amsunshine Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 First of all, we are not worrying about prep for the Smarter Balanced testing this year. We have better things to do with our time. However, for the "performance" parts of the testing, our charter school gave us some preparation materials to review a few days prior to the test itself. I'm a little perplexed by materials for the math portions, especially. For 6th grade, the students are supposed to understand terms like "talent show". For 7th grade, they are supposed to understand terms like "donut" and "cardboard." Seriously? 6th and 7th grade? They expect that 6th and 7th graders will not be familiar with this terminology? And frankly, none of it seems to have much to do with math, although I'm willing to give the testmakers the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. I'm wondering what this performance assessment is going to be like. Anyone know? I'm curious now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 I do have a kid who doesn't know how many winners a talent show has :) My local district isn't prepping though as this year's (California) results are not going to be counted for school ranking. Kids would get their results but schools would not be ranked. Some districts here have done the state testing just before spring break. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 You can see a practice performance test for math at the Smarter Balanced practice tests site. Just click through, selecting the grade you want and keeping default usernames and passwords and the preselected options, until you get to the test selection. There are three practice tests for math and for ELA (at least at our grade), the last of each is the performance test. We are using Spectrum test prep a bit and going through practice tests online because we are classical homeschoolers and the format is plenty weird for us. I have to say, A. would also have no clue about a talent show and he probably has never seen the word "donut" in writing. :) That said, I am underwhelmed at some stuff. Like test prep that asked A. what the "context" clues were for finding the meanings of some very basic words and ideas ("comfort" and "appear", I think). We also had to adjust to the test prep ideas about drama and how plays are written, since we've only read Shakespeare who gives little in the way of stage direction and expects setting details to be largely extracted from the dialogue ... but at least there are questions about prose, poetry and drama. ETA: I don't think anyone should spend more time on test prep than makes sense to them. For us, my goals include: having the children enjoy testing as much as possible (to minimize stress -- A. did have a bad test experience early on), preparing the children so that they can do the good job I expect them to do on any task they tackle, and developing a constructive mindset around jumping through the hoops necessary for one's goals -- there nearly always are some. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 All I can say is, there are things on the test I don't remember doing until high school. I took algebra in 9th. But, that was a long time ago, and my memory is a bit fuzzy, to say the least. I would have been lost taking this test in 6-8. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I thought I'd post now that we've done some of the online practice tests. Well. Maths were really fun for A (who is accelerated in math, and working in AoPS books): he liked solving the problems. Language Arts has been miserable, a combination of A being more mathy than language-y and the general quality of the tests themselves. I do think that the Language Arts stuff is confusing and am frustrated that my child, who is excellent at extracting relevant information, identifying the text that supports his summary/answer, and finding strengths and weaknesses in arguments -- well, he is really struggling with questions that are supposed to "test" these skills. We're stopping test prep (the tests are next week), focusing on relaxing and having as much fun as possible, and I think for next year my prep will be cementing keyboarding skills and Critical Thinking Company's "Thinking Skills for Tests". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 My dds completed their testing yesterday with no issues. The preparation materials we read were not necessary at all for them to understand and complete the problems. Maybe there are students out there that would have needed the prep, I don't know. I did briefly look at the practice tests online -- thank you to the previous poster who linked that for me. The tests don't seem to be that difficult -- just different. I'm so curious as to how exactly they will be scored and how much time it will take. I suppose I can see why they want the kids to write a sentence or two about how/why they got a particular answer for a math question. But how is that going to be scored for every student in the whole state in an objective and timely manner? How are essays for every single student in the state going to be scored? It will be interesting to see how this goes.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 My dds completed their testing yesterday with no issues. The preparation materials we read were not necessary at all for them to understand and complete the problems. Maybe there are students out there that would have needed the prep, I don't know. I did briefly look at the practice tests online -- thank you to the previous poster who linked that for me. The tests don't seem to be that difficult -- just different. I'm so curious as to how exactly they will be scored and how much time it will take. I suppose I can see why they want the kids to write a sentence or two about how/why they got a particular answer for a math question. But how is that going to be scored for every student in the whole state in an objective and timely manner? How are essays for every single student in the state going to be scored? It will be interesting to see how this goes.... They don't have to write an essay. Like you said, maybe a couple of lines, or being specific about showing their work is acceptable depending on what the question is asking. It's just telling what they did to solve a problem. The rubrics the scorers use are very specific and give benchmarks and examples for each score. It is very objective. Everything is double-checked. It's actually pretty simple to score, and if there are questions about a particular response there are supervisors on hand that assist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 They don't have to write an essay. Like you said, maybe a couple of lines, or being specific