Raise Them Up

Praise is a useful tool for teachers to use in their classroom.  It not only recognizes a child's work, but contributes to the overall wellbeing of the classroom environment.  

All students need praise.  From those performing above the standard to those hanging on below.  Praise should comment on students' effort and achievements they are making.  Praise encourages a student to keep working to do even better and advance their learning and work to higher levels.

However, praise needs to be more than just a generic "Good Job!".  Praise needs to be specific and provide information that students are able to take and use to their betterment.  Grant Wiggins said the most effective feedback is "goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely' ongoing; and consistent".

Below are 3 (made-up) scenarios when praise and specific feedback is useful to provide positive recognition to acknowledge and encourage a student's academic achievement.  

What You Talkin' About

There are multiple ways in which we communicate with one another.  Having different forms of communication is useful and needed for us to express our thoughts and opinions comfortably within the different areas of our lives.

And having an appropriate form of communicate at school is no different.

Academic language is the "oral, written, auditory and visual language proficiency required to learn effectively in schools and academic programs -- i.e., it's the language used in classroom lessons, books, tests, and assignments, and it's the language that students are expected to learn and achieve fluency in." Furthermore, "academic language includes a variety of formal-language skills -- such as vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, syntax, discipline-specific terminology, or rhetorical skills while also successfully navigating school policies, assignments, expectations, and cultural norms (Hidden curriculum, 2014).

It is essential that students develop academic language as the skills associated with the developed vocabulary extend to all facets of life.  Such as: foundational academic skills (organizing, planning, researching), cognitive skills (critical thinking, problem solving, interpreting, analyzing, memorizing, recalling), learning modes (questioning, discussing, observing, theorizing, experimenting), and working habits (persistence, self-discipline, curiosity, conscientiousness, responsibility), in addition to other forms of literacy (technology, online, media, or multicultural literacy) required to succeed in modern schools (Hidden curriculum, 2014).

Comprehension is dependent on a student being able to understand the words used. A recently development in the academic community is the practice of tiering language. 

Using tiered academic language allows teachers to help their students learn and develop their skills and achieve standards.  

But sometimes students need a bit of help to get there.

The short video by Uncommon Schools takes a look at Mr. Bartz's 9th grade math class in which he incorporates different methods to push his students to use a higher level of reasoning and wording.  Mr. Bartz asks his students to explain why an equation is correct and the process they used to determine the answer. When his students are not able to produce an answer that meets the standard of vocabulary and explanation, he allows the students to work in pairs to discuss the problem and use collaborative efforts to reach a successful answer. Mr. Bartz does not accept wrong or incomplete answers from his students; instead he keeps redirecting their efforts, attempting to realign their reasoning and explanation to a "college level answer." Once the correct answer has been reached, he asks if there are any misunderstandings and confusion that need to be readdressed.

Pushing our students and requiring more from them sets high expectations and pushes the learning standard higher.

"Extensive research shows that expectations exert powerful influences upon student behavior" (Miller, Nov. 2014). Miller quoted Schilling and Schilling (1999) in his article stated their findings that expectations are vital to education:

the literature on motivation and school performance in younger school children suggests that expectations shape the learning experiences very powerfully.  For example, classic studies in the psychology literature have found that merely stating an expectation results in enhanced performance, that higher expectations result in higher performance, and that person with high expectations perform at a higher level than those with low expectation, even though their measured abilities are equal.  

Harvard Professor Robert Rosenthal, said it plainly - when teachers expect their students to increase their IQs, students do. 

High expectations not only need to be required of our students, but also of our teachers to help children achieve greater accomplishments in their education. 

With everyone working hard and striving for the best, good things are sure to happen.

References:

Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum

Holding High Expectations. (2012, September 19). Retrieved September 24, 2015.

Miller, R. (2001, November 1). Greater Expectations to Improve Student Learning.  Retrieved September 24, 2015. 

Tyson, K. (2013, May 26). No Tears for Tiers: Common Core Tiered Vocabulary Made Simple. Retrieved September 24, 2015.

