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This is a resource that includes four short modules to help teachers when they are creating their own rubrics. It is usually a refresher for the teacher that give them tips and tricks when they are struggling to create rubrics.

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Rubric Materials - Alberta Assessment Consortium

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Building Better Rubrics! Resource Links to Support Building Better Rubrics Rubric Templates Rubric Template (download Word document) Rubric Template (enlarged) (download Word document) Workshop Tools Rubriques Rubriques - Tools Rubriques - Templates Gabarit grilles d'évaluation (download Word document) Gabarit grilles d'évaluation (version agrandie) (download Word document)

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This is a resource to assist in building rubrics for assessment. It provides us with what an effective rubric looks like so that as a teacher I can refer to the sample for assistance and look to this source as a guideline.

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This resource provides teachers with words that they can use on their rubrics if they are struggling to think of a word. It provides words for assessing many different levels.

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TeachersPayTeachers is a resource that can be used to explore assessment activity ideas provided from other teachers.

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World's most popular online marketplace for original educational resources with more than four million resources available for use today.

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This is a website I found while doing research on assessment. It provides assessment resources that are organized by type of assessment you would like and by subject.

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Home - ETFO Members Sharing in Assessment

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TOOLS ABOUT Assessment plays a critical role in teaching and learning. As teachers become aware of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students, they use this information to inform their instruction. This then supports each child on their journey to success.

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Blooket is something my mentor teacher used for assessment in my practicum. It was an easy and enjoyable digital way for him to check in on his students to see how they were doing with the material.

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This is a resource similar to TeachersPayTeachers that provides assessment resources already made. This resource provides various assessment types.

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Scholastic Teachables - browse all worksheets, resources, printables, and more for the classroom! Save hours of prep time with our online treasure trove of ready-to-go lessons, printables, and activities for every grade, subject, and skill level.

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Align Assessments with Learning Objectives

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Align Assessments with Learning Objectives

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This is an article we explored in our witness groups. What stands out as a helpful tool for me from this article is the chart that attaches Bloom's verbs to assessments that correspond. This is something I will refer to as I am starting out learning assessment.

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Assessments should reveal how well students have learned what we want them to learn while instruction ensures that they learn it. For this to occur, assessments, learning objectives, and instructional strategies need to be closely aligned so that they reinforce one another.

To ensure that these three components of your course are aligned, ask yourself the following questions:

Learning objectives: What do I want students to know how to do when they leave this course?

Assessments: What kinds of tasks will reveal whether students have achieved the learning objectives I have identified?

Instructional strategies: What kinds of activities in and out of class will reinforce my learning objectives and prepare students for assessments?

What if the components of a course are misaligned?

If assessments are misaligned with learning objectives or instructional strategies, it can undermine both student motivation and learning. Consider these two scenarios:

Your objective is for students to learn to apply analytical skills, but your assessment measures only factual recall. Consequently, students hone their analytical skills and are frustrated that the exam does not measure what they learned.

Your assessment measures students' ability to compare and critique the arguments of different authors, but your instructional strategies focus entirely on summarizing the arguments of different authors. Consequently, students do not learn or practice the skills of comparison and evaluation that will be assessed.

What do well-aligned assessments look like?

This table presents examples of the kinds of activities that can be used to assess different types of learning objectives (adapted from the revised Bloom's Taxonomy).

Type of learning objective

Examples of appropriate assessments

Recall
Recognize
Identify

Objective test items such as fill-in-the-blank, matching, labeling, or multiple-choice questions that require students to:

recall or recognize terms, facts, and concepts

Interpret
Exemplify
Classify
Summarize
Infer
Compare
Explain

Activities such as papers, exams, problem sets, class discussions, or concept maps that require students to:

summarize readings, films, or speeches

compare and contrast two or more theories, events, or processes

classify or categorize cases, elements, or events using established criteria

paraphrase documents or speeches

find or identify examples or illustrations of a concept or principle

Apply
Execute
Implement

Activities such as problem sets, performances, labs, prototyping, or simulations that require students to:

use procedures to solve or complete familiar or unfamiliar tasks

determine which procedure(s) are most appropriate for a given task

Analyze
Differentiate
Organize
Attribute

Activities such as case studies, critiques, labs, papers, projects, debates, or concept maps that require students to:

discriminate or select relevant and irrelevant parts

determine how elements function together

determine bias, values, or underlying intent in presented material

Evaluate
Check
Critique
Assess

Activities such as journals, diaries, critiques, problem sets, product reviews, or studies that require students to:

test, monitor, judge, or critique readings, performances, or products against established criteria or standards

Create
Generate
Plan
Produce
Design

Activities such as research projects, musical compositions, performances, essays, business plans, website designs, or set designs that require students to:

make, build, design or generate something new

This table does not list all possible examples of appropriate assessments. You can develop and use other assessments - just make sure that they align with your learning objectives and instructional strategies!

