At-Home Assessment Tips

At-Home Assessment Tips

To prepare, students should vary what they read outside of school.

High-stakes assessment season is about to be in full swing. While your child’s teachers might be spending their final weeks trying to fill their students’ heads with more information, there are also things you can do to help your child ace the state’s test.

Practice the procedures

Let the teachers worry about the actual content. Practice at home should consist of preparing your child to actually take the test.

For instance, many students don’t know what 45 minutes “feels” like, so when the proctor starts issuing time warnings, they are caught off guard and might freeze up (or rush, which is worse). On many assessments, there may be types of questions they haven’t seen yet. Both can be remedied with some dry runs before the big day.

Relaxation techniques

Test anxiety takes many forms and may not manifest before the big day itself. If you know your child might experience anxiety, start working on some relaxation techniques that can help calm them down.

Here’s a quick rundown on some breathing exercises proven to lower stress levels in 10 minutes or less. Here is a list of stretches that students can do while staying in their desks. Both can pay dividends during testing season.

Read deeply

Most of the next generation assessments focus more on non-fiction when it comes to their reading comprehension sections, rather than fiction and poetry. This forces students to be well rounded in their approach, having to understand everything from history to science to data.

To prepare, students should vary what they read outside of school. Mix in a newspaper or some advanced magazines, like National Geographic or The Economist, as well as some non-fiction books.

Eat right and rest—for more than just the night before

Educators and others often preach that it’s important for students to get a good night’s rest and eat a solid breakfast before a big test. That is crucial, but good habits start long before the last night. Eating right as soon as possible can produce energy reserves that can have benefits on test day and beyond. And if good sleep habits are established early, it will be less of a shock to the brain when your child goes to bed early on test day.

What to Do If You’re Having Difficulties with Your Child’s Teacher

What to Do If You’re Having Difficulties with Your Child’s Teacher

Get your facts straight

As a school year wears on, a parent can become increasingly unhappy with their child’s teacher. Perhaps they feel as if their child is being singled out or that the teacher is not keeping control of their classroom. Whatever the reason, there are ways of trying to help while still being diplomatic and leading everyone to a positive solution.
Get your facts straight
Before you even approach the teacher, you want to know the specifics of why your child is unhappy. Don’t settle for “she’s mean to me”. Badger your child for specific details. If other children are involved, you need names. If it happens only during a certain subject, which one? There are always two sides to a story and you want the most complete picture you can get before hearing the other side.
Schedule a collaborative meeting
If it comes time to speak to the teacher, schedule a separate meeting rather than having a quick word at drop off or pick up. You want to have enough time to come to a resolution.
In your meeting, take the collaborative approach. Coming across as working toward a common goal is much more effective than demanding things or accusing the teacher of wrongdoing. Patiently ask to hear what the teacher’s perspective is. He or she might not even know that there is a problem. Ask how you can help in the situation. At the end of the meeting, both sides should have a clear idea of what they should do moving forward.
Follow up
Give it a week or two, then follow up with both your child and the teacher. Have they noticed a difference? What has been done (on both sides) to improve the situation. More often than not, they have started working better together.
The principal
If your child is holding up their end of the bargain but the teacher is falling short, or if there simply is not any progress being made, it’s time to get the principal (or assistant principal, if that is the teacher’s direct superior) involved. Again, take the collaborative approach. Explain the situation and the steps you have already taken. Take notes. Also again, everyone should know what he or she is doing to move the situation forward once the meeting has concluded.
The last resort: changing classes
Schools hate changing a student’s schedule. It throws off the balance of other classes and is disruptive to the child in question and their new classmates. But sometimes it’s unavoidable. After a reasonable amount of time and proper follow up (make sure the principal knows you aren’t going to let this drop), if no improvement in the situation has been made, it’s time to request a change. It’s the best way to rescue a school year that has probably become toxic.