Getting Started

Pre-assessments allow teachers to determine what their students know and are able to do before starting into a new skill, lesson/unit.  Based on the level of the students' understanding, teachers are then able to make the best adjustments to their teaching, so that they are better able to target their students' needs.

Pre-assessments can take many forms and test different features of a skill set.

A teacher can create an online quiz with Quizlet or Kahoot to that test students' knowledge of information.  Below are screenshots of the Kahoot problem sample set.  Questions are multiple choice, with students given 2-4 answer choices to pick between.

Although it might be "old school" in the 21st Century classroom, paper and pencil still provide a valuable asset.  While  tech options are able to enhance and add to a lesson, don't overlook traditional testing options when assessing math.  Paper and pencil allow teachers to further assess what students can do and where they are misunderstanding the math process.  Paper and pencil also allow students to draw out explanations and manipulate arrays and pictures.

Once the teacher has conducted the pre-assessment, they can then use the information to differentiate their classroom instruction to ensure every child is learning the standard at their potential.

For example:

After the pre-assessment, the teacher learns that the students' abilities breakdown as follows:

• 5 students who answered most, including the most difficult, of the pre-assessment questions correctly
• 12 students who have some knowledge about the topics as shown in their score, but need to develop higher order thinking skills
• 5 students who appear to have limited knowledge about the topic

Using this information, the teacher is then be able to devise strategies and tracking assessments that they can use throughout the lesson/unit.

Innovative differentiated strategies:

Above - 

Students are allowed to work independently on a computer designed program that extends their knowledge and challenges their skills.  The computer program incorporates multiple learning strategies (i.e. problem sets, word problems, games, etc) that keep the student interested and engaged. Once the student has completed the program or time has ended they will be able to save their work to return to it later or for the teacher to evaluate it.

At - 

Peer work allows students to work on developing their skills by having them talk through their understanding of the skill and to work through misconceptions that they might have. 

Below - 

Additionally teaching time.  Hands on teaching with teaching aides. Simplified instructions with the possibility to eliminated elements of the standard (sub-skills) that do not necessarily header the students understanding of the lesson.

Tracking assessments:

Above - 

Ask students to complete and solve more complex/difficult questions will challenge the student and allow the teacher to determine the level of their understanding. 

At - 

Ask students to complete problem sets that meet all requirements of the standard, with a slight range in difficulty to push the child's thinking and ability within a comfortable range for them. 

Below - 

Have students answers questions that uses simple numbers, single digits that allow the students to show they understand the skill, but does not push them too far past their ability.

Additionally strategies and assessments are mentioned on the mindmap, but hundreds of other options also exist.  It's all about finding what works for your students and doing your best to help them achieve and excel.

Pre-assessments:

https://quizlet.com/93794837/3rd-grade-math-flash-cards/

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/80b1f391-eaa9-484f-86d5-d281afb9693b

http://staunton.k12.va.us/cms/lib03/VA01000591/Centricity/Domain/15/3rd%20Grade%20curriculum%20map%202012-2013%20quarter2.pdf

Mindmap:
https://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/f861f5db-1eec-4d91-84ef-5b47ab3321ca

References:

Challenge Your Top Students. (2015). Retrieved September 23, 2015.

Gersten, R. (2009, April 1). Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
Lauber, S. (2014, October 21). Differentiation Strategies: Teaching Grade-Level Content to ALL Students. Retrieved September 23, 2015.

The Stakes are High

High stakes testing.  

It is a pretty hot topic in most school systems. 

In most places around the world that use them!

The video rants against them on YouTube are endless.  There are nearly 14,000 videos on the topic!

But despite the Internet's rage against schools' use of high stakes testing, we still use them.

We still use them a lot. 

A lot, a lot!

It's a funny paradox education and testing.  

We know that there is a need for teaching reforms and that our past methods aren't working, that no child is the same and we must meet their learning needs.  Yet at the end of it all... we give them all the same standardize test (with minor exceptions), that do not make any of the learning allowances, do not make students feel good about themselves, that stack them up in a comparative line against all the other millions of children in their age bracket!