about showing their work is acceptable depending on what the question is asking. It's just telling what they did to solve a problem. The rubrics the scorers use are very specific and give benchmarks and examples for each score. It is very objective. Everything is double-checked. It's actually pretty simple to score, and if there are questions about a particular response there are supervisors on hand that assist. Actually, my dd7th said she was, in fact, required to write an essay for the language arts portion. I wasn't talking about just the math portion. As for whether it is simple to score, perhaps it is simple. But it was certainly a whole lot simpler to have scantrons graded for the STAR test. And even something as simple as grading scantrons took forever and a day to grade and then compile statistics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 I also feel that writing sentences describing one's reasoning for reaching math answers is completely unnecessary on a state test. Math problems can be crafted in such a way that they require critical thinking and if the student misses particular questions, the type of critical thinking skills he/she lacks can be identified simply by the questions he/she misses. AMC8 and Math Kangaroo are particularly good at presenting these types of questions. JMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Actually, my dd7th said she was, in fact, required to write an essay for the language arts portion. I wasn't talking about just the math portion. As for whether it is simple to score, perhaps it is simple. But it was certainly a whole lot simpler to have scantrons graded for the STAR test. And even something as simple as grading scantrons took forever and a day to grade and then compile statistics. Oh, ok, I thought for the math (essays). But, even some older tests have had essays in the language arts portion. These essays have always been "hand scored." The same still applies as far as the rubric and benchmark examples when it comes to language arts. As far as the math, since they (test makers) want to know if the student understands the process and not just an answer, then the student has to show (or write out) the process. I'm not saying I have any love for CC or what it's doing to the school system, I just wanted to explain the process of hand scoring since it was brought up. I use to score essays for an ESL test a few years ago, and hand score other tests as a part time job now, so I'm familiar with the process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Oh, ok, I thought for the math (essays). But, even some older tests have had essays in the language arts portion. These essays have always been "hand scored." The same still applies as far as the rubric and benchmark examples when it comes to language arts. As far as the math, since they (test makers) want to know if the student understands the process and not just an answer, then the student has to show (or write out) the process. I'm not saying I have any love for CC or what it's doing to the school system, I just wanted to explain the process of hand scoring since it was brought up. I use to score essays for an ESL test a few years ago, and hand score other tests as a part time job now, so I'm familiar with the process. Right, there were some essays, but in our state, the writing tests were only administered for a few grade levels each year as a separate writing exam which is scored separately. This test has pretty much all grades (at least 6th and up, and maybe lower than 6th) writing essays. The workload goes up exponentially. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I also feel that writing sentences describing one's reasoning for reaching math answers is completely unnecessary on a state test. Math problems can be crafted in such a way that they require critical thinking and if the student misses particular questions, the type of critical thinking skills he/she lacks can be identified simply by the questions he/she misses. AMC8 and Math Kangaroo are particularly good at presenting these types of questions. JMO. If it is a question of yes/no and describe why, the response can be as simple as writing "No because..." and writing out the equation. It doesn't have to be all words, it needs to show the thinking process, which for most is the steps of the equation. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clemota Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 DD 6th just finished the test yesterday. She told me she was very tempted to write, "I used MATH." when asked to explain how she got an answer to a math problem. She finds those questions ridiculous - she's dyslexic and sometimes her math process is very different from a traditional process (she can solve complex questions in her head that I have to write down to solve), but she went along with it for this test because she knows I won't make her do it at home. The essay writing component is now a part of the LA performance test. DD wrote a mini research paper with the articles they provided. She LOVED the math performance test (though not the math basic test) because it was very puzzle-like and she enjoyed the story around it. I'm glad it's done though. It's been several weeks of me reinforcing the idea that the test doesn't actually matter to me or to her grades, and that she should just try her best but not to stress about it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renai Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 DD 6th just finished the test yesterday. She told me she was very tempted to write, "I used MATH." when asked to explain how she got an answer to a math problem. She finds those questions ridiculous - she's dyslexic and sometimes her math process is very different from a traditional process (she can solve complex questions in her head that I have to write down to solve), but she went along with it for this test because she knows I won't make her do it at home. For the next time, just know as long as she shows a process, she should be okay. Everything does not have to be explained in words (my dd is also dyslexic, so I know where you are coming from). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymotherof4 Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 My 3rd grader wasn't too bothered by the test although the LA performance task he found difficult. He thought the math performance task was a science test. My 8th grader complained about the volume of writing. The math he found easy. I did hear that kids did cry in the 3rd grade class. Keyboarding skills seem like the best test prep. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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