A Different Approach to Vocabulary in the New SAT

A Different Approach to Vocabulary in the New SAT

Your best study strategy? Reading

As you know, the SAT is undergoing a radical overhaul this year to make sure it better reflects the skills students need in college and career. The most divergent changes are happening on the verbal side. In particular, vocabulary is tested in a completely different way from years past. Here is what’s new.
A different type of words
Linguists and educators break words up into three major categories:
• Tier 1: Words that are used often in everyday speech
• Tier 2: Words that occur on a regular basis in speech but might need context to fully understand
• Tier 3: Obscure words that only occur in specific, discipline-based situations
The previous SAT tested a lot of Tier 3 words, which is why the best way to study was “drill and kill” using word lists. The new SAT has moved to testing Tier 2 words. They want to make sure students can use context clues to really understand text, rather than just see if the student has a big (but mainly useless) vocabulary.
Context is everything
As mentioned above, the Tier 2 words used on the new SAT rely on context for meaning. In fact, most of them will have multiple meanings. In a sample test item, a non-fiction passage is given with the word “intense” highlighted. The question asks for the meaning of intense within the given context. The four possible answers are all an accepted meaning of the word, but only one is right within the context of the passage. There are also items in which you have to justify your answer by highlighting the part(s) of the passage that give you a clue into the meaning.
Although it’s still possible to study words with flash cards and similar old-school strategies, you need to make sure that your study materials cover all of the possible meanings of a word.
Your best study strategy? Reading
To best prepare for the verbal side of the new SAT, including vocabulary, the best preparation is to read deeply, both in fiction and nonfiction. Make sure to vary your sources as well. Tier 2 words can carry a different context depending on the source, but if you only read one type of source (like scientific magazines), you might miss other meanings that come from other sources.
No more analogies
The SAT was famous for its use of analogies when testing vocab. Because they want to focus more on context and reading skills rather than rote memorization, the analogies are gone.

The New Education Law: What Parents Need to Know

 

The New Education Law: What Parents Need to Know

No Child Left Behind is gone, replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act.

No Child Left Behind is gone, replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act. President Obama signed ESSA last month and it’s quite different from NCLB. Perhaps the most striking thing about ESSA was the process; the law was drafted in a bipartisan way from the beginning. It’s a balance between returning some powers to the states and the federal government keeping some oversight. Here are the highlights.

Less testing (hopefully)

ESSA still requires accountability testing, but has brought the requirements down somewhat. Students will still be tested in grades 3-8 and once in high school in math and reading. Data still has to be captured for each school as well as various subgroups. Although it’s still early, there is also language that says states and districts can opt to use a national test, like the ACT or SAT, as their high school state accountability test.

While that is only a slight change, the biggest departure when it comes to accountability is that states have almost complete control over setting their own goals, coming up with accountability systems for schools and districts, and what happens if a school or district is underperforming. The law leaves teacher evaluation completely up to the states.

Required intervention

That being said, the Department of Education still has oversight in certain areas, particularly when schools or subgroups are struggling.

The new law requires states to intervene in certain situations:

  • The bottom 5 percent of all schools
  • High schools in which the graduation rate is 67 percent or less
  • Subgroups, such as English language learners or minorities, that are struggling

However, the states have a wide berth in what that intervention looks like. As long as it is research-based and peer-reviewed, the federal government will approve it.

What about the Common Core?

The law only states that individual states need to adopt “challenging standards”. There is no other definition given, except it is noted that the current Common Core State Standards qualify. In fact, the Department of Education is expressly prohibited from forcing or even encouraging states to choose a particular set of standards.

Funding

Overall, the new law takes existing money from various pots and consolidates it into fewer pots, but sometimes with broader goals. For example, anything having to do with school improvement now falls under Title I. New money, from old sources, will be going to physical education, Advanced Placement, counseling, and investments in education technology.

Keeping Your Foot on the Gas: The Last Semester of Senior Year

Keeping Your Foot on the Gas: The Last Semester of Senior Year

Many college-bound high school seniors start putting their studies on cruise control around this time of the year.

Many college-bound high school seniors start putting their studies on cruise control around this time of the year. That is especially true if they have already been accepted to the college of their choice. For many reasons, this can be a mistake. Here are some reasons to keep your foot on the gas.

Colleges can take back your acceptance

Many seniors think that an acceptance letter is a contract. The truth is that, although rare, acceptance can be withdrawn by the college. This tends to happen to students who suddenly drop all of their difficult classes or have their grades slip too far due to “senioritis”. There might not be anything more embarrassing than telling everyone you’re going to your first choice and then ending up at your safety school.

Crucial information will still be covered

Tuning out your teachers can still be detrimental. There is obviously the consideration of grades and final exams. But they might also be covering material you will need to know in your fall college classes. You want to be able to hit the ground running as soon as you get on campus.

Graduation mix-ups do happen

Perhaps you know someone from previous years who thought they were on track to graduate only to find out that they needed one more half credit of visual art. If they’re lucky, they can switch out their final semester schedule, otherwise they will need to make up the credit after school or during the summer. Check in one more time with your guidance counselor to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.

Responsibilities only multiply from here

Yes, the final semester is a busy time. You’re trying to keep up with your schoolwork, an afterschool job, and extracurriculars, not to mention prom and graduation. Letting things drop might seem like a solution. But rest assured, responsibilities are only going to increase. You will have all of those next year, as well as feeding yourself, paying bills, and sorting out a social life in a new place. The best way to transition is to keep up with your good habits.

You’ll never have this time again

Ask anyone. Senior year of high school was one of the best times of their lives. You want to get the most out of it in every aspect. This is the last time you’ll have with your favorite teachers, your teammates, and your friends. You might be letting things drop that you’ll never be able to get back.