Teaching Strategies That Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests

Teaching Strategies That Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests PDF Author: Donna Walker Tileston
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452294364
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 105

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Helps building and district-level administrators realize that they don′t have to abandon sound and effective instructional practices to prepare students for high-stakes tests." —Sheila Smith, Science Specialist Jackson Public Schools, MS "I encourage trainers to discuss this text and its applications with teachers to enhance the performance of students on state and national tests. This book meets a very specific need in classrooms." —J-Petrina McCarty-Puhl, Teacher Robert McQueen High School, Reno, NV Improve student performance on high-stakes tests with research-proven practices for teaching to standards! Standardized tests are one of the leading measures of student achievement and educator accountability today, so it is important to give students the necessary skills to perform well on state exams and to align instructional practices with standards. This step-by-step manual outlines a straightforward, powerful model for infusing state standards and knowledge benchmarks into lesson plans and day-to-day assessments to boost overall achievement. Grounded in the results of more than 30,000 studies, the best practices shared by the authors are linked specifically to the two types of knowledge—declarative and procedural—assessed on high-stakes tests and are ranked according to their effectiveness for each type. To help educators maximize testing results while meeting state standards and ultimately deepening student learning, the text provides a solid framework that empowers teachers to easily: Unpack state standards by grade level into measurable units Identify the key elements of state tests Determine and assess critical benchmarks Select the most appropriate and meaningful strategies based on new data on the effectiveness of various instructional practices From reproducible templates to tangible tactics for mapping lesson plans, this resource offers comprehensive tools for teachers to nurture learning and ensure success in all students.

Teaching Strategies That Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests

Teaching Strategies That Prepare Students for High-Stakes Tests PDF Author: Donna Walker Tileston
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452294364
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 105

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Helps building and district-level administrators realize that they don′t have to abandon sound and effective instructional practices to prepare students for high-stakes tests." —Sheila Smith, Science Specialist Jackson Public Schools, MS "I encourage trainers to discuss this text and its applications with teachers to enhance the performance of students on state and national tests. This book meets a very specific need in classrooms." —J-Petrina McCarty-Puhl, Teacher Robert McQueen High School, Reno, NV Improve student performance on high-stakes tests with research-proven practices for teaching to standards! Standardized tests are one of the leading measures of student achievement and educator accountability today, so it is important to give students the necessary skills to perform well on state exams and to align instructional practices with standards. This step-by-step manual outlines a straightforward, powerful model for infusing state standards and knowledge benchmarks into lesson plans and day-to-day assessments to boost overall achievement. Grounded in the results of more than 30,000 studies, the best practices shared by the authors are linked specifically to the two types of knowledge—declarative and procedural—assessed on high-stakes tests and are ranked according to their effectiveness for each type. To help educators maximize testing results while meeting state standards and ultimately deepening student learning, the text provides a solid framework that empowers teachers to easily: Unpack state standards by grade level into measurable units Identify the key elements of state tests Determine and assess critical benchmarks Select the most appropriate and meaningful strategies based on new data on the effectiveness of various instructional practices From reproducible templates to tangible tactics for mapping lesson plans, this resource offers comprehensive tools for teachers to nurture learning and ensure success in all students.

The Ant Hill Disaster

The Ant Hill Disaster PDF Author: Julia Cook
Publisher: National Center for Youth Issues
ISBN: 1937870944
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

Get Book Here

Book Description
Will it happen again, Mama? After the Ant Hill School is destroyed, a little boy ant is afraid to go back to school. His mom caringly explains to him that sometimes things happen in life over which we have no control, but we have to find a way to keep living and growing. To do that, "We breathe in and breathe out, and hold onto each other. We shed a lot of tears, and we love one another. We all come together as a strong team of ONE, and then we rebuild, and get things done!" The Ant Hill Disaster thoughtfully addresses fears associated with both natural and man-caused disasters. It models effective parenting and teaching responses. This book can help assure children that through love, empathetic understanding, preparation, and effective communication, they can stand strong, even in the midst of uncontrollable events.

Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry

Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry PDF Author: W. James Popham
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 1416626484
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
What is assessment literacy? It’s a handful of fundamental understandings about the testing concepts and procedures that influence educational decisions. And it just might be the most cost-effective means of real school improvement. With characteristic humor and aplomb, assessment expert W. James Popham strips away the psychometrician-speak and condenses the complexities of educational testing to six practical and action-oriented understandings about validity, reliability, fairness, score reporting, formative assessment, and affective assessment. This book is for busy educators at the classroom and leadership levels who want • Tests that are worth the valuable time they take to administer. • Tests that accurately measure what student have learned. • Tests that fairly reflect teacher and school effectiveness. • Tests that provide the instructionally useful data that will help students learn faster and better. Assessment Literacy for Educators in a Hurry is the fastest route to acquiring the measurement moxie necessary to understand and advocate for better assessment practices and build a case for stopping ineffective and harmful ones. In just a few hours’ time, you can pick up the knowledge you need to do a whole lot of good—for your students, yourself, and our schools.

