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Steamboat Springs — The stakes are high in the annual quest for stellar scores on standardized tests.

Scores from the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests determine a schools' status for the next year and, if scores are too low, can result in probation and discipline for the school.

To help students achieve their highest possible scores, Routt County school districts are using incentives, rewards and even full bellies to boost scores this year.

At Soroco High School, high school students, followed by middle school students, were bundled into the cafeteria after the morning bell rang to pick up plates of sausages, pancakes, cereal and juice on the Thursday morning of tests.

Sophomore Katie Davis said the breakfast gives students an advantage on testing days.

"You think better. You're not thinking about your starving stomach," she said.

Davis said she regularly eats breakfast but nothing as big as the full hot breakfast provided by the school.

The school usually doesn't serve breakfast, principal Dennis Alt said. But he added the meal during testing week based on student requests. School cooks come in early to serve meals to the 130 students at the two schools all week during testing.

Raylene Olinger, dean of students at Soroco Middle School, said the school has been providing meals and other incentives for three or four years.

If all the students in a grade level meet their annual growth expectations, meaning they improve at the standard rate of growth, the whole class will be rewarded with a trip to a Denver amusement park.

In the past four years, two grade levels have earned the trip.

"Over the years, we were working out ways to get students to buy into the tests, and a lot of the ideas came from the kids," Olinger said.

The students also can earn an invitation to a pizza party or extra credit at the end of the year if they meet individual expectations of checking over their work, being attentive during the test and reading a book if they complete the test early.

Although the test scores don't count toward the students' grades, the test results are included in a student's transcript.

"It helps them feel like it's a part of their grades," said high school math teacher Maggie Bruski.

In Denver, Abraham Lincoln High School is holding raffles for students who attend school on testing days with rewards including iPods, flat-screen televisions and an X-Box gaming system, according to The Denver Post.

In Steamboat Springs, Soda Creek Elementary School Principal Judy Harris said she tries to keep student distractions to a minimum during testing week, which is March 23 to 27 this year.

"Our goal is to help the kids feel relaxed and confident about their knowledge and abilities," she said. "We try to make their routine as normal as possible."

She does that by scheduling the CSAP math test at the students' normal math time and English tests during the English time.

"We do let parents know this is testing week, and they can support their kids with a nutritious breakfast," she said. Parents also are encouraged to send snacks with the students.

Harris said she encourages teachers at Soda Creek to reduce the homework load during testing week and, in the weeks leading up to the test, introduce the types of questions students will encounter on CSAPs.

But no matter what methods the school uses to encourage students, Harris said parents could play the largest role by helping their children prepare in a way that is best for them.

"Like anything else, there's research that shows contradictory things. Parents know their children, and it's like anything else with elementary-age kids: One thing isn't going to work for all kids," she said. "We just try to make it as much a part of what we're doing as possible."