The School Principal – Teachers Taking Student Tests to Acquire Areas of Possible Challenge

An effective practice in high performing schools has teachers taking student tests in the academic subjects they teach from formatives to practice and NYS assessments.

Rationale

Teaching for learning is a given; however, assessment for learning is another. In assessment for learning, teachers taking student tests experience the challenges inherent in the tests. This provides a virtual way for teachers to get into the heads of their students and capture the nature of challenges inherent in both objective and performance test items to arrive at a correct response. In addition, it places post-test questions such as Why and how are my students having difficulty with these test items and where? in the prior learning zone.

Insights

As the author Cervantes (Don Quixote) says: Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory. Teachers taking students tests supports perceived understanding of student test challenges in advance of teaching and testing. In particular, it provides a possible need to adapt the teaching of certain types of challenges inherent in test items. Imagine a grade-level team of teachers taking a previous NYS assessment for their subject at the beginning of a school year and sharing their gleaned insights and how their understanding of item miscues may possibly affect their practice as well as the curriculum for the subject. Working with formatives and State tests keeps the practice on track. Knowing that NYS assessments pretty much tend to measure similar standards each year, an examination of student results at the end of a school year is a powerful indicator of the effectiveness of the practice.

Teaching Practices & Technology

EdVistas DataMate Assessment and Reporting System is a powerful tool to confirm effectiveness of a teaching practice. It is easy and quick to provide student assessment data and information in multiple formats such as individual student reports, distractor analysis, and level of acquisition of NYS learning standards item by item.

Those interested in learning more about EdVistas ways to harness technology, particularly DataMate, to support formative assessment may do so by contacting Pete Cooper at 518-925-6021 or pcooper@edvistas.com.