CONTACT US to talk with an Eberly colleague in person!

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Align Assessments, Objectives, Instructional Strategies - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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Assessments should reveal how well students have learned what we want them to learn while instruction ensures that they learn it. For this to occur, assessments, learning objectives, and instructional strategies need to be closely aligned so that they reinforce one another.

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This is another resource from Alberta Assessment Consortium. This resource touches on summative assessment. It provides videos around different aspects of summative assessments including how to differentiate them.

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Summative Assessment - Alberta Assessment Consortium

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Judging Student Performance Download Complete Resource Judging Student Performance in Relation to Curriculum Outcomes Teachers need to be cognizant that performance is only based on what the student demonstrates relative to curricular outcomes. While other factors such as behavior or work habits can be reported, these factors must be kept separate from the demonstration of outcomes.

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7 Ways to Do Formative Assessments in Your Virtual Classroom

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7 Ways to Do Formative Assessments in Your Virtual Classroom

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This is another article from Edutopia. This article touches on different ways to do formative assessments digitally. The use of technology in the classroom has grown which is why it is important for teachers to have an understanding of how to implement it into the classroom authentically. This resource provides a variety of ways that technology can be used for formative assessments.

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Pen-and-paper pop quizzes are no more: thumbs-up/thumbs-down, hand signals, online polls, discussion boards, and chat boxes have become the new mainstays of formative assessments in virtual classrooms.

Teachers don't need to completely reinvent their traditional formative assessments, however, according to Mike Anderson, an educational consultant in Durham, New Hampshire. He recommends that teachers modify familiar practices-like exit tickets and think-pair-shares-so they work virtually. "Formative assessments might feel harder now in virtual classrooms-you can't just walk around class and look over a kid's shoulders-but I'm not sure they have to be harder."

In fact, many of the popular digital apps and sites like Nearpod, Flipgrid, Padlet, and Seesaw, can actually work in tandem with the tried-and-true assessments that teachers honed in their classes pre-pandemic. Nearpod, for example, enables teachers to embed short quizzes, polls, surveys, and games into a lesson so that teachers can check for understanding before moving on to the next concept.

But don't go overboard, says Andrew Miller, director of teaching and learning at the Singapore American School, emphasizing that teachers should be careful not to overwhelm students with too many virtual assessments and too many new tools. Focus on two or three tools at most, he recommends, and be sure you always define a clear and differentiated purpose for using each. It's also important to remember non-tech solutions, like the simple but invaluable one-to-one conversations that can yield information about students' progress-and their well-being.

"In our distance learning environment, we run the risk of being further isolated. By scheduling individual sessions with students, we can assess their learning and provide feedback with a real human connection," Miller says.

Here are some different ways that teachers can use formative assessments in the virtual classroom:

1. Dipsticks

Like using a dipstick to check the oil in a car, teachers can use short, quick checks virtually to make sure that students are on track-both academically and emotionally.

At the start of a live class, pose a general question about the previous day's lesson, like "Does everyone feel comfortable with what we learned about [fill in the blank]?" and have students respond individually by dropping an emoji or a thumbs-up/thumbs-down in their chat box or video window. Students can also hold up a sticky note or piece of paper to the screen with a response. They don't all have to be serious questions; funny questions can help get students engaged at the start of a lesson. In this Twitter thread, teachers share fun question ideas like: "Are Pop-Tarts a kind of ravioli?" and "Would you rather have no elbows or no knees?"

Another option: Ask students a more specific question about content you've recently covered, then have them assess their understanding on a 1-5 rating scale. They can hold up the appropriate number of fingers as signals during a live class online. The popular stoplight approach also works. Ask students to show a color based on how they feel about the topic you're teaching: green-go ahead to the next topic; yellow-proceed slowly as I'm still processing; or red-stop, I don't understand.

2. Digital Journals and One-Pagers

Not all students process information at the same speed or like to raise their hand and be acknowledged publicly during class. After-class reflection exercises that give students a private space to reflect a little more deeply, and signal both what they understood and what they did not, are easy to continue remotely.

Teachers can create a "Journal Jot" online document for each student using Google Docs or a platform like Blackboard to measure how well students are retaining information, recommends Rebecca Alber, an education professor in Los Angeles, California. In their journal, students can respond individually to prompts like K-W-L: what they know, what they want to know, and what they learned; or 3-2-1: three things you found out; two things you found interesting; one thing you didn't understand.

Teachers can also adapt Jill Fletcher's one-pager activity to virtual settings. Fletcher, a curriculum coordinator in Kapolei, Hawaii, asks students to write down key themes, questions, and ideas about a topic or lesson on a single page (kind of like a study guide), and include artwork or imagery if they would like. Have students create their one-pagers in a tool like Canva or Google Slides, or they can draw them by hand and submit as a photograph.

