardized Test by State

State	Standardized Test	Abbrev.	State	Standardized	Abbrev.
Alabama	Alabama Reading and Mathematics Tests	ARMT	Montana	Montana Comprehensive Assessment System	MontCAS
Alaska	Terra Nova	-	Nebraska	Nebraska Content Standards	L.E.A.R.N.S.
Arizona	Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards	AIMS	Nevada	Nevada Proficiency Examination Program	NPEP
Arkansas	Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program	ACTAAP	New Hampshire	New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program	NHEIAP
California	Standardized Testing and Reporting	STAR	New Jersey	New Jersey’s Core Curriculum Content Standards	-
Colorado	Colorado Student Assessment Program	CSAP	New Mexico	New Mexico Statewide Articulated Assessment Program	-
Connecticut	Connecticut Academic Performance Test	CAPT	New York	New York State Testing Program	-
Delaware	Delaware Student Testing Program	DSTP	North Carolina	North Carolina Standardized Test	-
Florida	Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test	FCAT	North Dakota	North Dakota’s State Assessment	-
Georgia	Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests	CRCT	Ohio	Ohio Graduation Tests	OGT
Hawaii	Hawaii Content and Performance Standards	HCPS II	Oklahoma	Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests	OCCT
Idaho	Idaho State Achievement Tests	ISAT	Oregon	Oregon Statewide Assessment System	-
Illinois	Illinois Standards Achievement Test	ISAT	Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania System of School Assessment	PSSA
Indiana	Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress	ISTEP+	Rhode Island	Rhode Island State Assessment Program	-
Iowa	Iowa Test of Basic Skills	ITBS	South Carolina	South Carolina Statewide Assessment Program	-
Kansas	Kansas Assessment System	-	South Dakota	Dakota State Test of Educational Progress	STEP
Kentucky	Commonwealth Accountability Testing System	CATS	Tennessee	Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program	TCAP
Louisiana	LEAP Alternate Assessment	LAA	Texas	Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills	TAKS
Maine	Maine Educational Assessment	MEA	Utah	Utah Basic Skills Competency Test	USBCT
Maryland	Maryland School Assessment	MSA	Vermont	Vermont Comprehensive Assessment System	CAS
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System	MCAS	Virginia	Virginia Standards of Learning	SOL
Michigan	Michigan Educational Assessment Program	MEAP	Washington	Washington State Assessment of Student Learning	WASL
Minnesota	Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments	MCAs	West Virginia	West Virginia Educational Standards Test	WESTEST
Mississippi	Mississippi Subject Area Testing Program	MSATP	Wisconsin	Wisconsin’s Model Academic Standards	-
Missouri	Missouri Department of Education Standardized Tests	-	Wyoming	Wyoming Comprehensive Assessment System	WyCAS

SpellingCity.com is amazing

I just found and am really enjoying this great vocabulary and spelling website. I'm using it to help my kids get back into the academic mind set this August.

I found their resources section particularly useful:

Contractions - You can build lists using words like: I’ll, we’ll, shouldn’t, and they’re. There are lists of what contractions SpellingCity.com supports. Abbreviations - You can build lists using abbreviations such as titles (Mr. Dr, Mrs.), measurements (oz., pt, qt.), and geographic terms (Blvd., Pkwy., and Rd.) Possessives - SpellingCity has added some sample possessive forms of nouns, both plural and singular, for spelling and grammar practice. For example: aunt, aunts, aunt's, aunts', boy, boys, boy's, boys', lady, ladies, lady's, ladies', doctor, doctors, doctor's, doctors'. As background, SpellingCity has always included both the singular and plural forms of nouns and the the forms of verbs (ex play, playing, played). What's the Most Popular? Dolch Words - This collection of Dolch or Sight words is perennially useful. There is both background information and lists ready-to-use. Compound Words - Kids love studying compound words. Teachers love teaching them. Does your school have a Compound Word Day? It should! Sound Alike Words or Homophones - All students and many adults benefit from practice distinguishing the right spelling and usage of its and it's; they're, there, and their; and to, too, and two. Word Confusion - This article reviews homophones, homonyms, homographs, and synonyms. Need a quick reminder? Here it is. The Heavy Stuff: Research and Articles on Spelling SpellingCity.com has two articles on the importance of spelling to building successful readers and writers: The Importance of Spelling and Research on Spelling Automaticity.