Finished With NWEA Testing

Fofta! We're finished with testing! I do have one student who I accidently put the wrong test on for, so he will have to take the right one. I'm bummed because he did well. Hopefully, he will score just as well. I'm sure he will be at proficient, hopefully above like the other one too.


One score definitely shocked me. I hadn't thought one of them was as high as he was. It blew my mind! But, it helps to know where he tests! He is one of the students who rarely turns in work. In the first month I had him (he came in near the end of October), he turned in two assignments the whole time. Hopefully, he will now start pulling in some work. In language arts, he is still very below, but at least in math his is above expectations!


So, my scores have now almost completely switched with how many were well below and how many were above- which is fabulous! Of course, there are still a number that I will have plenty of remedial work ahead for!

I'm very pleased with the number that have gone up, but I am very concerned about those that are very low. There is one that is a recent immigrant to America and I am thrilled that she has drastically jumped; but I will understand when she is still in the low percentile in reading in the Spring. The others in reading and all in math are a concern. To keep the post from being too long or off topic, I will post what I will do after learning results here and what I already do in a separate post.

I admit that I have a harder time teaching language arts with my class. Because of a split classroom, I haven't had as much time with the language arts block. If it were one grade, I would have a full one-and-a-half hour block. As it is now, I probably have an hour per grade and half-an-hour for a combo lesson.

What I will do:

Since I have seen the results, I have been looking for ways to build comprehension and fluency. I have opted to change the format of my quiet time. Working with an Islamic student base, I have quiet time in the afternoon. If they want to pray, they can use this time to do so. It has also been a quiet work time, draw time, or reading time. I have changed this to the only option (other than praying) is reading time (or if they really haven't finished work, work time). I hope this will open up more excitement for reading- since being an enthusiastic reader will help build fluency.

I am also planning to implement centers. I haven't done this much. Working with second and third graders, it is harder to create center activities (in my opinion) that fits with both levels. But, I believe my low second graders would very much benefit from centers. I hope to create challenging ones for my upper level students too. I already have comprehension giant jenga and sight word regular jenga, but I need more!I discovered: fcrr.org, which is a collection of activities separated from K-1, 2-3, and 4-5. Best thing? They're free!

In math, I will stress word problems even more. This will hopefully build problem solving skills. Data Analysis is the other area of which my students will need more practice. I have not covered this topic with my third graders, so it will be a topic coming up soon (after geometry and measurement, the other area my students struggled with most). 

We have also gotten an account with ixl.com, which will allow students to practice benchmark items in math. I aim to create remedial packets for my low students to take home and work on too. I will try to enlist help from parents to ensure that the skills expected of them will be practiced. I am a huge supporter of teacher-created items. I spend a lot of my time creating assignments and packets or of collecting items that will specifically allow students to practice benchmarks.

All of this will be quite a task, but I have a big focus on my class and trying to ensure each to succeed. I am crossing my fingers that the students will grow even more and all will rise up to meet the standards as best as they can!

NWEA Testing

If you are unfamiliar with the NWEA tests, google them. They are a fantastic tracking system used around the country. Coupled with the fact that it is the same test taken across the grades, you can really see grade averages and student percentiles. At my school, we take the tests three times a year: fall, winter, and spring. The percentiles are judged on each term of where students should be at the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and end of the year.

My class is almost done with them. I have two left for math and four left for reading. I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for this to be over again. I am incredibly nervous! Yet, I'm enjoying it too. I love tests and assessments. I believe that is key to teaching to the test.

Right now, my predominately free and reduced priced, english as a second language, and minority ethnic group students have almost all improved. There was one that dropped a point in reading and one that stayed the same there too. Other than that, my math scores have rocketed!

I still have a few left that could add to these numbers- one of which that was not with us in the fall. 

There are a few kids that have a far way to go till they are proficient. That leads to this: who do you focus the most attention on?

I have read supporting evidence that for raising test scores, you should focus on the "bubble" students. These are the students who are just barely under the bar line. Of mine, that would be two in math and thee in reading. If they could manage to just catch onto a few more things fluently, they will be proficient and thus keep classes and schools with more students passing state testing.

But, there are also the students on the lowest levels. With a high-level of Level 1 ELL students, this is a harder task. These is one in particular that I am very concerned about. I try to set up a conference soon with the family and work on progress monitoring, additional comprehension assignments, and, hopefully, strong support system at home. 

Any other ideas, to keep students raising scores, please shout out ideas here! I'll share my own in the next future post.