3. Elevator Pitches and Tweets

To help students synthesize important takeaways from a lesson, ask them to take one to two minutes during live class time to summarize everything they learned on a particular unit by typing it into a Google doc, in a chat box, or on a virtual message board like Padlet.

You can also ask for student volunteers to share their elevator pitch, or verbal summary of what they learned, with the class in 60 seconds or less. As a 21st-century spin, Matt Levinson, a principal in Seattle, Washington, suggests having students summarize the lesson in a tweet or Instagram post, staying to character limits.

4. Square, Triangle, Circle

Giving students choice with formative assessments is really important, says Anderson, as not all students show their thinking the same way.

Anderson recommends Square, Triangle, Circle, an activity wherein students choose a shape and its associated question prompt. A square means something that is now "squared away" in their thinking. Choosing a triangle tasks students with extracting three important ideas from what they learned, while a circle asks students to discuss something "circulating"-ideas that are not yet fully formed-in their minds.

For asynchronous learning, students can write their responses independently in an online document as a reflection exercise. Or, in a synchronous lesson, teachers can make the exercise collaborative by asking students to pick a shape and then dividing them into groups based on the shape they chose. Students can briefly discuss their reflections with classmates in breakout rooms and share back to the class to close out the learning.

5. Make Art Your Assessment

While teachers may question if old classroom standbys (and popular classroom wall decorations) like collages, mind maps, and sketches can work virtually, teachers we spoke with say they're still finding ways for students to use art, music, and drama to share their thinking.

Students can create an ad to describe and market a particular concept, draw a comic chronicling a historic event or explaining a scientific principle, write a poem or a song, or act out a chapter from a book or scene from a play. Using a phone, students can record themselves using apps like Voice Memos or photograph/film their work with the phone's camera to upload and share virtually.

6. Peer-to-Peer Evaluations

When learning outside the classroom, it's especially important to foster relationships between students. You can do both at the same time, drawing a bead on what your students have learned while encouraging deeper peer connections.

Assign each student a virtual buddy for the week, or pair off students at random to get them talking across the class-and assessing each other's learning.

In pairs, students can be placed in breakout rooms on Zoom or another videoconference platform to do many of the same activities they once did in the classroom to check for understanding. Give each student a general rubric, or use the TAG feedback process to evaluate their peer's assignment; have them share the feedback with you as well. Or have students teach each other a concept while recording themselves (audio or video) and upload the file for you to review. These activities can also be adapted for asynchronous learning using tools in Google Classroom.

For synchronous classes, organize a talk show panel. Assign three to four students roles to represent different ideas or themes of a unit, such as having students in history class impersonate leaders from different countries during World War II. Have each student discuss their perspective in front of their peers, and allow the rest of the class to ask questions to probe their thinking.

7. Virtual Exit Tickets

Using exit tickets, or students' responses to prompts or questions on a slip of paper at the end of class, is a popular formative assessment practice that easily transfers online.

Teachers can keep a running Google Doc for each student to keep the information private, or broaden it to the whole class by posting questions on a platform like Flipgrid so that students can see and comment on others' responses.

To get a wider view into students' thinking, use open-ended prompts like these:

What I found most interesting today was...

Today was hard because...

What do you understand well?

What's something that's still shaky?

What's something I [teacher] don't realize?

What takeaways will be important three years from now?

How does this relate to [something learned before]?

How would you have done things differently today?

Today was hard because...

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7 Ways to Do Formative Assessments in Your Virtual Classroom

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Pen-and-paper pop quizzes are no more: thumbs-up/thumbs-down, hand signals, online polls, discussion boards, and chat boxes have become the new mainstays of formative assessments in virtual classrooms. Teachers don't need to completely reinvent their traditional formative assessments, however, according to Mike Anderson, an educational consultant in Durham, New Hampshire.

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This article by Edutopia provides eight quick checks for understanding that can be used in the classroom. As teachers we are frequently checking understanding whether it is understanding of instructions or content. That being said sometimes we get stuck using the same two strategies to check for understanding. This article provides a variety of different fun ways to check students understanding in the classroom so we can switch it up and keep the students engaged.

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Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

Bob Daemmrich / Alamy Stock Photo

Using formative assessments designed to check for understanding and provide students with feedback and support is one of the most effective ways to improve and enhance student learning. Yet because of the need to cover large amounts of information and develop many skills, teachers may not take time checking to make sure students understand a concept or can effectively apply a skill, and, if they don't, figuring out ways to improve their learning.

Thankfully, there are practical, proven formative assessment techniques that teachers can use as a quick "pulse check" to gauge students' understanding. The eight techniques here can be applied across grades and subject areas in virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning environments.

