Nebraska Assessment Tutorial Activated
After years of using locally developed assessments to determine student progress, Nebraska has joined the rest of the nation in the statewide assessment arena. The tutorial for Nebraska’s new statewide assessment is now available.
The software delivering the new assessment contains several tools to assist students as they take the test. There is a highlighter tool for students to use to highlight useful information in the text. Students can use a guideline tool to help them track along the lines of text as they read. A striker tool can be used by students to strike out the multiple choice items they think can be eliminated from consideration and an eraser tool allows them to erase their strike out marks and highlights. I encourage Nebraska teachers to try out the tutorial (be sure to download the testing software before you try the tutorial) and see how the new assessments will work. Students should take the tutorial before the field test which will begin April 13th and last through May 1st.
In addition to the tutorial, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) has posted mini-tests containing Nebraska test items. These mini-tests are available to provide teachers and students with a sampling of what the assessment items will be like. These mini-tests are made to be printed out rather than taken online.
Tables of Specification and Performance Level Descriptors (PLD) are also available at NDE. The tables specify the depth of knowledge levels at which assessment items have been written for each Nebraska Standard. The PLDs are rubrics that will be used to determine at which level each student is performing.
Thanks, Mike. Very useful links here. I appreciate your work in guiding us to important information.
Comment by Bob — March 11, 2009 @ 2:44 pm
Mike-
Nice blog…how do you like WordPress? Have you heard of studyisland.com? It’s a great tool that has very large question bank for reading and math STAR standards. They have just updated their site to include Nebraska’s standards. Students are able to log in at school/home to practice or a teacher can use clickers inside the classroom with all students at one time.
After reading this and thinking about the changes in the state assessments, I know study island would be a great tool to study with.
Comment by Joel — March 11, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
Joel-Thanks for sharing this information. I was not aware of studyisland.com. I just checked out their webpage and found the price list. Did your district buy for several grade levels?
Comment by Mike — March 11, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
I actually was doing a clicker training at ESU 10, and someone told me about it. We have not purchased it yet, however, I’m trying to get it to go. I think you can negotiate the price with them. I have a trial membership to it b/c I’m using it for other training workshops. The neat thing about it is that you can set each kids mastery level differently. If you have HAL kids that need to be challenged, you can move them up a grade level so that they are being tested over tougher material. (Great for RtI)
Students get blue ribbons for passing each standard that is assigned. That means they reach mastery that you have set for each standard. It seems like a great program, not sure on the cost to benefit if teachers aren’t using it on a daily basis. I was thinking it would be good to use as bellringers or after class.
Clickers are super easy to use with it, the website recognizes the clickers and graphs all information for you. Very handy and easy to use.
Comment by Joel — March 11, 2009 @ 4:00 pm
Mike,
This is a very clear and concise summary to help everyone feel a little more at ease with the unknowns of the state test. It is a great resource posted in a convenient place for reference by all teachers. Thanks for creating this blog.
Studyisland is pretty cool, but pricey unless it is used consistently by all. After the state assessment, teachers may be interested in being able to track how students are doing in each of the standards before the NEXT assesssment rolls around.
Comment by Gayle — March 12, 2009 @ 9:26 am