TRIG: Classroom Readiness T3 January - March 2014

I took the High School NGAP and I thought it was difficult!  Students would need to have basic computer skills in order to answer the problems (keyboarding skills, drag and drop, cut and paste, keyboard shortcuts).  They would, of course, also need to have the math and language skills to answer the questions.  Some of these skills would include the ability to skim articles, read at high school levels, make inferences, and know the basics of Algebra and Geometry and the basic formulas.

The current assessments are multiple choice and these had a lot of essay, fill in the blank, re arranging paragraphs.  Many of today’s questions are basic knowledge and you do not have to make inferences to get the answers, you just have to skim through the article to find the answer in black and white.  I think these questions were much more difficult than our students are currently seeing on assessments.

I think having the test format entirely online will be difficult for some.  I prefer reading on paper and can easily go back to where I found information on paper, I thought this was more difficult as I had to scroll between the actual reading and then back down to get to the essay box.  Some students have a difficult time moving around on a laptop and making the computer copy and paste without a mouse.  The reading font was extremely small in a few articles as well, I hope on the actual test students will be able to enlarge the font. 

I would like to have FREE practice tests available online for students for these next generation tests.  Not just multiple choice practice tests, a real practice test in which they have to type essays and copy and paste.   Students need more practice taking tests on the computer, I would prefer they take practice tests online before the real thing and realize there is a computer skill they do not have that would have been beneficial.

I took the elementary math assessment.  This assessment requires the students to be able to read story problems, look at and interpret graphs, solve addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems.  They are also required to be able to answer questions using mutiple choice, answering based off their own work, and show their work, or explain their work in some areas.

This is similiar to alot of the skills that the students are required to know now, except for the fact that they are not all multiple choice answers.  Sometimes with multiple choice, the students are able to at least "guess" at an answer.  Here, if the students are not familiar with what the question is asking, they will not have any hope at answering the question accurately.

I think some students may get confused at the wording, or how things are postioned on the computer screen.  It will ask multiple questions and the students will need to know how to look for what is specifically be asked, and be careful to read all parts of the problem and question before answering.

Students will need to be truly informed on the material they are required to master.  Students will have to have the basic math skills down in order to be successful in working through the problems given.  If they can't perform the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems required, they will have a hard time successfully moving through the test.

I took the Math and Language Arts assessments. The first thing that struck me was how proficient students need to be in computer usage. This test is based on the fact many of the students know how to use a computer, read from a computer, and be able to type fluently. Another items that I discovered was a majority of the questions were higher order thinking questions. The test was expecting students to read a passage and write an essay instead of just multiple choice. Also in the Math portion, the test expected students to take information from a prior question and apply it in a new way to a second question. I also felt the time limit frame would be a stressor for some students. The students would be obsessed with the fact of a time limit and be more worried about that then the actual test. I feel as a teacher I need to have my students more proficient in the usage of computers. I also need to expect students to express their thoughts in a complete way not just in a, b, c format.

I completed  the Middle School assessment.

 

The ELA section asks students about word definitions and later has them synthesize answers from multiple sources.  These are great skills, and I feel like I ask my 7th grade students to use similar skills in my history class.

I fear it might be difficult for students to keep track of large sections of text as they read it, and then are asked to reflect back.  I wonder if it might be useful to include interactive tools such as highlighters.

I worked with the Elementary set of assessments. I found the questions/tasks asked were like those that students see within the classroom and during NWEA testing that most students from our district know how to do. I didn't find that students would need to be able to go back through their reading to find specific evidence. That is something we currently are working on but it will be a strategy that is practiced as much as possible within all classrooms. I found that the different forms of assessments allowed me not to become bored. After answering a short answer question, the next one wasn't the same which made me want to answer it differently and really pay attention. 

I believe our students, with practice, will be comfortable with this type of assessments. Students will just need to practice responding to questions by typing out their thoughts.