The results of these checks should not be graded since the purpose of formative assessment techniques is to obtain feedback to use in improving teaching and learning, not to evaluate learning. It's important that students understand the purposes of these techniques, that mistakes are OK-and even expected-and that they will not be graded on their responses.

Thumbs up: I understand _____ and can explain it in my own words.

Wave hand: I'm not completely sure about _____ and doubt I could explain it.

Thumbs down: I don't yet understand _____ and cannot explain it.

Ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their degree of confidence in their understanding of a concept, principle, or process. For example:

Self-assessment and self-reporting can be unreliable, so use a random calling technique to periodically select students with their thumbs up (e.g., pull names out of a bowl) and ask them to explain.

In virtual learning environments, students can signal on camera or post designated emojis to signal their understanding levels.

Present students with a few binary-choice statements or questions containing an understanding or a common misconception and have them select a response (e.g., True or False, Agree or Disagree) and share it via a whiteboard, cell phone app, or hand signal (e.g., thumbs up or down). This efficient technique is particularly effective to use in checking students' prior knowledge or potential misconceptions before beginning new instruction.

True/False: When dropped from the same height, a bowling ball will land before a marble.

Agree/Disagree: Is this an example of alliteration?

Here are a couple of "choosing" formats with examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can use the chat box feature to record their choices, or respond to a poll.

3. Picture It

Draw a visual web of factors affecting plant growth.

Develop a concept map to illustrate how a bill becomes a law.

Create a story map or sequence diagram showing the major events in the story.

Visual representations, such as graphic organizers and concept maps, are widely used to enhance learning, and can also be used as formative assessments. Have students create a visual or symbolic representation (e.g., a graphic organizer, web, or concept map) of information and abstract concepts and then be prepared to explain their graphic. Picturing techniques are especially useful to see if students understand how various concepts or elements of a process are related.

In virtual learning environments, students can post their visuals on a Google slide or Pinterest board, or in Nearpod or Jamboard.

4. Troubleshoot It

1. Identify the flaw or error, and (even better)

2. Correct it.

One of the most efficient and effective quick checks for understanding involves troubleshooting. Present students with a common misconception or a frequent procedural error. See if they can:

Present a rough draft of writing and ask students to serve as an editor to mark compositional and grammatical errors.

Have students review work on a multistep word problem to identify computational mistakes and reasoning errors, and correct them.

In a photography class, show photos reflecting common compositional errors or flawed exposure or lighting, and have students recommend needed corrections using photo editing software.

Their responses will provide a quick check of the depth of their understanding.

5. Summarize It

Compose a tweet in 280 characters or less answering the question: What is the big idea that you have learned about _____?

Record a one-minute podcast or vodcast using an app on a smartphone or tablet to summarize the key concepts from one or more lessons.

Prepare a weekly letter to your teacher (or parents) summarizing something that you now understand as a result of your learning during the past week.

Here are a few examples of this technique:

Create a "real life" word problem to see if other students understand how to calculate surface area.

Locate a news article or blog post that presents an example of the tension between individual rights and the common good.

Find examples of symmetry somewhere in our school or on the playground.

Understanding is revealed when students can transfer their learning to new situations. Accordingly, one of the best checks for understanding is to see if students can apply material in a somewhat novel context. This technique includes asking students to find or create new and novel examples to illustrate a newly learned concept.

Develop a five-minute lesson to teach a younger student about how supply and demand can affect the price of things. Use one or more specific examples that we have not discussed.

Your friend has been absent and missed the last two lessons where you learned about community helpers. Draw a picture of at least five helpers in our community to help them understand the concept of a community helper.

This is a more involved, but valuable, formative assessment technique. Ask students to teach a new concept or skill to someone else-a new student, a student who has just returned from absence, or a younger child. You'll be able to gauge their degree of understanding as you review or observe their lesson. Here are two examples:

In virtual learning environments, students can record a lesson using a laptop, tablet, or cell phone camera.

8. Analogize It

A more sophisticated technique invites students to develop an analogy or metaphor to illustrate a newly learned concept or skill. The effectiveness of their explanatory analogy or metaphor can give you insight into their understanding. However, be cautious when interpreting student responses to this technique-a student may very well understand a concept but be unable to generate an appropriate analogy. Asking students to explain their analogies will give you further insight into their understanding.

A fraction is a part of a whole like a wheel is a part of a bicycle.

Formative assessment is like tasting a meal while you're cooking because it provides feedback that a cook can use to make adjustments to improve the meal.

Here's a prompt for students: A _____ is like a _____ because _____.

Students can also create visual analogies (combining techniques 3 and 8). In virtual learning environments, students can post their analogies and metaphors in a chat box or on a Google slide or Pinterest board.

