by Mary Masterson
Hicksville Congress of Teachers President, Tom Glenn met Bianca Liriano, author of This Test Does Not Define You! at an educational forum in Westbury on March 30, 2016. Liriano, a high school senior in Merrick, New York was motivated to write this book as a project for her Girl Scout Gold Award, after the loss of an extremely influential teacher who taught her and generations of other students that they are not defined by a test grade. The HCT recognizes that testing anxiety has become rooted in the minds of children at a very young age. According to the American Test Anxieties Association, such a high number of students are suffering from testing anxiety, that it's the most prevalent scholastic impairment in our schools today. This high test anxiety reduces working memory, complicates reason, increases mistakes, and inevitably lowers test scores allowing for an inaccurate representation of students' academic ability. It is a goal of the HCT to help our children cope with test anxiety and so we are purchasing 21 copies of Ms. Liriano's book from Amazon for the third, fourth and fifth grade teachers across our district to share with their students. In a creative and rhythmic way, this book provides students with "best" test-taking tips and helps them deal with the stress surrounding testing. Above all this book reminds them that their character is what matters the most and that a test does not define them.