Book excerpt: When he was a student struggling to concentrate on dreadfully boring passages of standardized reading tests, Charles Fuhrken remembers thinking to himself, 'Who writes this stuff?' He had no idea that one day it would be him. ' Fuhrken has spent years working as a writer for several major testing companies, and he believes that what he's learned about testing could be very usefuleven liberatingfor teachers interested in teaching effective reading strategies as well as preparing students for reading tests. In What Every Elementary Teacher Needs to Know About Reading Tests (From Someone Who Has Written Them), Fuhrken' takes the mystery out of reading tests. He explains how reading tests are created, how standards are interpreted and assessed, and how students can apply their knowledge of reading to standardized tests.' ' What Every Elementary Teacher Needs to Know About Reading Tests sets the record straight about the myths and realities of tests and offers extensive, practical strategies that help students perform well on test day. This ready to use, easy to understand resource provides a wealth of information about reading tests, including high-quality preparation materials; samples of the most frequently assessed reading standards; and more than thirty engaging, core-reading activities. ' Tests require a special kind of savvy, a kind of critical thinking and knowledge-application that is not always a part of classroom reading experiences. That's why teachers need to provide students with sound, specific information about reading tests. Only then can students feel prepared and confident on test day. '