Showing posts with label Assessment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assessment. Show all posts

Thursday, April 11, 2013

OAA Vocabulary

Here are some words you need to know.

You can see the responses HERE.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Are You Ready to be Tested?


In Reading Workshop, students have read passages, wrote and rewrote answers, and been "practiced up" into submission.   They dream at night of "back in the day" when language arts was about reading and writing, thinking and discussing.  Their dreams are of a time before legislators decided schools and their students should be controlled by torture/testing. 

Students have been working hard, preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessment and they are surviving.  Not only are they surviving, but they are getting smarter.  They are reading critically, and attacking questions to find the point.  They are shredding selections to find those details that earn all 4 points on  an extended response question.  Best of all is they are learning words, and they are much better than the words they learned on the back of the bus in third grade.

Good job students!  Tuesday is the day and your success on the test will make me smile.

Here's a chance to help your peers, Reading Workshop students.  What advise advice do you have to help your classmates on the reading test?

This post had been edited.  See Free Advise or Advice for details.

Image from http://atalante.co/fitness/motivation/persistence-determination-hard-work/

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Life of a Test Grader & Your Test

So Martha, the Test Grader is sitting in her cubical and opens your test. She turns to the first short answer and this is what she sees.


Needless to say, her headache screams out and she wants to be anywhere, rather than try to read this mess. But, she really wants to be fair so she starts to fight through the misspelled words, lack of organization, and off-topic response. She quickly realizes though, this just isn't worth it, scribbles down a 0 and moves to the next answer.

Within 3 - 4 seconds, she has decided this student does not deserve to pass any type of test. As she sorts through each extended response, she becomes more and more agitated at the obvious lack of effort. Sorry, but you failed.

Now it's time for the next test and here is the response.
Martha is smiling now. She is thinking, "this is from a good kid. This is so easy. Why can't all of the kids write like this?"
And little does she know, but somewhere in a state far, far away, a student is smiling as she thinks back to that day of the reading test. She knows she passed, because she did her best, and used all of the test taking strategies that her teacher taught her.
There is someone else smiling. As this student was taking the test, a teacher sat at his desk and watched her work. He knew she would pass. He watched her work hard all year. Today as he thinks back, he knows she did a great job, and anxiously awaits the test results that will show a real success story.

Friday, April 8, 2011

What are You Thinking About the Achievement Test

Students have been working hard, preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessment.  They have done a kazillion (this is a very high number that students learn about in advanced math at the sixth grade level) problems until they are suffering from carpel tunnel.  They are getting attacked by numbers in their sleep and there is no hope of survival.

In Reading Workshop, students have read passages, wrote and rewrote answers, and been rubriced into submission.  They now know the disasters that await those that don't give specific details, quoted from the selection.  They dream at night of back in the day when Reading Workshop was about reading and writing, thinking and discussing.  There is no chance of them being a child left behind because they are getting whipped into shape. 

Although we only focus specifically on the test for a month in Reading Workshop, in student years that equals seven lifetimes.  But students are surviving.  Not only are they surviving, but they are getting smarter.  They are reading critically, and attacking questions to find the point.  They are shredding selections to find those details that earn all 4 points on  an extended response question.  Best of all is they are learning words, and they are much better than the words they learned on the back of the bus in third grade.

Good job students!  It will all be over soon and your success on the test will make me smile.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartpilbrow/3270138986/sizes/l/ 

Monday, April 26, 2010

You Can Do It!

You have been reading and writing all year.  You have practiced every imaginable type of test passage.  Your vocabulary has improved tremendously.  You have proven your ability on Study Island.  Every sign points to success.  And, as I told you two months ago, YOU WILL PASS!

Now it is on you.  Do you believe?  Will you work your absolute hardest for 2 1/2 hours to show yourself, your parents, and your school that you have grown and learned this year in Reading Workshop?



Thank you for the effort.  You make me proud!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Your Test Score Can Make Everyone Smile


So Martha, the Test Grader is sitting in her cubical and opens a  test. She turns to the first short answer and this is what she sees.












She is ready to get her work for the day started.  Even with a headache, she knows she has to concentrate because a lot of people are counting on her.  Students success and opportunities ride on her fair evaluation of their work.

