NO! This is actually good practice.
Looking at the assessment makes you informed.
It informs you of the learning goals for a topic of study.
When you look at an assessment you want to ask yourself some questions.
The biggest question is will the lessons that I am teaching prepare my students to meet the end goal, ie. the end of topic assessment?
More detailed questions could be…
Does the independent work that I am assigning my students match the rigor of the assessment or progressively work towards the rigor of the assessment?
Does my wording and the lessons’ wording match the wording on the assessment?
Do the strategies in my lessons match the ones in the assessment or build towards strategies on the assessment?
Do the visuals that I am using to teach and the independent work match the visuals on the assessments?
Do you have “select multiple correct answers” during your lessons if the assessment does?
Do you have “choose the one that is NOT correct” during your lessons if the assessment does?
Tools
Which tools will I use to teach a concept?
Which tools am I using that will not be able to be used on the assessment?
When will I wean my students off tools and progress to the next developmental tool?
(ex. Counters become drawing circles, base-ten blocks become drawing a line to represent a long and dots to represent cubes)
Other questions to ask that are not content related could be…
Stamina
How many questions are there?
Do I have assignments/independent work that builds to that level?
Does the length of time required for the assessment match the amount of time that I require my students to either work independently or listen and stay together as a whole group going question by question?
Testing Conditions
The last thing that we want to do is create an environment that is stressful.
Think about how you want your class to look and sound during an assessment.
Then, have opportunities on a regular basis that mimic those conditions.
Ex. If you want students to use division boards or folders to keep them focused on their work then practice using those on a regular basis during independent time.
Ex. In primary, if you want them to stop after each question whether paper or online, practice that on a regular basis. If most days the students can work at their own pace, they will have a hard time stopping after each question.
Testing Type Paper vs. Digital
However your school/teams decide to take assessments, practice on a regular basis that style of answering questions and showing their work.
I’ve looked at the assessment now what?
Gaps between the level of rigor in the assessment and the lessons:
Look around at the materials in enVision to see if there is anything available that could close that gap.
*Look at the digital practices for the students; the quick checks, practice buddy-independent practice; problem solving and practice buddy-additional practice. Do they mirror the assessment?
*Look at the Reteaching at the end of each Topic they go with each lesson Set A=3.1, Set B=3.2, etc.
*Look at the Topic Assessment Practice
*Use the assessment question that goes with the lesson. Use as evidence of learning at the end of the lesson or use it as guided practice and teach through it. Then, make similar questions to practice format, wording or answering multiple parts.
It’s a Gap in Instruction Due to the Change in Resources!
We are experiencing a gap this year as we change resources;
let’s call it a GAP YEAR!
We have a beautiful thing going for us…
WIN time!
Use the information from MAP to help you see where the potential gaps are going to be.
Idea: Look at your upcoming topic and determine the major standards for that topic.
* Look at a student’s profile, find the standard(s) for the upcoming topic.
*Go backwards from that standard to the standard before it and before that and before that.
These are the standards that a particular student needs to develop to be ready for on-grade level content for your next topic of study. It even lists the learning objectives to reach a standard.
Grab those learning objectives and get to work during WIN…your students will be ready to go when you start the next topic of study!
It’s not a GAP because of the new Resource, my students JUST WON'T be ready for the assessment!
Be strategic when selecting your evidence of learning items each day. Will the evidence of learning be taken from their independent work in the workbooks? Quick checks online? Other envision resources? Formatives from edoctrina?
These selections should mirror the assessment questions or build towards them.
*Clipboard cruise while they are working and/or document after the assignment. These scores will give you the information that you need to determine who is on a path to reach the end learning goals and who is not.
Small Groups-
The students who are not on a path of achieving the end goals will need to be pulled and work on the learning targets again in a smaller setting.
This can happen during the core block or during WIN.
You have flex days to reteach if the majority of the class did not demonstrate understanding a learning target.
Homework can be differentiated to meet the needs of students.
Anticipated Misconceptions
*Sometimes you can anticipate which learning targets are going to be more difficult for your students.
….Anchor Charts!!!!
*Also great for new strategies.
So, Go and Look at that Assessment!!
And start asking, “What do my students need to learn to reach this end goal?”
**As always, see your coach for more information or to set up a time to work on this together!
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