1. The End of Test Prep
Laura Slover Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
Imagine Shivonne, a student in the 10th grade. It’s early April and tomorrow is the PARCC assessment in ELA/L. You might think her teacher would be drilling her and her classmates in XXXX. But she’s not, and there would be no point to that. Because there is no “prepping” for this test – if Shivonne’s teacher has been teaching skills and concepts, such as how to read and comprehend text, how to make an argument and back it up with text, and how to write a well-formed essay, she is going to do fine. If not, no amount of drilling will fix that. And Shivonne isn’t nervous or tweeting that tomorrow will stink because she has to take the test. In many ways, tomorrow is going to be just like today – reading and writing very much like the kinds of assignments she gets from her teacher often. In fact, the test items are even kind of fun – they’re on the computer or iPad; the reading passages are from real literature or real non-fiction informational passages; and she’s asked to drag-and-drop, put sentences in order, show her work, explain. She’s engaged.
Imagine, too, that when Shivonne gets to college, she won’t have to take a placement test for reading or math because the assessments she took in high school already tell the college whether she has the skills to do college-level work. And if her teachers have been tracking Shivonne’s performance each year, they already know, and have been adjusting their teaching and her learning to make sure she stays on the path.
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2. 1. The cafeteria supervisor in your school is considering adding new, healthier options to the school lunch menu. Write a letter to the cafeteria supervisor suggesting at least three new additions to the menu. In your letter, explain the benefits of including your options on the new menu.
You’ve all been reporting for a while that Common Core assessments goes beyond multiple choice. That they require critical thinking, writing, and the use of evidence. Now it’s time for you to get a good look at what these items look like.
It’s time for the test, people. Put away your calculators and textbooks. No need to take out a #2 pencil.
READ THE ITEM
This is a typical writing prompt on a current state test in the 10th grade.
It’s got some value – it requires a student to write – to put together logical sentences. And it requires the student to make an argument and, in theory, to back it up, with whatever comes into his or her head.
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3. Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776
2. You have studied three sources involving the establishment of American Independence from Great Britain. The sources are:
Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776
A passage from Patrick Henry’s March 23, 1776, speech to the Second Virginia Convention
The video “From Subjects to Citizens”
An important idea presented in the sources involves the colonists’ notions of the purpose of government. Write an essay in which you explore the perceptions of government’s purpose presented in the sources. In writing your essay, consider how the authors of the two written documents describe the ideal relationship between a government and its people, and how they describe the actual relationship between the government of Great Britain and the colonists. Consider also the perspective presented in the video. Remember to use evidence from all three sources to support your ideas.
[OPTION A1 – Laura – you can use this slide OR A2, at the end of this deck – not both. You said you wanted informational text, which is how I chose this one – from the 11th grade.]
Here is a PARCC test item for 11th grade.
It’s quite different. In this passage, the student must read two informational texts – the Declaration of Independence and part of a Patrick Henry speech – and watch a video called “From Subjects to Citizens” and then cite evidence from those passages in supporting his or her argument about the notion of government.
When a future boss wants a report that summarizes and analyzes the latest research on a particular topic, this kid will have some skills to draw on. And, for that matter, when the college professor assigns writing that’s at a higher level than asking what kind of food they want on the school cafeteria menu.
ADVANCE TO NEXT SLIDE
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4. English Language Arts - Writing
Not Text-Dependent
Text-Dependent
In “Casey at the Bat,” Casey strikes out. Describe a time when you failed at something. In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King discusses nonviolent protest. Discuss, in writing, a time when you wanted to fight against something that you felt was unfair.
What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?
What can you infer from King’s letter about the letter that he received?
Look at what happens when you make a question text dependent.
Text-dependent questions require students to pay attention to the text at hand and to draw evidence from that text.
It’s “Describe a time when you failed at something.” vs. “What makes Casey’s experiences at bat humorous?”
It’s “Discuss a time when you wanted to fight against something you felt was unfair.” vs. “What can you infer from MLK’s letter about the letter that he received?”
It’s what good teachers do: connecting classroom experiences to the text on the page, and teaching students to develop habits of making “evidentiary argument” in conversation and in writing to assess comprehension of a text.
It’s so much more powerful than asking students to restate in their own words, or to write about why equality is an important value.
Good tests reflect good teaching. We’ll come back to that shortly.
[PAUSE]
I’ve been told that I shouldn’t do math with reporters – I will make them feel dumb.
ADVANCE TO NEXT SLIDE
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5. Pre-Common Core: Grade 4
So I give you fourth grade math. (LAUGHTER)
If you have trouble with these – you don’t have to tell anyone.
Easy enough, right? Round to the nearest 1,000 – that means if it’s up to 499, round down, and if it’s 500 or above, round up.
[PAUSE]
So, what does a PARCC-like question on the same topic (rounding) in the same grade look like?
ADVANCE
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6. PARCC item: Grade 4
It might come in three parts, like this one. This is not an actual PARCC test item, but it illustrates the differences well:
Part A is easy enough, right? Put these amounts in order from smallest to largest. Again – I won’t make you do it….
And notice that the students will drag and drop the yellow boxes into the right blue box.
This is still a fairly basic task.
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7. Part B requires the students to think more, and to EXPLAIN their reasoning.
In this item, Jeff says “ I get the same number when I round all three numbers of seats in these stadiums” and Sara says she gets the same number for two, but a different number for the third. The student has to explain how both answers can be correct.
Anyone know the answer? Just kidding.
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8. And here’s Part C
More thinking and reasoning. And explaining. If Aces Baseball Stadium has 9,100 seats when rounded to the nearest hundred, what is the greatest and least number of seats that could be in the stadium.
So in one test item, we not only see if the student knows how to round numbers. We get to see how well they understand numbers and rounding, and if they can explain it and apply it.
In the old test, the student would get the second part wrong if they got the first part wrong – remember in part 2 they were asked which two stadiums had about the same capacity. If they rounded incorrectly, then they’d get part 2 wrong, too. Here, a student could get Part B wrong and still get Part C right. And we’ll know that if the student got each part right it was because they truly understand the concepts and application.
ADVANCE
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9. ACCOMMODATIONS
More accommodations than ever before.
Students with disabilities tend to have a special affinity for technology. It gives them independence – they would much rather have the computer read to them than have to have an aide do it.
Highlighter, line reader, magnifier.
Can also set the text size.
Most of these available to any student. Some require prior approval.
Great equalizer.
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11. I’m not saying we’re ever going to turn students into lovers of tests
I’m not saying we’re ever going to turn students into lovers of tests. But we can reverse the “teach to the test” phenomenon and instead make tests that measure good teaching. Yes, the tests are a little longer than most current state tests. But they save days and days of test prep. They’re a lot like regular class. And they provide critical information to help students and to ensure that students in all zipcodes have the same expectations and are making progress in meeting them.
Maybe testing won’t ever be “fun.” But it doesn’t have to be like this (point to picture).
Some sort of closer.
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