By Clayton Edwards, Posted October 27, 2014 – 

Standardized testing. . . . Like it or not, these assessments are pivotal cogs in today’s educational system. How do you navigate these assessments and still operate a high-quality class? Part 1 of Standardized Mathematics Testing Success without Substandard Classes focused on mathematical understanding and the pursuit of improvement. This part 2 post will deal with holding all students accountable, as well as aligning testing practices to high-quality teaching.

3. Hold Students Accountable for Learning 

I could probably write an entire blog post on this topic (and maybe I will eventually), but if students are to succeed on standardized tests, they must be held accountable for learning during class. How is a student supposed to perform if he or she has been let off the hook for learning along the way?

1. If you give completion points and don’t actually check your student’s work, you are probably letting students off the hook.  
2. If you let a student move on to new material with an 80% assessment score, you are probably letting students off the hook.  
3. If you’ve ever said that students will figure it out when they get an F, you are probably letting students off the hook. (You may also be steering them toward a hatred of mathematics.)
4. If you ask questions in class, choose the first hand to shoot up, and give little time for everyone to think and analyze, you are probably letting students off the hook.  

These scenarios do nothing for the learning of all students. You must have a process in place in your classroom to better assess your students’ learning as you go and not wait until the final assessment or chapter test. I accomplish this by having students turn in work at the end of each class period so that I can assess what they have done so far and whether they are finished or not. I also check students’ work during class to make sure they are initially understanding the concept. Having an iPad® mini helps with ongoing assessment because I can quickly flip through all the answers to everything they are working on. The expectation is that students will fix and/or correct any misconceptions until the understanding is solid.

You must also have a process in place for providing remedial support in your classroom to fix problems as they occur. Much of this is taken care of through the ongoing assessment process during class, but I also make extra time by being available at 7 a.m. and as late as needed after school to work with students. I also forego my planning period each day to work with ten to fifteen students who need assistance. Making yourself overly available shows students that you are serious about helping them improve.

You must also have a way for students to engage in long periods of think time so that they can come to a conclusion and not rely on someone else each day. I accomplish this wait time not only through our daily questions and other blocks of class time but also through the use of self-paced instruction (see this presentation and article). These ideas may not work for you individually, but you need something established to hold students accountable and stop letting them off the hook.

4. Testing Practice Should Reflect Your Normal High Expectations 

Maybe you are aware of everything I have discussed above. You ask students to clearly explain their thinking on paper so that they can prove their answers: Check. You hold students accountable: Check. You make sure the students have ample think time in class: Check.  

Everything is seemingly perfect, and then the teacher (or district) tries to jam a 50-question test into 60 minutes. This is a problem. Some of my daily questions take students 10 to 15 minutes to lay everything out and explain. Now I want them to do 50 “daily questions” in 1 hour? Have students fill out a timecard similar to this while testing (timer example). Do whatever is possible to get multiple sessions of extended time to test. Explain this situation to the administration so that he or she understands the mathematics behind this philosophy. I understand that some tests are timed, but many tests are not (e.g., NWEA MAP and Smarter Balance). Make sure the same high standards of success that you are pushing in class are used when testing. 

Although standardized tests aren’t everything, they are a driving force in the perceived success or failure of school districts in the current culture. The good news is that these tests should not make your class time any less rigorous for the students. Expect a high level of mathematical understanding, and your testing results will be anything but substandard.

Comment or question? Join the discussion by responding below. 

Clayton Edwards, @doctor_math and cedwards@spartanpride.net, is a middle level mathematics instructor at Grundy Center Middle School in Grundy Center, Iowa. He is interested in the mathematical learning of all students of varying ability levels through self-pacing, task-based instruction, and other methods.