Testing Miss Malarkey

Testing Miss Malarkey PDF Author: Judy Finchler
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 080273636X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

Get Book Here

Book Description
The new school year brings standardized testing to every school and Miss Malarkey's is no exception. Teachers, students, and even parents are preparing for THE TEST-The Instructional Performance Through Understanding (IPTU) test-and the school is in an uproar. Even though the grown-ups tell the children not to worry, they're acting kind of strange. The gym teacher is teaching stress-reducing yoga instead of sports in gym class. Parents are giving pop quizzes on bedtime stories at night. The cafeteria is serving "brain food" for lunch. The kids are beginning to think that maybe the test is more important than they're being led to believe. Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud as Finchler and O'Malley poke fun at the commotion surrounding standardized testing, a staple of every school's year.

The Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing

The Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing PDF Author: Gail M. Jones
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1461715474
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Get Book Here

Book Description
To better understand how high-stakes accountability has influenced teaching and learning, this book takes an in-depth look at the myriad consequences that high-stakes tests hold for students, teachers, administrators, and the public. By focusing on these tests and spending large amounts of time on test preparation and driving teachers to teach low-level, rote memorization, schools are essentially wiping out non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. Although testing is promoted as a strategy for improving education for all, research shows that testing has differential effects on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language. The Unintended Consequences of High Stakes Testing unpacks the assumptions and philosophical foundations on which testing policies are based. The authors' arguments are grounded in extensive interviews and research. Through an examination of research, these authors show that high-stakes testing promotes students' dependence on extrinsic motivation at the cost of intrinsic motivation and the associated love of learning—which has tangible impacts on their education and lives. Features: -Examines how high stakes testing from the perspectives of teachers, students, and adminstrators. -Considers how testing impacts the curriculum including tested subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics as well as non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. -Documents how teachers and administrators engage in test preparation and discusses ethical and unethical test preparation practices. -Reviews the evolution of testing through history and how it mpacts the curriculum. -Examines the differential effects of testing on students with special needs, minority students, students living in poverty, and those for whom English is a second language.

Teaching Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

Teaching Adolescents with Learning Disabilities PDF Author: Donald D. Deshler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 664

Get Book Here

Book Description
Offers the instructional approach that emphasizes thinking processes, self-regulation, and problem solving. This text presents a range of general strategies that can be applied to various content areas. It contains information on memory, note-taking, test-taking, social skills, transition, and collaborative skills.

The Knowledge Gap

The Knowledge Gap PDF Author: Natalie Wexler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735213569
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
“Essential reading for teachers, education administrators, and policymakers alike.” —STARRED Library Journal The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Visible Learning for Literacy, Grades K-12

Visible Learning for Literacy, Grades K-12 PDF Author: Douglas Fisher
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1506344038
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Every student deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design" — Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, & John Hattie What if someone slipped you a piece of paper listing the literacy practices that ensure students demonstrate more than a year’s worth of learning for a year spent in school? Would you keep the paper or throw it away? We think you’d keep it. And that’s precisely why acclaimed educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie wrote Visible Learning for Literacy. They know teachers will want to apply Hattie’s head-turning synthesis of more than 15 years of research involving millions of students, which he used to identify the instructional routines that have the biggest impact on student learning. These practices are "visible" for teachers and students to see, because their purpose has been made clear, they are implemented at the right moment in a student’s learning, and their effect is tangible. Yes, the "aha" moments made visible by design. With their trademark clarity and command of the research, and dozens of classroom scenarios to make it all replicable, these authors apply Hattie’s research, and show you: How to use the right approach at the right time, so that you can more intentionally design classroom experiences that hit the surface, deep, and transfer phases of learning, and more expertly see when a student is ready to dive from surface to deep. Which routines are most effective at specific phases of learning, including word sorts, concept mapping, close reading, annotating, discussion, formative assessment, feedback, collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, and many more. Why the 8 mind frames for teachers apply so well to curriculum planning and can inspire you to be a change agent in students’ lives—and part of a faculty that embraces the idea that visible teaching is a continual evaluation of one’s impact on student’s learning. "Teachers, it’s time we embrace the evidence, update our classrooms, and impact student learning in wildly positive ways," say Doug, Nancy, and John. So let’s see Visible Learning for Literacy for what it is: the book that renews our teaching and reminds us of our influence, just in time.

De-stress the Test

De-stress the Test PDF Author: Martha Kaufeldt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781949539561
Category : Achievement tests
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
"For 21st century students, high-stakes testing often creates stressful classroom environments that hinder student learning and negatively impact students' overall performance on the tests themselves. Author Martha Kaufeldt's De-Stress the Test: Brain-Friendly Strategies to Prepare Students for High-Stakes Assessments seeks to alleviate the stress of the test and help create classrooms full of focus and learning. Topics range from a biological breakdown of how the brain reacts to stressful environments to practical strategies for reducing stress and increasing focus in the classroom. Kaufeldt's experience shines through as she provides accessible solutions to help students thrive during testing. Students deserve to learn and develop without experiencing needless stress and anxiety, and De-Stress the Test is a tool that can help make that a reality"--

Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI)

Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) PDF Author: John R. Hollingsworth
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1412955734
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 561

Get Book Here

Book Description
A proven method for better teaching, better learning, and better test scores! This teacher-friendly book presents a step-by-step approach for implementing the Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) approach in diverse classrooms. Based on educational theory, brain research, and data analysis, EDI helps teachers deliver effective lessons that can significantly improve achievement all grade levels. The authors discuss characteristics of EDI, such as checking for understanding, lesson objectives, activating prior knowledge, concept and skills development, and guided practice, and provide: Clearly defined lesson design components Detailed sample lessons Easy-to-follow lesson delivery strategies Scenarios that illustrate what EDI techniques look like in the classroom