Note: Several of these techniques (especially 1, 2, 5, and 8) can be naturally used in conjunction with another popular formative assessment technique-an exit card-given to students at the end of a class period or end of the school day.

While these techniques can provide valuable information about the effectiveness of teaching and the quality of students' learning, they're not ends in themselves. Instead, they should be seen as the first step in a " feedback cycle." The next step is to act on that feedback-reteaching something that many students failed to learn; correcting misconceptions that may be revealed; and/or providing scaffolded support to students who need it. Moreover, when students are given feedback, they must also be given opportunities to use it, such as revising their work, practicing the skill, or correcting errors. (Getting feedback without a chance to use it is like eating without digesting!) Then, the formative assessment cycle reboots as revisions can be assessed again, with progress noted and new learning goals set.

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Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

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This video gives some detail into what a differentiated assessment looks like in the classroom. It has become apparent that the learning needs of every student is different. Some students need different strategies to be successful in their learning. This is something I saw in my practicum classroom.

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Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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This article highlight assessment strategies that can be used everyday in the classroom. These are simple strategies to get students involved and engaged in their learning. There are all kinds of different strategies that can be used to continually check students understanding as we teach them content. This increases the students review of information which will help them when it comes to the bigger summative assessments on the information.

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22 Simple Assessment Strategies You Can Use Every Day

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Here are 22 simple assessment strategies and tips to help you become more frequent in your teaching, planning, and curriculum design.

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Alberta's Teachers Association has a resource on their website for everything assessment including free formative assessment tools. The linked website takes you to the website where there is a list of free formative assessment tools that are linked out and easy to access. These resources provide teachers with creative ways to provide formative assessments to their students. Along with that the apps are free for use.

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The Alberta Assessment Consortium is a helpful resource that provides classroom materials to assist teachers in providing students with performance tasks, assessment tasks etc. It helps to give teachers ideas that they can adapt to be there own. They can also use the information without any adaptation if they are stuck.

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Learn Questions and answers on the most common assessment issues Browse Questions Browse Big Ideas Burning Questions from Teachers View All Questions Big Ideas in the Classroom View All Big Ideas

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This article by Cult of Pedagogy explores how a test should not just be graded by the teacher it should be used as a reflective process of the students learning. Tests provide a lot more information then just a grade they tell teachers what concepts the students have missed and where they need to improve.

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When you give a test or quiz, do you basically just grade it, give it back to students, go over the answers, then move on? If you don't do anything else with the information, if you don't look carefully at how students answer your test questions, you're missing a BIG opportunity.

Assessments should give us loads of information about what our students understand, what they don't understand, and how well we've taught them. It took me years of teaching before I realized I was using my tests and quizzes to sort out, reward and punish my students, rather than measure and inform my teaching. I needed to make my assessments work harder for me.

So one year, I added an extra step while grading tests: I kept track of all the wrong answers on one page, tallying exactly which items were being chosen instead. Once I started doing this, I found myself far better equipped to respond to wrong answers: I could reteach specific concepts only to students who needed reteaching, rather than wasting everyone's time with unnecessary review. I could identify specific misconceptions students had about the material and get better at addressing those the next time around. I also became a much better test maker.

The best part about this system is you only need a pencil, an answer key, and a few extra minutes.

Here it is:

If you're already doing something like this, I would love to hear about it in the comments. If you have some kind of electronic reporting system that can crunch all these numbers for you and give you the information you need to move forward, awesome. If not, adding this extra step to your assessment routine will make a difference. ♦

Keep in touch.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration - in quick, bite-sized packages - all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. To thank you, I'll send you a free copy of my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half. I look forward to getting to know you better!

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When you give a test or quiz, do you basically just grade it, give it back to students, go over the answers, then move on? If you don't do anything else with the information, if you don't look carefully at how students answer your test questions, you're missing a BIG opportunity.

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Test Taking Strategies for Elementary Students

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Test Taking Strategies for Elementary Students

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This is an article that covers test taking strategies that teachers should teach to their students so that the students are successful when they are taking their tests. These strategies should be taught and practiced before students have to complete a test.

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Here are three basic test-taking strategies that elementary students should review prior to testing. Plus, download 10 free printable test-taking strategies resources that can be shared with students or hung in the elementary classroom.

Strategy 1: Review the Different Question Formats

To be successful on exams students must be familiar with the different question formats and feel comfortable moving between a scantron and their test packet.

A week or so before a high-stakes test, use specific test preparation strategies and handouts to review the different questions students will see on the exam.

It's always a good idea to review and practice multiple-choice (selected-response) strategies before an assessment. On multiple-choice tests, the vocabulary and layout of the answers can confuse students.

