State Testing Online

Image provided by Colemama

 Ok, so as many of you know Kansas is asking that all students take the state assessments online which is a great step in my mind. With that, many people in my district are nervous to say the least about students being "forced" to assess online when they are being taught this way! I am hearing some people say that their students aren't going to do well on this assessment because it's online and they don't know how to read text online. I ask the teachers why their students can't read comfortably online? The response is honestly because they haven't been given the opportunity, and then I wait before I respond. I wait and then the teachers usually do one of two things; they blush and say "I know, I should be teaching them those skills" or "So, anyway...they aren't going to do well and we are in trouble." I am writing about this to share with the first group of teachers, I wanted to share some ideas for how to prepare students to take the online assessment.

The easiest way to get students comfortable with any state assessment online is to go through the tutorial first. In Kansas, here is the link for the KCA tutoral, I would begin there and set the purpose for your students so when they are doing different activities they will understand why they are practicing these skills for math and reading. It is also beneficial to model when you use those different tools as you are learning content, it's just those things that good readers do. You can also use this site KCA testbuilder. Sorry any out-of-state readers, I don't know your state specific site....ask around :). There are several tools that you can use in other applications to help students to become more comfortable with the tools available during the KCA.

Here are some of the reading activities that teachers can do to help students to become more literate with reading online text and using tools available to them on the assessment:

• Use Microsoft Word and any Time For Kids article to teach students how to use the highlight tool to identify the main idea and details of the article as well as the comprehension questions provided by the site or make up your own. You could even have the students make up comprehension questions as they become familiar with this strategy. You can also use the strike through option when in Word.
  
  
• Students can better understand how to retell a story by creating one "best" retelling and 3 "close but not correct" retelling options using their favorite picture book. Here is a student sample created by students in Mrs. Martinez's class at Pleasant Valley Elementary in Wichita, KS as well as the lesson plan (scroll down to Retelling) to follow if you are interested in using it with your students.

Here are some of the math activities that teachers can do to help students to become more literate with reading online text, and using tools available to them on the assessment:

•  Most students have had little practice on a calculator so getting them to use it is the first step. A calculator is only as good as the operator, it can't think for you it only process what you tell it. Here is a basic calculator online to help the students practice.
  
  
• If possible give the students practice with reading word problems online. One site many teachers in our district use is the Everyday Math SMART Board Lessons  . I suggest using the math message activity while the students use it at their computer in groups of two to work the problem out with you. That way they would be able to practice reading online and working out the problem instead of on paper only.
  
  
• Another site that would help students practice reading math problems online is Math Playground. It is an excellent site to get students familiar with reading text online without the repetition of practice assessment. 

I hope that you have found some of these ideas helpful, I will continue to post helpful math and reading sites and activities to help students prepare to take the assessment online in my delicious account. To access it go to www.delicious.com/jgridley .