Test and performance anxiety is not recognized easily in schools, in large part because adolescents rarely refer themselves for emotional concerns. Not wanting to risk teasing or public attention, anxious adolescents suffer in silence and under perform on school-related tasks. In school, anxiety is experienced often by students when being evaluated--when taking a test or giving a public performance. Most adolescents cope with these situations well, but up to 30% of students experience severe anxiety, a condition often termed "test anxiety." When severe, test anxiety can have significant negative effects on a student's ability to perform at an optimal level. Over time, test anxiety tends to generalize to many evaluative situations, contributing to more pervasive underachievement. Additional consequences of chronic test anxiety can include lowered self-esteem, reduced effort, and loss of motivation for school tasks. This article discusses the characteristics of anxiety, its causes and types, and the role of principals in working with staff members to help students who have test anxiety.