These are my six tips to help students feel like they Multiple-Choice Champions before a big test:

1. Reread the question. Make sure you understand what is being asked.

2. Come up with an answer to the question before looking at the list of choices.

3. Read ALL of the answers and cross out the choices that don't make sense.

4. Underline the section in the text or question that supports your reasoning.

5. Look carefully at similar-sounding answers. Find the more precise answer.

6. Select "All of the above" if two or three answers seem correct.

Download the Be A Multiple-Choice Champion Tip Sheet and hang it up in your classroom on the day of an exam. I guarantee your students will look at the poster sometime during the testing period to boost their confidence and recall strategies for answering multiple-choice questions.

Most schools have an acronym they use school-wide to help their students with open-ended responses. If your school has not adopted an acronym that is used throughout the school, I highly recommend you do. It promotes consistency as the students move from grade level to grade level. The acronym we use at my school is ACE:

Answer the question:

Turn the question into your answer and answer it

Cite an example:

Give a specific example from the text to support your answer

Extend your thinking

Give another example OR state another thought about the text that supports your answer

Help students remember how to answer open-ended responses with the ACE Open-Ended Responses Tip Sheet.

Finally, I review simple strategies that students can use to attack any question.

For older students, I have a list of suggestions for answering the various types of questions from multiple-choice to essay prompts.

For younger grades, I use a fabulous handout that delves into some of the strategies I discuss when reviewing multiple-choice questions and gives students concrete examples to look over.

This resource will show students the following strategies to puzzle out questions they may find confusing. It highlights the following strategies:

1. Substitute each answer in the blank

2. Justify answers my underlining information from the passage

3. Cross out answers that don't make sense

Strategy 2: Strengthen Student Vocabulary

Unfamiliar vocabulary in a literary text or a standardized test can confuse and/or discourage students.

Make sure your students are armed with the vocabulary strategies they need to come out victorious rather than feeling defeated after taking a test. Below are word strategy resources to ensure students come out on top!

Here are 10 terms students should know heading into a standardized test (words may vary depending on your state test). Download the 10 ELA Test Terms To Know Reference Sheet and review the words with students until you're confident they understand their meaning.

A similar download you may find useful is the 10 High-Stakes Test Terms to Know Poster. Teachers should incorporate these terms into classroom activities and should clarify how best to answer each question stem while the stakes are low.

For example, a teacher could ask an introductory question such as

"Infer from the reading on page 3 how Jimmy felt about his friends."

"Compare the reading we did for homework with the passage on the board."

"Analyze how Martha came to make the decision she did."

The last strategy/handout teaches students how to break down individual words and puzzle out their meanings. Here's an example using the word submersible:

STEP 1: BREAK THE WORD INTO SMALLER PARTS. LOOK FOR THE PARTS OF THE WORD YOU KNOW.

Submersible → sub mersible

What does the word sub make you think of?

You can investigate even further by asking, "Do subways and submarines have anything in common?"

Both are used for transportation and traveling from one point to another

Both are underground

STEP 2: LOOK FOR THE CONTEXT CLUES. WHAT DO THEY TELL YOU?

" Explorer, the submersible watercraft, sank deeper into the ocean."

From the passage clues, we know that:

Submersible is describing a feature of the watercraft.

The watercraft can travel deep into the ocean.

STEP 3: USE YOUR BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE.

I know a sub or submarine travels underwater.

The passage says, "...sank deeper into the ocean."
You can conclude that submersible means a vessel or vehicle that is capable of traveling and operating underwater.
This example is a great resource to share with students as a handout or you can hang up the poster on the classroom wall. Once students have reviewed this strategy, assign them words to break down using these three steps.

Strategy 3: Use Practice Prompts

As a literacy specialist, there are a few "key literary elements" that I make sure to emphasize in my teaching because I know they will help my students perform well.

Fortunately, these "key literary elements" support strong reading comprehension and should be focused on even if there were no standardized tests to be taken.

Available for download are reading practice prompts for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry texts. Download Sample Reading Prompts for Standardized Test Preparation for grades 3-5 now.

In Conclusion

Standardized tests can be stressful for students and teachers. Hopefully, these test-taking strategies for elementary students and accompanying resources will relieve some of the anxiety.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Vocab Gal's Favorite
Test Prep Resources

Strategies for Answering
Math Questions

Test-Taking Strategies Poster

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3 Test-Taking Strategies for Elementary Students (Includes 10+ Printables)

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Here are three basic test-taking strategies that elementary students should review prior to testing. Plus, download 10 free printable test-taking strategies resources that can be shared with students or hung in the elementary classroom. To be successful on exams students must be familiar with the different question formats and feel comfortable moving between a scantron and their test packet.

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This resource defines differentiated instruction and what that looks like in the classroom. Along with this the resource provides examples of how to differentiate the many aspects of the classroom. This resource will give me assistance in developing differentiation in my future classroom.

