Take a Test: Answer These Questions About Preparations for Kansas Assessments

1. Take a Test: Answer These Questions About Preparations for Kansas Assessments • What’s the difference between a “practice test” and a “formative test”? • What kind of practice test items am I permitted to use? • May I make up my own items for practice? • May I use practice tests that are already available? • May I copy the stem of items on the “Flip Charts”?

2. Test Security Guidelines: Formative Tests Prior to Testing • Reserve formative items for testing, not for instruction. • Use formative test item analysis to identify indicators that should be taught. • Use one copy of the formative test to analyze misconceptions. • Teach indicators using curriculum materials. • Teach concepts.

3. Test Security Guidelines: Actual and Formative Tests Prior to Testing • “DO NOT use actual or altered test questions (clone or parallel) for practice or instruction.” (Appropriate Testing Practices Fact Sheet 2009-2010) • DO NOT use any formative test items for instruction • DO NOT review formative items with students after the formative test.

4. Item Use Chart REV

5. Consider the item stem: “What is 62% of 806?” • Re-write the above item stem 5 different ways. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. • What “principles” can you derive from the different ways you can write this expression? (I.E. Are there any ways you can “translate” the item stem into mathematical symbols?)

6. Creating Equivalent Math Items • “What is 62% of 806?” • “What” means “the answer” • “is” means “=“ • 62% means .62 • “of” means “multiply” • Translate: “The answer = .62 x 806”

7. Create Equivalent Math Expressions • VARIATIONS: • 62% of 806 is what? • 62 of 806 = ? • 62% x 806 = y • 806 x 62% = y • Y= .62 (806) • .62 = y/806

8. Create a Word Scenario to Fit the Math Expression • We have 806 books in our school library. • 62% of those books have hard covers. • How many of our library books have hard covers?

9. Concept-based Instruction: Create a Graphic Representation of the Math Expression 62% Of Books Have Hardcovers 38% Of Books Do Not Have Hardcovers 500 Books 306 Books + + 806 Books 100% Of Books

10. Create a Multiple-Choice Item in Reading #1: Listen to a portion from Ch 3 of John Steinbeck’s story, Of Mice and Men. • 1. Answer the following open-ended question in a complete sentence: Q: Why does Curley start fighting with Lennie? (Ch 3, Of Mice and Men)

11. Why does Curley want to fight Lennie? A: Curley starts fighting with Lennie because Curley thinks Lennie is laughing at him.

12. Create a Multiple-Choice Item in Reading #2 • 2. Score answers in in 5-point increments: ¼ correct = 5 pts; ½ correct = 10 pts; ¾ correct = 15 pts; fully correct = 20 pts REAL EXAMPLE: ¼ “Curley wants to prove his masculinity.” ½ “Lennie laughs at him.” ¾ “Lennie is smiling at the idea of a farm.” Full: “Curley thinks Lennie is laughing at him.” OR “Curley takes out his frustration from having been put down by Slim, Carlson, and Candy.”

13. Create a Multiple-Choice Item in Reading #3 • 3. Use partially correct responses as distractors in a multiple-choice item: • Q: Why does Curley start fighting with Lennie? a. Lennie is smiling at the idea of a farm. (“fact right there does not answer Curley’s motivation”) b. Lennie laughs at him. (“totally incorrect”) c. Curley wants to prove his masculinity. (“too general”) d. Curley thinks Lennie is laughing at him. (“right there answers Curley’s motivation”)

14. Create a Multiple-Choice Item in Reading #4 • Think-pair-share: Ask students to tell why each of the distractors is incorrect for the context of the question.

15. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers? • What’s the difference between a “practice test” and a “formative test”? • What kind of practice test items am I permitted to use? • May I make up my own items for practice? • May I use practice tests that are already available? • May I copy the stem of items on the “Flip Charts”?

16. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers?Share with a Partner: • What’s the difference between a “practice test” and a “formative test”?

17. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #1 Q: What’s the difference between a “Kansas practice test” and a “Kansas formative test”? A: A practice test gives students experience in the format of the test. (KCA Practice Tests) A formative test provides teachers with information that guides instruction by pointing to the distinctive features necessary for concept instruction.n (KCA Formative Tests).

18. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers?Share with a Partner: • What kind of practice test items am I permitted to use?

19. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #2 Q: What kind of practice test items am I permitted to use? • You may create “practice” tests on your own or you may use practice tests approved by your Lead Instructional Coach.

20. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers?Share with a Partner: 3. May I make up my own items for practice?

21. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #3 Q: May I make up my own items for practice? Yes. Here’s a suggestion: • First, give students practice taking a KCA test by administering a “KCA Practice Test” from the options on the KCA Menu • You can use the item analysis from a KS Formative Assessment to identify math and reading indicators for differential instruction. • OR use your list of assessed indicators for math and reading or the grade level benchmarks already matched to KS reading and math to identify what indicators you need to teach, the order you need to teach them, and the curriculum materials you will use to teach those indicators.

22. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #3 • For reading, you can select a chapter book (expository, narrative, or technical), ask open ended questions, and use the student-generated partially correct responses to construct the distractors for a multiple-choice test. • During the test students can use the QAR strategies (“think and search,” “right there,” “author and you”) to identify the correct response. • After this teacher-constructed test, have students identify why distractors are incorrect.

23. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers?Share with a Partner: 4. May I use practice tests that are already available?

24. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #4 Q: May I use practice (“get ready”) tests that are already available? A: Yes, if your Instructional Coach or Lead Curriculum Specialist approves the source. However, you should not use Kansas Formative Assessment items for direct instruction.

25. Questions About Test Preparation: What Were Your Answers?Share with a Partner: 5. May I copy the stem of items on the “Flip Charts”?

26. Answers to Questions About Test Preparation #5 Q: May I copy the stem of items on the “Flip Charts”? A: Use these stems to build equivalent statements so students are not locked into only one way of understanding how the concept will be tested.

27. Remember: • Kansas Formative Assessments are built with items from the same test pool as the operational items. • Kansas Formative Assessments have the same “item parameters” as the operational items. • Because of their ability to provide very focused information on KS indicators, the KS Formatives should be reserved for diagnostic testing, to inform you about the kind of differentiated instruction you need to pursue. • Reserve Kansas Formative Assessments for the purpose for which they were designed. • Do not use Kansas Formative Assessments as instructional worksheets.