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TOP 11 TEST TEACHING TIPS FOR FCAT. Presented By: Mrs. Tina Walls LMS Reading Coach. Students don’t go back to the text to answer questions. All students must go back to verify the best possible answers. Multiple choice distractors are all plausible.
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TOP 11 TEST TEACHING TIPS FOR FCAT Presented By: Mrs. Tina Walls LMS Reading Coach
Students don’t go back to the text to answer questions. All students must go back to verify the best possible answers. Multiple choice distractors are all plausible. Give open book tests to practice going back to the text to retrieve information. Allow students to underline, use symbols, like stars or dots to mark the location of information. Test Teaching Tip # 1
Students return to only one place in the text to get information instead of including information from multiple places in the text. 99 % of the question on FCAT are Think and Search questions. Teachers need to reinforce QAR’s and practice scanning the text to locate information various places. Test Teaching Tip # 2
Students confuse Florida Writes with FCAT Reading by writing a personal narrative in response to a FCAT Performance Task. Students overanalyze the question. Reinforce that FCAT Reading NEVER wants a student’s personal opinion or experiences. Teachers must not accept these responses as “score-able” Give multiple opportunities to improve responses. Test Teaching Tip # 3
Students don’t use key words in MC or PT responses. (e.g. how, why). Teachers must review question stems. Practice circling key words. There are clues in the stem that will give the location of the answer. Test Teaching Tip # 4
Students don’t use key words in MC or PT responses. (e.g. how, why…..?) Teachers must REVIEW Question Stems. Practice circling key words. There are clues in the stem that will give the location of the answer. Test Teaching Tip # 4
Students only restate questions with no new words added. They receive a zero. Example:Birds and fish keep warm differently in winter. Teachers must insist that new information is included in the response. Even one new word shows a glimmer of understanding. Practice with FL DOE Released Tests. Utilize the FCAT Instructional Rubrics to spend time improving student responses. Test Teaching Tip # 5
Students repeat the same information when answering performance tasks. Every performance tasks includes several concepts and support for those concepts. Practice going back into the text to teach students how to add more information. Practice peer proofreading to delete repetitious information. Test Teaching Tip # 6
Students write comparisons that are incomplete. Example: The fish keep warm in water but birds don’t.This response receives a zero. Teachers must model complete comparisons orally and in written format. The example included should be considered an incomplete thought. This skill is very teachable! Test Teaching Tip # 7
Students use pronouns in a way that shows ambiguity. Therefore, use of pronouns or indefinite pronouns should be limited or eliminated. Example: One won’t eat and the other hides. Discourage the use of pronouns in written responses. Even the most well intentioned student will score a zero even if the information is true. Students should be specific about who or what is being compared in their responses. Practice improving responses. Test Teaching Tip # 8
Students choose the wrong distractors on Multiple-Choice items. Model reading the question stem before reading the distractors and locate the information in the text. Practice answering using one- sentence summaries. When the students return to read the distractors, the correct answer is obvious. Test Teaching Tip # 9
Students are using quotation marks inappropriately or not using them at all. Direct quotes from the text maybe used however, they must be used with paraphrased support to receive a full score. Test Teaching Tip # 10
Students do not go back re-read their answers after completing the test. The test is liberally timed. Do not give students the option to read a book or draw after they finish a test. They will choose the book instead of going back to check answers. Regularly practice endurance when administering “mini” and “mock” assessments. Test Teaching Tip # 11
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