Needless to say, her headache screams out and she wants to be anywhere, rather than try to read this mess. But, she really wants to be fair so she starts to fight through the misspelled words, lack of organization, and off-topic response. She quickly realizes though, this just isn't worth it, scribbles down a 0 and moves to the next answer.

Within 3 - 4 seconds, she has decided this student does not deserve to pass any type of test. As she sorts through each extended response, she becomes more and more agitated at the obvious lack of effort. Sorry, but you failed.

Now it's time for your test and here is your first response.

Martha is smiling now. She is thinking, "this is from a good kid. This is so easy. Why can't all of the kids write like this?"

And little does she know, but somewhere in a state far, far away, a student is smiling as she thinks back to that day of the reading test. She knows she passed, because she did her best, and used all of the test taking strategies that her teacher taught her.

There is someone else smiling. As this student was taking the test, a teacher sat at his desk and watched her work. He knew she would pass. He watched her work hard all year. Today as he thinks back, he knows she did a great job, and anxiously awaits the test results that will show a real success story.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

An Easy Way to Practice for the Ohio Achievement Assessment

Want an easy way to practice for the Ohio Achievement Assessment?   All it takes is a computer and Internet access.  Today, students in Reading Workshop accessed the ODE test portal. The Ohio Department of Education has set up a website with a lot of information. There is a section just for the Ohio Achievement Test.  

Students can practice using test passages and questions from previous years. They have a choice of setting up an account to save their results, or they can Take a Test without Logging In. Parents and students can see what is expected, scores, and what they mean.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

How You Can Control the Test Grader

OK, so Martha has your test and answer booklet. She doesn't know you, and doesn't care to. In fact, she doesn't know about Reading Workshop, the name of the school, the town, or the state where you live. You are just a number in a stack. A tall stack of answer booklets that have to be graded before she can take a break.

Whether or not you pass this test means less than nothing to Martha. The things on her mind include sneaking out to get a diet coke, getting rid of this head ache, figuring out how to avoid listening to her sister complain about having to babysit, and about having to do laundry after work, or she will have absolutely nothing to wear tomorrow. She is also thinking about surfing and last summer's vacation.

Now it all comes down to you, the student, and your answer booklet. Will your hard work be in vain? Will eight months of learning be wasted? Or will you be a success story making yourself, your parents, your teachers, and your school feel proud using the Strategies you have been taught?

Did you write neatly?  Can she read your responses? Did you write legibly? Trying to strain her eyes and her brain to read cat scratches is going to irritate Martha. She probably won't even take the time to sort through it. She will just give it a big, fat, zero.

Did you organize your answers to make finding key points easy?  If you restated the question and numbered your responses, Martha can easily find key words and information. Using a rubric to score short answer and extended response answers, Martha is looking for specific words and answers.

Did you go back into the essay and find specific details?  Going back and finding specific details in the passage is paramount. Any time a questions asks for specific details, they are looking for examples word-for-word from the text.

Did you use the passage to help you with your spelling?  Another factor that makes grading easier is correct spelling. Most of the words that you need to spell are either in the question, or in the passage. It just takes a second to look back and find the correct spelling.

Did you use the basic test taking skills that you have learned in class?
Images from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx

Monday, April 19, 2010

How the Life of a Test Grader Affects Test Scores

As the time for testing quickly approaches, students in Reading Workshop have the chance once again, to meet Martha, the Test Grader. 

Martha is a single mom, with a four year old daughter named Emily. Martha is just trying to get by day to day. This morning, at 6:00 AM, as Martha was getting ready for her job as an Achievement Test Grader in a state far, far, away, her babysitter called and said she couldn't watch Emily today.

After three phone calls, she finally reached her sister, who agreed to watch Emily for the day. The only problem was her sister lived 20 miles away, so Martha barely had time to get there, and then make it to work on time.

As she rushed around the kitchen, eating a piece of toast while she picked up, Emily spilled her cereal all over the floor. Five minutes later, after cleaning up the spill, Martha glanced at the clock and realized she was going to be late. She grabbed a cup of coffee to go, snatched up Emily and bolted out the door. She put Emily in the car, and jumped in her seat. As she reached across to buckle the seat belt, she spilled her coffee down the front of her shirt. "Oh @#$#@@#$," she thought.

