The president of the school board of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Illinois mandated that the Student Assessment unit provide training for all CPS teachers on how to help their students score higher on standardized tests. This paper describes the two books developed as training materials and their preparation. The first step was a literature review that culminated in two brief chapters on test-taking skills and improving students' attitudes and motivation. Several chapters discuss the skills measured on the district and state assessments and provide some general hints on preparing students to take tests in these areas. Workshop training sessions focus on developing students' thinking skills using item templates that help teachers make their own questions to measure thinking skills. The overall message of the training sessions and test preparation books is that standardized tests require that students apply critical thinking skills, and if students are accustomed to answering those types of questions on a regular basis in class, they are likely to do better on the tests. It is difficult to evaluate the impact of the workshops and training materials. Test scores have been going up in the CPS, but it is not possible to determine the causal factors. Teachers report seeing the value of teaching and assessing thinking skills. (SLD)