“A draft of the revised Mathematics Standards is available for review and input March 23 – April 3.   Over the past several months, 100+ educators from across Nebraska have been working on a draft of revised Mathematics standards for grades K,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, and High School.  We invite you to review and comment.  Please go to the following website http://www.nde.state.ne.us/math/documents/StandardsSurveyHomepage.html

“There are several helpful components on this web site:

• An introduction video detailing the organization of the standards document and corresponding rationale
• A PowerPoint accompanying the video including several key questions for survey participants to answer as they review the document
• The K-12 draft standards document
• The link to the electronic survey to provide input

“All schools are encouraged to participate.  Participants are able to comment as an individual or as a group.  Please remember this survey is to provide input on the content of the standards themselves – not on the statewide assessment.  Those pieces will come later.”

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.