She unbuckled Emily and ran back in the house to change. She searched high and low, but there was nothing clean to wear. She grabbed her cleanest dirty shirt out of the laundry, shook it out, and slid it on. Once again, she and Emily headed for her sister's house. Naturally, she hit a construction zone two minutes from her sister's. After sitting for 10 minutes, she finally got through. She sprinted in, gave Emily a kiss good bye, and headed off to work. She had 11 minutes to make the 20 minute drive.

She was lucky, the construction only held her up for 5 minutes this time through. Unfortunately, her head pounded with a migraine from the stress of the morning. And work hadn't even started yet.

She reached work, late again. She stopped by the pop machine, but didn't have any change for her morning dose of Diet Coke. As she rounded the corner, there stood her boss, with a mean look on his face, and her daily stack of tests to score.

"Late again, I see," he said with a scowl. "Don't even think about taking a break until you get this school's tests scored." With her head pounding, no Diet Coke, and no time for Advil, Martha reached for the first test. Martha, the test grader opened your test.

How will you score?
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx

Friday, April 16, 2010

Achievement Strategies

 As the day of achievement testing fast approaches, students brainstormed a list of strategies that would lead to success on the test.


Strategies for Reading
  • Read the questions before the passage
  • Read the title
  • Look at word banks and subtitles
  • Skim to get an idea of what the passage is about
  • Reread 
  • Look for the W's (who, what, when, where, why, and how)
  • Use prior knowledge
  • Visualize--Picture what you are reading
  • Underline/highlight important information

Strategies for Word Attack
  • Circle words you don't understand
  • Substitute words you don't know
  • Sound out words
  • Cross out unneeded adjectives and adverbs
  • Make connections
  • Look at root words
  • Look at prefixes/suffixes
  • Use Context Clues

Strategies for Answering Questions
  • Find Your Answers in the Passage
  • Mark in the passage where you found the answer
  • Restate the Question
  • Look at how many points the answer is worth
  • Number your response
  • Use words from the text
  • Use specific details from the text
  • Always give at least one extra example/detail
  • Answer what the question is asking
  • Answer in complete sentences
  • Look at other questions for clues
  • Eliminate multiple choice answers that don't make sense
  • Reread the question and double check answers
  • Recheck answers in the passage
  • Write neatly so the grader can understand your answer
  • When finished, check PUGS to make it easier to grade

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

What is Your Potential?

If I could measure students' output on a potential scale from 1 - 100, I wonder how most would score?  If I could just reach in the top right desk drawer, pull out the Potentialmeter, and turn it on, what would it show?

I would be willing to bet that most students don't realize their potential.  They underestimate their ability to think, read, write, and produce high quality work.  Although they are working, they are not even close to maximum output.

Don't get me wrong.  Students in Reading Workshop have really been putting forth a lot of effort.  As we scream down the test prep road preparing for the Ohio Achievement Assessment on April 27, students have been working hard and showing excellent growth in their ability.  However, I just don't believe they know the limits of their capabilities.  And, I know they are not even close to putting forth maximum effort.

This became especially evident as I watched this video, Death Crawl from Facing the Giants in Mrs. Stevenson's class yesterday.

Students in Reading Workshop, how close are you to reaching your potential?  What would your score be on the potentialmeter?  What is your best and what can you do to reach it?


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jezpage/4444094638/sizes/s/

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Word Attack Strategies Survey





See the results here.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

What Words Students Don't Know--Achievement Vocabulary

Students frequently miss questions during an assessment simply because they don't understand the question.  Use of unusual or uncommon words is a common practice on the Ohio Achievement Assessment.  In addition, simple requests are often worded in a way that create confusion for the test takers.