All because the government needs to know how the children of the nation are doing academically.

So just get out your #2 pencils and pick 'C' if/when you don't know.

Heads up ~ you're gonna need a lot of pencils!

Ohio is no exception to this testing predicament.   

Here is how Ohio stacks up with standardized testing:

1. Schools will no longer be conducting the OAA (Ohio Achievement Assessments) taken by students in grade 3-8 to check "what they know and are able to do in various subjects."
2. PARCC is also out.
3. AIR (American Institutes of Research) is in as the new testing format/maker.
1. The new state tests "measure student progress toward Ohio’s Learning Standards. They help make sure every Ohio student receives a high-quality education. Student test results show that students have the knowledge and skills they need to move successfully to their next steps in education or a career."
1. AIR was used last year to test Social Studies and Science
2. This year it will be use to test all areas - English Language Arts, Math, SS and Science.
2. There will only be one test this year and it will require less time
1. Each test will be approximately three hours (180 minutes) and will be divided into two parts. Districts will choose whether their students will take a test in two 90-minute sessions or in one 180-minute session. 
2. School districts will select either 10 consecutive days (for paper tests) or 15 consecutive days (for online tests) during the windows of dates allocated for the tests. 
4. Kindergarteners take the Ohio's Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.
1. It has six components: social skills (including social and emotions development, and approaches towards learning), mathematics, social studies, language and literacy, and physical well-being and motor development.
5. Children in grades 1-3 are given the Diagnostic Assessments "to provide a tool to check the progress of students towards meeting the standards." 
1. Students are tested twice - at the beginning and end of the year.
2. Districts/schools must administer a reading diagnostic assessment to all students in kindergarten through grade three.
6. A Math Diagnostic Assessment must be given once a year to students in first and second grade.
7. A Writing Assessments must be given at least once a year to students in grades 1-3.
8. Ohio's Alternate Assessment for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities (AASCD) is aligned to Ohio's Learning Standards-Extended (OLS-E) and designed to allow students with significant cognitive disabilities to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in an appropriately rigorous assessment.
9. ELL students will take the "ELPA21 assessment system [to] measure and report on students' English language proficiency overall, as well as in reading, writing, speaking, listening and comprehension."
10. Students will still be required to pass all 5 parts of the Ohio Graduation Test in order to receive their diplomas, but it is changing.

(Ohio Dept. of Ed, 2015)

Not to mention graduating seniors will also have to take the PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT WorkKeys, ACT to be able to further their education. Or if you did not complete high school the first time round you can take the GED.

And all of this testing isn't making our students any better.

Common Core test scores from the 2014-2015 school year saw less than half - LESS THAN HALF! - of all students able to meet the standards. About 26 percent to 40 percent of elementary and middle school students met or exceeded expectations on math and English exams. High school exams had higher results, but officials said those tests were taken by fewer and mostly advanced ninth-grade students. (WLWT, 2015).

StateImpact, a reporting project of NPR (2015), reviewed Ohio's testing process as follows:

WHY ARE THOSE TESTS GIVEN?

The main federal legislation governing education, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires states to test students annually. The requirement started in 1994, but was strengthened in 2001 with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2012, Ohio received permission from the federal Department of Education to not comply with certain parts of the No Child Left Behind law. That waiver, as it is called, mostly allows Ohio freedom from meeting the federal goal of having all students proficient in reading and math by 2014. It doesn’t significantly change the standardized tests students must take.

HOW ARE THE TEST RESULTS USED?

For students:

• Teachers and families can use test results to identify subject areas in which students struggle. Teachers and administrators also look at test results as one factor in making decisions about promoting students to the next grade.
• As mentioned earlier, there’s that Third Grade Reading Guarantee.
• In general, students must pass all five Ohio Graduation Tests in order to earn a high-school diploma.

