EOC Biology Rx

1. EOC Biology Rx Diagnose, Prescribe and Treat Students for Success!

2. Objectives • By the end of this course, you will earn your doctorate in EOC Biology. You will be able to diagnose, prescribe, and treat students for success on the EOC Biology exam.

3. Diagnose

4. Within your group, discuss the following question: What are some ways we can diagnose students strengths and weaknesses?

5. Diagnostic Testing Physicians often refer to a variety of resources such as lab technicians to help diagnose a patient. What resources do we have available to help diagnose problems with our students?

6. Available Resources Textbook Companies Glenco/McGraw-Hill Prentice Hall Arkansas Department of Education http://arkansased.org Cathy Mackey, Science Assessment Specialist Web-sites nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ www.iq.poquoson.org/eocbio02v5.htm http://www.iq.poquoson.org/2005vasol/eocbio/eocbio05.htm http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/eoc/bio/ http://www.learnmoreindiana.org/k12academics/Assessments/Paes/Core40End-of-CourseAssessments.aspx

7. Prescribe

8. As a group, write a prescription for student achievement on the End of Course Biology Exam.

9. Prescriptions for Success Physicians prescribe a course of treatment for their patients and depending upon the success of treatment are often required to seek help from specialists. As instructors, do we have the same capabilities?

10. Prescriptions for Success • Diagnostic testing (pre-tests) • Data-driven instruction (on-going assessment) • Specialists (utilized for specific deficiencies) • Post-diagnostic testing (did the applied prescription and treatment work?)

11. Apply Treatment

12. Within your group, discuss the following question: In what ways can we apply treatment to our students?

13. Treatment Applications • Oral Treatment – designed for the auditory learner. This treatment allows the student to “hear” the content. • Shot in the Arm – designed for the kinesthetic learner. This is a quick treatment that will require follow-up with the student on an individual basis. • Intravenous Treatment – designed for the kinesthetic learner. This treatment delivers a direct line of instruction to the student and allows you to treat the student individually. • Topical Treatment – designed for the kinesthetic learner. This is a surface treatment that will require you to “rub it in”. • Application of drops – designed for the visual learner. This treatment allows the student to “see” the content. • Radiation or Chemotherapy Treatments – designed for a specific type of treatment. This treatment is for any student who needs some specific type of care such as a student struggling with one particular concept.

14. Preventative Medicine

15. As a group, answer the following question: How can we utilize prevention to foster student success in the future?

16. Fostering Success • Map the local curriculum, and align it to the Arkansas Science Frameworks. • Teacher Mentoring and Coaching • Use strategies and activities that engage the students as active learners. • Student Ownership – Practice makes Perfect. Remember: you can’t learn anything new without a lot of practice.

17. Teacher Mentoring and Coaching • Know the test format and teach it to your students. Know how to score the open-response items in order to give your students an accurate measure of where they are in terms of their proficiency. The Biology End of Course Assessment consists of multiple-choice and open-response items.

18. Multiple-Choice Items • Parts of a multiple choice item Stimulus: Background information and any pertinent tables, diagrams, charts, graphs, or pictures. Stem: The question with answers. A complete sentence is considered a closed stem. Not all multiple-choice items will contain a stimulus. If there is a stimulus, it may contain a graphic. All items will contain a stem and four answer choices. See released items for examples of item arrangement and use of closed or open stems. Students should be aware that some of the multiple-choice answers will be given as distracters to the correct answer.

19. Science multiple-choice items should be: • aligned with the Arkansas Science Framework, • matched to the cognitive level presented in instruction, • clear, concise, and unambiguous (excluding any irrelevant information), • aligned to only one student learning expectation, • free of bias and sensitive language, and • relevant to the life of a typical student of the grade level.

20. Open-response Items • Parts of a open-response item Stimulus: Background information and any pertinent tables, diagrams, charts, graphs, or pictures. Stem: The question with answers. A complete sentences is considered a closed stem. Students should be reminded to label their responses to each segment 1, 2, and 3. On the science assessments, not all open-response items will contain a stimulus. If there is a stimulus, it may contain a graphic.

21. Science open-response items should be: • aligned to the Arkansas Science Framework, • match the cognitive level of the SLE being assessed by looking at the verb in the SLE, • clear, concise, and unambiguous (excluding any irrelevant information), • written using age-appropriate language, • free of bias and sensitive language, and • relevant to the life of a typical student of the grade level.

22. Scoring science open-response items • On the Arkansas Science Assessments, students are scored on science content knowledge only. • Responses are not scored based on writing style. • There is no penalty for misspelled words, incomplete sentences, etc. • Responses must be written in the space provided. • Any response written in the test booklet will not be scored

23. Scoring science open-response items • Students should answer each part of the item completely. • Students are encouraged to label the corresponding parts of their responses. • Open-response items are scored based on a four-point rubric. • A specific rubric is developed for each open-response item. • Students are not given a copy of the rubric in advance.

24. Test Taking Tips for Teachers • During the test: Instruct students to listen to and read all directions in order to avoid errors due to misunderstanding. Remind students to be sure that they understand the question before reading the answer choices. They should read every answer choice before selecting an answer. Graphics often contain crucial information. Remind students to examine and analyze all graphics related to a question. Explain to students that they should always choose an answer. By eliminating as many wrong choices as possible, students have a good chance at guessing correctly and obtaining more points.

25. Test Taking Tips for Teachers • Before the test: Remind students to get eight to nine hours of sleep for several days leading up to the test. Advise students to spend the evening prior to the test doing something relaxing, such as playing a board game, exercising, or reading an enjoyable book. Encourage students to eat a healthy breakfast with foods high in protein and carbohydrates. Suggest that students bring granola bars and juice if they will be getting a break during the test. On the morning of the test, tell students to clear their minds of any outside distractions and focus their attention on the test.

26. EOC Biology Rx You have now successfully earned your doctorate degree in End Of Course Biology. It’s now up to you to diagnose, prescribe, and treat students for success on the EOC Biology Exam.