Arcadia Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 California is starting pilot CC based standardized tests this year and the actual run next year. The math sample questions has word problems on them so students cannot just color in bubbles. They have to write out workings. I have not look at LA and science sample questions but it won't be multiple choice questions only either. What is your opinion on how it will affect curriculum and how public schools teach? ETA: What I am wondering is that now students cannot be taught to just eliminate answers and pick the best answers. They have to be taught how to write out their workings and get the actual answer. So for example What is the volume of a cube of side 2cm? With multiple choice, the answers could be A) 2 cm B) 8 cm C) 2 cubic cm D) 8 cubic cm And kids would know a and b are out because it is volume. However they have 50/50 chance of guessing the correct answer even if they don't know the formula for volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 What is MCQ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 What is MCQ? Multiple choice questions :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snickerdoodle Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 :blushing: It's late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I'm not sure what word problems have to do with whether the answer form for a question is multiple choice or open-ended. Word problems can still be answered via multiple choice. I would guess that a standardized test that involved answers other than multiple choice would need to be hand-graded unless the answers were typed into a computer as with Alcumus. A hand-graded state standardized test would probably be prohibitively expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 I'm not sure what word problems have to do with whether the answer form for a question is multiple choice or open-ended. Word problems can still be answered via multiple choice. I would guess that a standardized test that involved answers other than multiple choice would need to be hand-graded unless the answers were typed into a computer as with Alcumus. A hand-graded state standardized test would probably be prohibitively expensive. I word the question wrongly. Word problems can be answered by multiple choice but now the questions are longer and students have to type in the answers. It would be marked by people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 And kids would know a and b are out because it is volume. However they have 50/50 chance of guessing the correct answer even if they don't know the formula for volume. Unfortunately, no, students wouldn't necessarily be able to eliminate a and b. It's appalling how little some students know. However, the tests I've seen don't generally mess with different units unless the question is about units, in which case you'd have similar numbers and units like 8 cm, 8 sq cm, 8 cu cm, ??. I graded some open-ended questions on a state math test that was being piloted when I was in grad school. It was interesting to see what students did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmead Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 You can grade open-ended questions on a bubble sheet: you do it the same way you bubble in your name. There is a series of columns and each one has 0-9 under it. There are 4-5 columns to the left of the decimal and 2-3 columns after the decimal. You write in the whole number of your answer, and then bubble the corresponding oval under each digit. That said, lots of standardized tests have free responses sections that have to be hand-graded: AP and SAT exams, for one. Texas requires a great deal of writing for their high school standardized tests: ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades require three "short answers" on the reading test that are each 9 lines long, and three essays on the separate writing test--each a full page. Free response sounds great, but what, IME, happens is that in order to be consistent, the graders tend to be inflexible, which encourages teaching the kids very specific techniques that have more to do with technically matching a rubric than with good writing/clear thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 FWIW, I recently found out that my state's standardized test requires that work must be shown for some math problems (even some that are ridiculously easy). I was talking to ds's teacher today who told me she's working on getting ds to write everything down - this is the kid who doesn't even want to write anything down for aops prealgebra so he tries to do a lot in his head. (He did all right on the test last year, hitting the score ceiling.) The state hires graders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Unfortunately, no, students wouldn't necessarily be able to eliminate a and b. It's appalling how little some students know. I'm sure that many don't know to eliminate a & b, but I also bet that this is the sort of "teaching to the test" that is done a lot -- first check the units to see if you can eliminate any, and if you are short on time, guess quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 FWIW, I recently found out that my state's standardized test requires that work must be shown for some math problems (even some that are ridiculously easy). I was talking to ds's teacher today who told me she's working on getting ds to write everything down - this is the kid who doesn't even want to write anything down for aops prealgebra so he tries to do a lot in his head. (He did all right on the test last year, hitting the score ceiling.) The state hires graders. My kids are lazy on writing out working too. However a test that requires a child to write out the answer (even with no working) is a more accurate gauge that giving multiple choice answers and it becomes a 25% chance a child guess right on something the child do not know. I'm sure that many don't know to eliminate a & b, but I also bet that this is the sort of "teaching to the test" that is done a lot -- first check the units to see if you can eliminate any, and if you are short on time, guess quickly. Students are taught to look out for key words like "altogether", "difference", "total" and just respond accordingly. It is an honestly sad situation. I was giving an example of a typical prep question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Where did you find these problems? I need to really look at these. I have one child who really struggles with word problems already. Yikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 Where did you find these problems? I need to really look at these. I have one child who really struggles with word problems already. Yikes. Below links are for California. The state is using Smarter Balanced for creating the test questions Sample test question link is halfway down the page http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks/ Full details of test structure is on this pdf. Like how many computer adaptive test questions and how many free response questions. http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Smarter-Balanced-Preliminary-Test-Blueprints.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.