For teachers:

• The results of the Ohio Achievement Assessments are used to compute  a statistical measure called “value-added.” Value-added measures how much students progress academically during a given year compared to how much they were expected to progress, regardless of their academic level at the start of the year.
• Starting in 2013-14, teachers in all Ohio public school districts (and some charter schools) for which value-added results are available will be evaluated in part on them. This means that looking at how much progress each teacher’s students made in a given year will be one part of how each teacher is judged.
• Increasingly, school districts are tying decisions about teacher layoffs, terminations and recalls to their evaluations.
• [The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System was passed in new law for the 2015-2016 school year and beyond to evaluate teachers. It allows "districts [to] monitor educator performance and student growth – and use [the] information to continually improve student achievement. ...   It modifies the alternative framework [by extending] safe harbor provisions for educators who use value-added ratings from state tests" (OH Dept. of Ed.,2015).]

For schools:

• Public schools whose students perform poorly on state tests year after year are subject to a range of consequences.
• Low-performing traditional public schools have to change how they operate. That could mean replacing staff or using a new curriculum. They may also be eligible for extra funding to support school “turnaround” efforts.
• Charter schools with poor state ratings for multiple years must shut down. State ratings are based largely on state test performance.

ARE THESE STATE STANDARDIZED TESTS BAD FOR STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS?

Some people think so.

They say standardized tests present a limited view of student performance.

• Some students may know the subject, but get nervous (or be sick or unhappy or distracted) on test day and perform poorly.

• The tests judge only whether students have a basic knowledge of a subject matter. The tests don’t encourage schools to teach students higher-level knowledge or skills or give students a way to demonstrate higher-level knowledge or skills.

They say it’s a bad idea to evaluate students, teachers and schools — and make important decisions about them — based largely on standardized test performance.

They also say that the emphasis placed on standardized tests leads schools and teachers decide to “teach to the test,” narrowing what students are taught.

Again, there are nearly 14,000 videos on YouTube raging against standardize testing!

With Ohio having so many tests and assessments that are state/nation mandated it is hard to say whether or not educators are actually teaching to the tests.  Since Common Core is the driving force behind much of the state's curriculum and tests, it's hard to see how they are not hand in hand.  With the shift in test provides this year, perhaps the overall benefits of the CC headache will be seen.  

Or not.

However, Ohio kids did do better than kids from Illinois. Ohio had more kids score in the top two ratings levels than Illinois on the new exams students took this spring through the PARCC testing consortium. Ohio had the edge in several grades and in both reading and math, but usually by very small amounts. Illinois bested Ohio only in eighth grade math" (O'Donnell, 2015). 
But this might not be saying much, as Illinois has ~70% of its students not meeting standards (Krishnamurthy, 2015).

Illinois has fully adopted Common Core and with it made changes to its standardized testing (similar to Ohio).  Students in 3rd through 8th grade take a standards-based test called the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). Standards-based means that test items are based on grade-specific Illinois academic content standards 

Here's a breakdown of their standardize testing:

1. PARCC (for grades 3-8, testing English Language Arts and Mathematics).
1. Students in 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th grade also take a writing test, while students in 4th and 7th grade take a science test. In addition, schools can choose to administer ISAT tests in physical development and health, social science and fine arts.
2. Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) (for students with cognitive learning disabilities).
3. Access for ELLs and Alternate Access for ELLs.
4. ACT Plus Writing as well as three ACT WorkKeys assessments (Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information) will be used for  graduation assessments.

(Illinois State Board of Education, 2015)

So... by similar to Ohio I mean that have some of the tests we do, but nowhere near as many. 

It's all a lot to take. 

Quite literally.

  

Time will tell if it is actually helping improve the quality of our educational system.

It's only our children we are making suffer in the meantime.

References:

Common Core test results in Ohio lower than previous scores. (2015, September 15). Retrieved September 19, 2015.

Illinois State Board of Education. (2015). Retrieved September 19.

Krishnamurthy, M. (2015, September 17). 70% of Illinois students not meeting standardized test expectations. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
O'Donnell, P. (2015, September 17). Common Core comparison: Ohio students have edge on PARCC scores over Illinois, but results are incomplete. Retrieved September 19, 2015.

Ohio Department of Education. (2015). Retrieved September 19, 2015.

Ohio Standardized Testing 101. (2015). Retrieved September 19, 2015.