Meet the Wizard: Bob Alexander
Equipping Teachers for Student Success
 Stetson’s instructor, Bob Alexander, “The Wizard”, began his career in education as a high school biology teacher. After completing his masters degree and advanced-graduate certification, he became an administrator in student testing and evaluation. He soon advanced to becoming a director of curriculum. During that time, he worked as a consultant for ETS, the publisher of the SAT. Later, Bob became a director for the nation’s largest and most respected test preparation company.
 In 1995, in response to requests from school district administrators, he left his employer to start his own test preparation teacher training service. It began with training teachers to help their high school students prepare for the SAT. Later, he authored a high school FCAT prep program and began training teachers to prepare their students for the new FCAT graduation test. In 1999, he expanded his programs to include elementary and middle schools.
Does it work?
Yes! Over 95% of his school clients have raised their state-based evaluations at least one grade level. During the ’05-’06 school year, his clients received over $19 in A+ monies for every dollar they invested in Bob’s training programs and instructional materials. Recently, he has co-authored a book for parents, Raising Test-Smart Children: A Guide for Parents.
Okay - so why the Wizard?
After a group of schools implemented Bob's first program (SAT), he was visiting a classroom and discussing the students' much-improved test scores. Many students indicated that the program had taken the "mystery" out of the test. Therefore, "Demystifying Standardized Tests" became the title of his training and materials. During that session a student said, "Our scores went up so much (in excess of 180 points) that you must be some kind of a magician; maybe you are a wizard or something." Another student said that she was a pretty good artist and volunteered to draw a picture of how Bob would appear if he really was a wizard. That drawing soon became the logo for Bob's corporation--MaxTheTest.com, Inc. As he expanded his programs to include FCAT training and materials, an elementary principal recommended Bob arrive dressed in a wizard's costume when he visited her elementary classrooms. Bob thought it was terrific idea and had a costume made that is patterned after the student's drawing and his new logo and began arriving at elementary schools as the "FCAT Wizard." After training teachers at your school, the FCAT Wizard is available to do modeling of how to implement his program with students by visiting classrooms.
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