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Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs. Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping makes this a successful approach to instruction.

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This resource highlights the purpose of report cards and how to understand them. The resource links out to each of the provinces so that parent can see what report cards look like and how they should be understood. It gives ideas so that teachers can make the most of report cards.

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It is that time of the year where children across Canada are receiving their report cards. For parents, it is their first glimpse of how their children are progressing this academic year. Although receiving report cards can be a nerve-wracking experience for both children and parents, it is an essential tool for teachers to let parents know how their children are performing in school, identify their strengths, and see where they need to improve.
Understanding report cards
For some parents, interpreting their child's report card may be difficult to understand. We felt the best way to help parents and teachers was to provide some resources that would explain report cards, how they work, and what they mean.

A report card is a document that parents or guardians are sent from the school detailing a child's academic performance up until that point within the school year. There is a lot of valuable information on a child's report card such as grades, comments, insights, plus much more. Every province's report card looks different, so it is important to understand what you are looking at and what to look out for. Click on the link for your province below to understand your child's report card .
What Do You Need to Look for on Report Cards?
Firstly, look out for comments. Teachers spend time writing out important detailed information about your child, how they are doing, where they are doing well, and where they can improve, in each of their subject areas. This is important as it helps you the parent know what is going well and where your child may need additional help. It is important to read these through carefully and take necessary action if needed.

Studying your child's report card is important especially if there are parent-teacher meetings shortly after they are sent home. It gives you the opportunity to discuss with the teacher how your child is performing collectively and why. A plan can also be built with the teacher. Not understanding the report card before these meetings could mean that much of the discussion is reiterating what was within the report. A report card is a tool of assessment and should be used to further your child's development, actions must be taken collectively by parents, teachers and the child to help children further succeed.

In addition to comments, there may also be grades, and averages in relation to the rest of the child's class in each subject area present on the report card. This is not only a fantastic way to see how your child is doing, but also a great way to see how they are doing in relation to peers in the same class to see if they are on par, overperforming, or falling below average in their class group.
What to do next?
It is important to understand that a report card is a tool and action must be taken to help children further their development and learning. Depending on what is present on your child's report card the following action might want to be taken.

Once you have reviewed and understood your child's report card, it is important to plan future action. It is important to make short-term goals for the next term and long-term goals into further academic years and potentially beyond. Putting together plans with your child's teacher and your child will help create a strategy where everyone is on the same page, understands the plan and the end goals.

It is important to remember that every child learns differently and what might work for one child might not work for another, even in the same household. Try using different methods to encourage children to learn and see what they like and what works best for them.

Making sure that your child has access to all the tools, resources, books, and equipment they need to help them learn will help them to further their development and improve academically.

At Scholar's Choice, we have everything your children need including resource books, ebooks, workbooks, equipment, educational games, FREE resources plus much more. Discover all of the incredible items that are available for all of your children's classes.

We hope we have helped you to better understand your child's report card and given some insight into how to create a plan to help your children to improve their academic performance.
BLOG FAQ

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If you need help understanding your child's report card then look no further. We have all of the resources and information so that you can make a plan and help your children improve.

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This resource guides teachers through the process of creating a strong report card. It takes a teacher through the steps of adding grades to comments. The resource also provides links looking at attendance and extracurricular.

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Report Card Builder is a drag-and-drop interface designed to streamline the visual construction of report cards and progress reports.

Report Card Builder allows you to put grade, attendance, GPA information, and more on a report card that can be communicated to students, parents, and faculty.

Check out our grading guide to help maximize your success with the grading process.

If you are looking for information on entering report card grades or changing an existing grade, seeRecord, Review, and Manage Report Card Grades.

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Report Card Builder is a drag-and-drop interface designed to streamline the visual construction of report cards and progress reports. Report Card Builder allows you to put grade, attendance, GPA information, and more on a report card that can be communicated to students, parents, and faculty.

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Importance of Meaningful Report Card Comments

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Importance of Meaningful Report Card Comments

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This article focuses on how to create meaningful report card comments and how these can help student learning. The resource provides comment stems along with how to vary comments.

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Once a term report card season comes, bringing both excitement and stress to students' and teachers' lives. How students view their report cards can be impacted by the type of mindset they have around their work. When a student reads their report card comments, you want to make sure that they won't feel like their abilities are defined by their grades. But rather, that there's room to grow with practice and reflection.

To encourage this, take the space on students' report cards to not only give them feedback on their progress and celebrate their accomplishments, but also to model a growth mindset. According to Dr. Carol Dweck, who coined the term in her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, students with a "growth mindset" believe their skills and talents can be developed through effort and persistence. Whereas those with a "fixed mindset" believe their success is determined by innate talent or intelligence. Research has shown that students with a growth mindset are better able to embrace challenges, persevere through setbacks, and overcome obstacles.