To overcome this barrier, students went through the OAA 2006 test booklet that they just used as a practice test and highlighted all of the words in the questions that they didn't understand.  Once we compile this list, I will compare it to the vocabulary list from The Reading Workshop Achievement Vocabulary Page.  Also, I will use to to look for specific vocabulary and word attack needs.
  • barked--All afternoon, Uncle Orrin barked orders.
  • description--Support your description of each attitude with a specific detail.
  • symbolize--Which place symbolizes love and safety to Nathan?
  • conscience--the value of listening to one's conscience and being honest
  • intimidated--Why was Ella too intimidated to dance?
  • scat performers--What do the selection and the footnote suggest about scat . ..(this is defined in the footnotes)
  • footnote--What do the selection and the footnote suggest about the scat performers?
  • evaluation--Identify two factual details from the selection that support the author's positive evaluation of Ella.
  • factual--Identify two factual details from the selection.
  • amateur--A number of other amateur venues
  • venues--After her early success at the Apollo and as a popular performer at a number of other amateur venues . . .
  • analysis--To write a scientific analysis of why some frogs jump farther than others.
  • organizational--Which organizational tool would most clearly contrast the lengths of winning jumps?
  • contrast--Which organizational tool would most clearly contrast the lengths of winning jumps?
  • wilted--But she wilted under the glare of the spotlight.
  • star-struck--She was star-struck and she just sat there looking at everyone.
  • rental frogs--Rental Frogs includes which piece of information?
  • coachable--Frogs don't understand about money and they're not very coachable.
  • capacity--Having the capacity to be taught.
  • figurative language--In the poem, how does the poet use figurative language?
  • repetition--Explain why the poet makes this repitition.
  • personification--Which characteristic can be found in the poem?
  • dialogue--Which characteristic can be found in the poem?
  • emperor--Each emperor built a magnificent palace.
  • prosper--It also helped the Inca prosper.
  • terraces--Why did the Inca farmers build terraces to plant their crops?
  • ravines--Suspension bridges made of plant fibers spanned deep ravines.
  • spanned--Suspension bridges made of plant fibers spanned deep ravines.
  • priorities--What was one of the Inca government's main priorities?
  • adequate--To make sure everyone had adequate food and clean housing.
In one class, students averaged not knowing 6.75 words.  This would obviously lead to many missed questions.  We will spend the next few days working on word attack skills, looking for root words, prefixes and suffixes, and context clues, and we will spend the next few weeks improving vocabulary specific to achievement test questions.  This will allow students to show their ability on the 2010 OAA.
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/missnita/471669682/sizes/s/

Students' View on Achievement Test Practice

Students took the 2006 edition of the Ohio Achievement Assessment.  This serves several purposed including a practice run-through, data regarding students' ability, projection data, areas of strengths and weaknesses, and specific needs prior to the actual test in April.

Here are a few of the students' thoughts, ideas, and opinions shared from a discussion after the test.

Cody--It is confusing.  Some of the questions are confusing because I wasn't sure what they were asking.
Joanna--I didn't like how a lot of the stories were nonfiction because they were harder to understand.
Karly--I would rather have poetry than nonfiction.  Poetry is easier to understand.
Kater--I wasn't sure how to put my thoughts into words on the extended response questions.
Hannah Hop--The test was frustrating.  I had to keep going back to the passage to find the answers.
Justin G.--The passages and the test were too long.
Joanna--Some of the words were hard and made it hard to understand.
Karly--Yeah, I didn't know some of the words and couldn't figure them out.
Brandon C.--The extended responses were hard and I need more practice so I can do them.
Hannah Hop.--The extended response questions made me mad, because they were so much harder to understand.
Branden M.--The extended response would mention something in the essay, and then say something else, then I would have to read the question again, because I forgot what it was asking.
Andrew--Some of the multiple choice answers didn't go with the passage.
Joanna--It took forever for the question to compare stuff from two passages because I couldn't find it.
Kater--On the multiple choice, if I didn't know the answer right off, I had to go back to the passage and check each answer to find the right one.
Hannah Hop--What are we supposed to do on the extended response if we have no clue what to answer?
Hannah Hop--It is very hard going back and forth.  The passages should be on one page and the questions and where you answer should be together.
Kater--The passages, questions, and answer sheet should all be separate.
Kennedy--It was pretty easy really.
Cierra--I got a headache when I was sitting there trying to take the test.
Alysha--I tried really hard and it took a long time.
Kennedy--Is the real test going to be twice as long? (Basically, except one test passage was omitted)
Tyler S.--It was hard sitting there for two hours.
Justin P.--I kept getting distracted.
Hannah Har--We need more breaks.
Kennedy--There were words I didn't know.
Katie H--They had definitions to a lot of the words at the bottom of the page.
Heather--It seemed like I was being rushed.  I was afraid I wouldn't get done.
Katie H--If there is one more passage, I don't know if I can get it done in time.
Hadley--It made me really tired.
Makayla--Some of the questions were very confusing.  Most of the words were ones I didn't know.
Savannah--There were a lot of extended responses.
Madison--Some of the things were like what I had done before on Study Island.
Hadley--I didn't like having it in the morning.
R.J.--The word bank confused me because they gave more than one meaning for the word.  I would think I knew the answer, but then I looked at the definition and I wasn't sure.
Ian--The two frog jumping passages were confusing because they jumped back and forth and you didn't know which one they meant.
Caleb--Some of the passages were long, and that made them harder.
Hannah C--The cause and effect question was hard because I hadn't done any in a while.
Hadley--Students would do better if the passages were more interesting.  If they are not interesting, kids won't do as well because they just won't care as much.
Madison--Taking the test in the morning made us brain dead the rest of the day.



