Creative Test Alternatives
Test anxiety, proctoring, grading, corrections, retakes... Tests are time consuming and sometimes quite boring. What ideas can teachers try for testing their students on material without following the ritualistic pencil and paper, pass or fail testing that we're so used to?
What I've got:
Checkpoints
- 10 question tests (3 per semester) that cover the bare minimum of what standards students need to know and understand.
- Students know EXACTLY what is on them because you give them a practice checkpoint with questions that look identical (in math, just different numbers...get creative for another subject... it must be possible). When I gave out my first checkpoint, the students were confused because the practice looked exactly like the quiz.
- They must retake the checkpoint until they get at least an 8/10 (I give them 2 tries in class).
- Questions are graded right or wrong; no partial credit. The kids hate it, but they are allowed to retake them as many times as they want for full credit. So, for a lot of kids, this means they retake them two or three times to ensure a 100% on a small test grade.
*At Golden, they used these as a bare minimum to pass the class. If you pass all three and the Checkpoint final (20 questions taken from the 3 checkpoints), you pass the class with a 60%.
Why are these so wonderful you ask? Instead of students failing the test, accepting it, moving on, and then coming back at the end of the semester asking how they can get their grade up, students are forced to keep working on the material until they get at least a basic grasp of what is going on. Plus, they don't get quite the test anxiety when they're not surprised, yet they're tested on what they need to know.
Now, it's your turn to respond. This could mean
- something you already do in your classroom
- something you'd like to try in your classroom
- something you've heard about or seen someone else do
- a link to a website with cool ideas
- a brainstorm of things you could do, but don't really know much about
Get the idea?
I really like that it offers kids away to positively affect their grade now, versus making up for it at the end. I remember having tests like this in college and I never really understood the point of them, but you make the good point that knowing exactly what will be asked and expected and getting the chance to do it again alleviates stress and can better show what they know. My concern though would be are students just learning the answers, not the deeper context? Like learning all the answers to a trivia game, but nothing else on the topics covered. So what do the questions look like? And when you give them the questions back with wrong answers, I assume you don't put the correct answer so they will go find it, is that right?
ReplyDeleteThey can't just learn answers because their are so many versions of the checkpoints. Each checkpoint has a practice, as well as at least three different versions. This allows me to go over mistakes with students so they don't make them again.
ReplyDeleteHere is an example of a checkpoint (as much as I'm able to copy it):
1. Plot and label the following points on the coordinate plane below.
a. (4, 5) b. (2, -1) c. ( 0, -2)
2. Simplify (Give the value it equals using order of operations)
a. 8 + 3 ∙ 6 + 2 = _________
b. ( 7 ─ 1) ∙ 8 - 1 = _________
c. 12 - 8² + 3 = _________
3. Add or Subtract the following integers
a. (-4) + 11 = ________ b. 10 - ( - 18) = _____
c. (- 6) + (- 21) = ________ d. 9 + (- 15) = _____
For me the defining characteristic of an assessment is that it is purposeful and performance based. I think the best way to measure student learning is to have them use the content in a meaningful way. I think that this engages students and gets them involved in the assessment.
ReplyDeleteI think a good assessment must also straddle the the line between depth and breadth. You want to measure student learning towards all of the content that you have covered while trying to make sure that they do not simply have a superficial knowledge of the content. You really want something that promotes and measures higher order thinking
An effective assessment should have clear objectives and expectations and should also encourage self assessment.
That makes a lot of sense, that's the nice part about math, you change the numbers and it changes the question. And to Ryan's comment I need to remember to focus and make clear objectives and clear expectations. There's just so much music to cover, even at a beginner's level it's hard to narrow in on what's really important and teach and asses those elements.
ReplyDeleteIdeas for creative assessments:
ReplyDelete*after reading the first part of the book, I set up stations based on the student's interests- art (had to design a movie poster), music (had to create a rap based on the test), science/math (mapping out the entire section), writing (create their own children's story version of the book). They loved this because it allowed for student choice and the point is to show me that they understood what we read.
*After the Poe unit, they had to write/perform a different version- theater style. Many of them did parodies, which were really creative.
*For TCAP, we did TCAP Olympics *thanks Ryan for the suggestion* They got to pick their team names and after each day the standings were on the board. The kids got super competitive and ended up really enjoying TCAP review.
*mock trial if the book has a trial
*book commercials- this was fun and allowed for some video production