These abilities are important to learning both in and out of the classroom, making a growth mindset a valuable skill for students. Crafting meaningful report card comments that embody a growth mindset can take a great deal of time, but you don't need to start fully from scratch. Take a look at these strategies and examples for inspiration.

Focus on students' efforts and strategies

Report cards are a great moment to highlight examples of successful strategies which students have used to learn something new, since it can help build their confidence as a learner. It also underscores the importance that effort has in developing skills. Some examples of positive report card comments that emphasize effort are:

Has worked hard and achieved _____.

Great at working independently and asking for help when needed.

Listens well and asks questions.

Actively and enthusiastically participates in class.

Pays great attention to ____ topic(s).

Eager to continue learning and growing.

Shows a keen interest in ______.

Is persistent and stays on task when faced with challenges.

Avidly working on ______.

Has a positive attitude when encountering difficulties.

Comes prepared for class.

By focusing your feedback on a student's efforts and strategies, you can motivate students to adopt a growth mindset and encourage positive classroom behavior.

Give positive feedback on progress

Praising students' progress is essential to inspiring them to continue developing. When improvement is acknowledged, students can feel their hard work has been seen and validated. It also helps students understand the goal of their learning is to progress and that success can be relative. Here are some general ways report card comments like this can be phrased:

Has accomplished great growth in ____ subject area(s).

Has improved tremendously in ______ area(s).

Is making significant progress in _____.

Is actively learning how to _____.

Has shown substantial improvement in _____,

Demonstrated considerable gains in ____.

Has made notable progress to better understand ______.

Has made wonderful strides in ______.

Has been successful in learning how to _____.

Proactively growing and advancing at _____.

Has done a great job working on _____.

The more specific these comments are, the more impactful they can be. Consider adding a sentence or two describing the specific strategy your student took towards achieving growth in a particular subject area or skill set. In practice, this could sound like, "This quarter, [Name] has grown their lexile/reading level +50 by using the close reading strategy for all assigned articles in [learning platform]."

Another tip is to take notes on students' progress throughout the school year. This can be helpful because so much happens in the classroom that it can be hard to remember the details come the end of term.

Frame challenges as opportunities for growth

Undoubtedly, there will be things your students struggle with or can improve. That is a valuable aspect of learning after all. Framing students' challenges as an opportunity for growth can help them embrace and tackle any obstacles they may face. By doing so, you can help students understand setbacks are not stopping points, but reflection points where they can pause and strategize for future success. Some examples of report card comments that accomplish this are:

Can still grow in _____ areas.

Could be supported in improving _____.

Can further develop _______ skills.

Is learning (how) to ______.

Can continue improving in _____.

Is eager to learn _____ and can advance by ______.

Will benefit from continuing to work on ______.

Can strengthen their work in _____.

Has an opportunity for growth in ______.

Is still working on ______.

Following these remarks with tools that students and their caregivers can use to improve their skills and performance can be beneficial to students' success. Knowing a potential path forward ensures that students see their potential for growth and feel the report card comments are positive and meaningful.

Use the word "yet"

There is always room for improvement, and students' work and learning habits are no exception. Sometimes, it may be beneficial to be direct with students and their caregivers about what has yet to be accomplished in the classroom. Establishing places for improvement as something students have yet to do reinforces the idea that the task can be accomplished in the future. A couple ways the use of the word "yet" can be used in report card comments are:

Has not learned ______ yet.

Does not consistently ______ yet.

Again, adding specific strategies for growth after these comments can go a long way in showing students that improvement is always possible. Strategies also give students and parents concrete, actionable steps to take towards growth that yet again show students their future potential.

Using a combination of these types of comments is ideal. It can be helpful to think of feedback like a sandwich, with positive comments being the soft frame that can help students digest the constructive feedback, or things they need to work on. Start with students' efforts and improvements, discuss places for improvement in the middle, and end on a positive note.

With your hard work, knowledge of students, and teaching expertise, you'll end up with meaningful report card comments full of encouragement for students to grow into a growth mindset.

For more ways to promote a growth mindset in your classroom, search TPT for growth mindset resources.

Citations:

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.

Blackwell, L.S., Trzesniewski, K.H. and Dweck, C.S. (2007), Implicit Theories of Intelligence Predict Achievement Across an Adolescent Transition: A Longitudinal Study and an Intervention. Child Development, 78: 246-263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x

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Meaningful Report Card Comments to Support Growth Mindset

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Once a term report card season comes, bringing both excitement and stress to students' and teachers' lives. How students view their report cards can be impacted by the type of mindset they have around their work. When a student reads their report card comments, you want to make sure that they won't feel like their abilities are defined by their grades.