Thursday, January 21, 2010

Student Blog Rubric

As the grading period ends, Student blogs must be assessed.  For those striving for excellence, here is the expectation.


Student Blog Rubric

Score
Basis for Scoring

--------------------= =

4 or A

  • Concise (3 -4 paragraphs) with a specific focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening grabs the readers' attention while introducing the point of the post
  • Specific details support the main idea
  • Has a "So What?", theme, lesson, or specific point that attracts the readers' attention
  • Demonstrates detailed understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone engages the reader
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct

The rest of the rubric can be found at The Reading Workshop Blog Rubric.

For examples of students' blogs that earned a 4, check out these sites:
Hannah's Hideout
Hadley's Planet
Ian's Corner
Bethanie's Word
Hannah's Hangout
Katey's Corner
Kaitlyn's Cave

Friday, August 21, 2009

Reading Workshop Student Blog Rubric


Student Blog Rubric

Score
Basis for Scoring
------------------------= =

4 or A

  • Concise (3 -4 paragraphs) with a specific focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post
  • Specific details support the main idea
  • Has a "So What?", theme, lesson, or specific point that attracts the readers' attention
  • Demonstrates detailed understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone engages the reader
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

3 or B

  • Concise (2 - 3 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post
  • Specific details support information
  • Has a "So What?", theme, or lesson
  • Demonstrates understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone engages the reader
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

2 or C

  • Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening introduces the point of the post
  • Details support information
  • Has a point
  • Shows some understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

1 or D

  • Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares a thought, idea, or opinion
  • Opening introduces the point of the post
  • Limited details
  • Point is unclear
  • Shows limited understanding of the topic
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization has mistakes
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

Grading Students' Blogs


Student Blog Rubric

Score
Basis for Scoring

------------------------= =

4 or A

  • Concise (3 -4 paragraphs) with a specific focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post
  • Specific details support the main idea
  • Has a "So What?", theme, lesson, or specific point that attracts the readers' attention
  • Demonstrates detailed understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone engages the reader
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

3 or B

  • Concise (2 - 3 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening grabs the reader's attention while introducing the point of the post
  • Specific details support information
  • Has a "So What?", theme, or lesson
  • Demonstrates understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone engages the reader
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

2 or C

  • Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares thoughts, ideas, or opinions
  • Opening introduces the point of the post
  • Details support information
  • Has a point
  • Shows some understanding of the blog topic
  • Positive tone
  • Picture that supports post with attribution
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization is correct
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

1 or D

  • Entries are short (2 paragraphs) with a focus
  • Shares a thought, idea, or opinion
  • Opening introduces the point of the post
  • Limited details
  • Point is unclear
  • Shows limited understanding of the topic
  • Spelling, punctuation, and capitalization has mistakes
  • ---------------------------------------------------------

Monday, May 11, 2009

Grading Students' Blogs

Want an A on your blog? Climb the stairs to writing success. Climb the stairs to earning a good grade.

Did you spell everything correctly? I would hope so. After all, who would want to write something that is available to the whole world, and misspell words? Can the reader understand the topic because you stick to it? Following these minimal standards will earn you at least a D.

