High-Leverage ELA Test Preparation: Dive into Lessons, Assessments, and Structures to Support All of Your Readers and Writers

Dates: 2/05/2027 and 2/26/2027 Grades: 3-8 Venue: Online via Zoom Time: 8:30am - 3:00pm ET

Regular Price: $525 Early Bird Discount Price: $420 (Until October 16, 2026) Group Discount: $420 for groups of 3 or more

Audience: Teachers, Coaches, and Literacy Leaders Note: All are welcome to attend, but the focus will be on the NY State ELA Test

Course Overview 

This course is designed for teachers and literacy leaders to support the implementation of a high-leverage test preparation course of study for grade 3-8 students. You've spent all year strategically supporting students’ reading and writing growth, and now you can harness that work to prepare students for the spring NYS ELA test. This course will help you carry your intentional teaching—the habits, routines, and rigor your students already know and trust—right into a unit on test sophistication skills. Students will learn to approach complex texts feeling just as capable and prepared on test day as they do every other day of the year.

We will share strategies and materials to design a test preparation unit addressing all of the tasks of the NYS ELA test including multiple-choice questions, short and extended written responses along with managing digital test taking strategies. You will explore explicit whole-class lessons focused on high-leverage standards and discover how to lead targeted small-group, close reading, and writing lessons. We will show you structures that foster collaboration, self-assessment, and stamina, alongside explicit instruction in test-taking vocabulary and feedback systems using rubrics.

Finally, we will examine how to use student data to drive weekly decisions about text selection and genres for both reading and writing. You will leave with access to a wide range of adaptable materials and a clear pathway for a unit structure that ensures test prep feels accessible, responsive, and empowering for every reader and writer in your building.

Learning Objectives

• Examine key structures and routines that build student test sophistication leading into testing. 

• Develop strategic close reading practices that support test-taking vocabulary and complex comprehension questions.

• Design explicit, actionable lessons targeting multiple-choice strategies, short constructive responses, and extended writing prompts.

• Analyze student data to guide instructional decisions, select genre-specific passages, and set priorities.

• Structure responsive small-group lessons using a variety of accessible materials tailored to meet a wide range of learners.

• Walk away with concrete tools, schedules, and recommendations you can adapt immediately for your own classroom, school, or coaching context.