s/o Teachers share your thoughts about the interactive Math SOL for elementary

[Anonymous]

Do you think it's better? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you think kids are scoring at below or above their capability? Did the testing company do a pilot and get input from teachers?

[Anonymous]

Kids score lower because they can't go back. The test is shorter. Kids have to do work on scratch paper, but the computer is on the desk, so there isn't much room to write out the work, so they hesitate to do it. We should test how we teach. With paper!

[Anonymous]

Very time consuming to give when you have special ed kids that need the test read aloud. You have to read to each kid separately. Kids with severe LD and/or ADHD won't pay attention to the audio so a human has to read it, one on one, and another teacher has to witness it. Takes forever and lots of time and staff resources, so less teaching in the room. Have to keep the rest of the class busy while they wait for their turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very time consuming to give when you have special ed kids that need the test read aloud. You have to read to each kid separately. Kids with severe LD and/or ADHD won't pay attention to the audio so a human has to read it, one on one, and another teacher has to witness it. Takes forever and lots of time and staff resources, so less teaching in the room. Have to keep the rest of the class busy while they wait for their turn.

Huh? What do you mean "the rest of the class?"

I think anytime the test is shorter, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very time consuming to give when you have special ed kids that need the test read aloud. You have to read to each kid separately. Kids with severe LD and/or ADHD won't pay attention to the audio so a human has to read it, one on one, and another teacher has to witness it. Takes forever and lots of time and staff resources, so less teaching in the room. Have to keep the rest of the class busy while they wait for their turn.

Huh? What do you mean "the rest of the class?"

I think anytime the test is shorter, the better.

Yeah, now there are fewer questions to read. I assume before the new math SOL you had to do the same for those with SN?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very time consuming to give when you have special ed kids that need the test read aloud. You have to read to each kid separately. Kids with severe LD and/or ADHD won't pay attention to the audio so a human has to read it, one on one, and another teacher has to witness it. Takes forever and lots of time and staff resources, so less teaching in the room. Have to keep the rest of the class busy while they wait for their turn.

You don't need 2 teachers in the room. It can be done by 1 teacher or IA with 2 recorders going (old fashioned tape recorders, digital audio recorders, 2 computers running Audacity, etc).

[Anonymous]

I think that one big worry a lot of teachers have is that there are quite a few questions with multiple answers. The question is scored as correct only if all the right answers are selected. If one right answer is left out then the whole question is wrong. It is difficult to train the children to select all the correct answers, not over-selecting or under-selecting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that one big worry a lot of teachers have is that there are quite a few questions with multiple answers. The question is scored as correct only if all the right answers are selected. If one right answer is left out then the whole question is wrong. It is difficult to train the children to select all the correct answers, not over-selecting or under-selecting.

Yes, I agree. That feature was there before the CAT, though. It's not something that is specific to the CAT SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that one big worry a lot of teachers have is that there are quite a few questions with multiple answers. The question is scored as correct only if all the right answers are selected. If one right answer is left out then the whole question is wrong. It is difficult to train the children to select all the correct answers, not over-selecting or under-selecting.

An example of this would be: Select all the expressions that have a solution of 3. Then 7 answer choices of which 4 are correct, like 2+1, 6-1, 7-4, 1+1, 1*3, 10-7, 8-4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that one big worry a lot of teachers have is that there are quite a few questions with multiple answers. The question is scored as correct only if all the right answers are selected. If one right answer is left out then the whole question is wrong. It is difficult to train the children to select all the correct answers, not over-selecting or under-selecting.

Yes, I agree. That feature was there before the CAT, though. It's not something that is specific to the CAT SOL.

I think what our teachers noticed this year was that there were so many more of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that one big worry a lot of teachers have is that there are quite a few questions with multiple answers. The question is scored as correct only if all the right answers are selected. If one right answer is left out then the whole question is wrong. It is difficult to train the children to select all the correct answers, not over-selecting or under-selecting.

Yes, I agree. That feature was there before the CAT, though. It's not something that is specific to the CAT SOL.

I think what our teachers noticed this year was that there were so many more of them.

There shouldn't be. TEI questions should only account for a certain percent of the test (10 or 15 I believe)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids score lower because they can't go back. The test is shorter. Kids have to do work on scratch paper, but the computer is on the desk, so there isn't much room to write out the work, so they hesitate to do it. We should test how we teach. With paper!

My daughter hates math tests on the computer. She complains that she can't go back and check/change her answers. She's very bright and in AAP, and doesn't have issues in math otherwise. Give her the same math test on paper and she'll ace it.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher outside of Virginia, so my advice may not pertain to your state. In many states, you can refuse for your child to take the test, or for an alternative test to be given. I would hope this would be a last resort, but it may be something to consider. Are there practice tests they can take on their own at home on the computer?

[Anonymous]

If the parent opts out it is a fail for the school so the school doesn't advertise that it is a choice. We have kids sobbing and having nightmares about tests. The rest of the class means the teacher is reading to one kid, so someone has to entertain the rest of the kids. If you use tape recorders the kids are highly distracted because that is new technology to them. And schools don't have working ones and tapes. Kids with ADHD don't pay attention to the audio. The online math test had a nifty online calculator that the kids were delighted to play with. Then they could play with the highlighter feature and so on. For kids with attention issues or immature kids, they were so distracted. We should test how we teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very time consuming to give when you have special ed kids that need the test read aloud. You have to read to each kid separately. Kids with severe LD and/or ADHD won't pay attention to the audio so a human has to read it, one on one, and another teacher has to witness it. Takes forever and lots of time and staff resources, so less teaching in the room. Have to keep the rest of the class busy while they wait for their turn.

My DC has had a reader (and a scribe for the writing) and it has always been someone from the special ed depart,net who has read to him - general ed teachers are in the classrooms giving the rest of the class the SOL.