Did you use correct grammar? Can the reader follow your post in an organized manner? This is still a most basic expectations for writers that want to publish their work. The skills learned in the primary grades are not too much to expect for work posted on the WWW. A C means satisfactory and not meeting this criteria would surely not be sufficient for earning any higher grade.

To build loyal readers, first you must have interesting content presented in a well-written way. Supporting details draw in the readers and give them understanding. If posts are written cleanly, the words illustrate the meaning, and the reader can visualize your ideas, you will earn a B.

Occasionally someone will write something that makes the reader pause, and think, or causes the reader to agree or disagree. Sometimes hours after reading an essay, the reader is still thinking about it. When a blog post has that something special, then the writer deserves an A.

What step are you on? Have you climbed the stairs to writing success?
*

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Achievement Testing Online

The Ohio Department of Education has a portal into all of their Achievement Test Resources. Teachers, parents, and students can access this to meet a variety of needs. Teachers can actually build tests, using previous versions, or based on chosen content standards. Parents can look at past tests to see tests their child has taken. Students can practice for the Achievement Test.

In Reading Workshop, I am using this site to prepare students for the OAT that they will take on Monday. The ability to create lessons, using past tests provides online practice that is directly tied to skills and vocabulary necessary for good results. It allows students to familiarize themselves with all aspects of the OAT.

The practice test also provide immediate feedback on multiple choice questions. This is an example of an answered question.

Question 1

What mood is expressed when Bud closes his eyes in the beginning of the selection?

A. He is unhappy because he just walked to the library and up a tall set of stairs.
If a student chooses A, he or she may not understand that the author is implying that Bud is happy to be in the library. Bud does not close his eyes because he is unhappy, though someone may close his or her eyes if he or she is feeling sad.

B. He is excited to feel the page powder on his face so he can fall asleep.
If a student chooses B, he or she may not realize that Bud’s closing his eyes does not mean that he wants to feel the page powder on his face, though he does describe the page powder in great detail later in the selection.

C. He is comfortable with the mixture of smells in the library.
At the beginning of the selection, Bud says he closes his eyes. It is at this point in the story that he begins to describe the unique library smells, showing his mood of happiness and his feeling of comfort.

D. He is nervous about a plan to find Miss Hill.
If a student chooses D, he or she may know that a person may close his or her eyes when nervous. However, the author is not attempting to show that Bud is nervous or trying to think of a plan until the end of the selection.

The green check designates a correct answer. If the question is answered incorrectly, a red X would be placed by their answer. If students will take the time to read the explanations, each answer is a mini-lesson in itself.

Short answer and extended response questions are available also. The rubric to score them is there, for teachers to evaluate students' work. After using this tool in our classroom, I can't help but wonder, when will we be able to take the OAT online?
*

Monday, April 20, 2009

Martha, the Test Grader, Part 3


If you haven't met Martha before, you can read about Martha, the Test Grader, and then More on Martha the Test Grader.

So Martha, the Test Grader is sitting in her cubical and opens your test. She turns to the first short answer and this is what she sees.


Needless to say, her headache screams out and she wants to be anywhere, rather than try to read this mess. But, she really wants to be fair so she starts to fight through the misspelled words, lack of organization, and off-topic response. She quickly realizes though, this just isn't worth it, scribbles down a 0 and moves to the next answer.

Within 3 - 4 seconds, she has decided this student does not deserve to pass any type of test. As she sorts through each extended response, she becomes more and more agitated at the obvious lack of effort. Sorry, but you failed.

Now it's time for the next test and here is the response.

Martha is smiling now. She is thinking, "this is from a good kid. This is so easy. Why can't all of the kids write like this?"

And little does she know, but somewhere in a state far, far away, a student is smiling as she thinks back to that day of the reading test. She knows she passed, because she did her best, and used all of the test taking strategies that her teacher taught her.

There is someone else smiling. As this student was taking the test, a teacher sat at his desk and watched her work. He knew she would pass. He watched her work hard all year. Today as he thinks back, he knows she did a great job, and anxiously awaits the test results that will show a real success story.

*
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/kandyjaxx/100366351/