Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Example for Free

Improving FCAT sScores of students Essay Since the first task is to find students who are willing to ask questions and seek help, it is imperative to build a working and trusting relation with the students. Knowing students and understanding their learning style should help them and the proponents of the study in meeting the collective obligation towards acquiring knowledge and preparing both parties for any challenge which include school testing or the state required Standard Testing. Further, it is expected to find cooperative teachers who are willing and able to work together to meet all of the student goals and the curriculum requirements. As mentioned before, if no cooperative work will take form among students, teachers, administrators and parents, the chances for students to be successful may diminish. There is an easy way for every teacher to help their students in preparing for the FCAT. In essence, teachers can include FCAT-like questions into the regular class lectures, activities as well as assessments. Primarily, teachers can use questions that necessitate students to elucidate their responses to the questions. Teachers can also have the students to relate their Reading and Mathematics skills utilizing challenging content from the various subject areas. The test questions included in the FCAT employ the content areas prescribed by the SSS which include the Arts, Language Arts and Mathematics, Science, Health and Physical Education, Social Studies as well as School-to-Work areas. Hence, every student must be handed the chances to apply their reading and mathematics skills in the content fields other than the plain customary mathematics as well as language arts. The majority of the text students after Grade 6 are needed to read and understand on FCAT is informational text which does not necessarily imply it as literature. Another way is for teachers to employ questions in which their formats are open-ended which are similar to the ones identified in the FCAT. AT least three distinct types of open-ended questions are used on the FCAT. These include the extended-response format, short-response type, and the gridded-response type. The first two formats (ER and SR) are applied only on the students of Grades 4, 8 and 10 Reading and Grades 5, 8, and 10 Math. The tests from Grades 5 to 10 in the Mathematics part of the FCAT apply the gridded-response format in the questions. The real amount of questions for every type differs a bit annually. Nevertheless, the percentage of the questions will fall just within the range illustrated in the table below: Percent of Questions for the FCAT Question Formats Subject and Grade Question Format Percent of Questions Read. — 4, 8, 10 Multiple Choice (MC) 85-90% ER and SR 10-15% Reading — 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 MC 100% Math — 3 4 MC 100% Math — 5 MC 60-70% GR 20-25%. ER SR 10-15% Math — 6, 7, 9 MC 60-70% GR 30-40% Math — 8 10 MC 50-60% GR 25-30% ER SR 10-15% In the Reading section of the ER questions in the FCAT, students are provided an answer space which consists of 14 lines. On the other hand, students are provided with a blank workspace for Mathematics where the students are required to illustrate their work and a few lines provided for their explanation part. Every student is required to write answers or illustrate their work in the spaces yet it is not a requirement to completely fill the spaces. Next, in the SR questions, students in reading are provided with another answer space which consists of eight lines. Students are provided with a blank workspace in Mathematics for their explanation or illustration of their work. Filling up the spaces completely is, again, not a requirement. In the GR format, every student is provided with an answer grid to fill. Students are required to fill the grid with the right answer with the use of one of the few right formats. Numerical answers resulting from specific questions can be solved by the use of a response grid and not mere questions of mathematics. In essence, the constant use of these formats of questions in every regular activities and appraisals within the classroom and will aid students become familiar to answering in the same manner they will be asked to answer in the actual FCAT. Teachers can also opt to grade and rate the work of the students using the rubrics based on the FCAT as well as the rubric from Florida Writes. By employing this approach, students can become more accustomed to what is expected from them on the actual test in FCAT. Aiding students comprehend what is expected of them on FCAT is perhaps one of the most effective approaches in helping these students to prepare for the actual FCAT. Most of the time, students ask â€Å"will I have to perform this one on the actual FCAT? † If the teacher considers using the FCAT rubrics in scoring the responses to the classroom test questions, subject papers, reports, projects among many others, students will harness a clearer comprehension of the degrees of performance expected of them during the FCAT. Last but not the least, teachers can opt to utilize and develop questions for classroom discussions and tests that are of similar cognitive firmness as the ones presented in the FCAT test rubrics. The SSS contains standards for the content as well as benchmarks that are challenging for every learner as it also includes the expectation that these learners become more creative as their critical thinking capabilities are likewise developed further. Every class has the size of approximately 32 students with a various degree of academic levels. Most students come from a lower socio-economic class and many of their parents speak another language apart from English and cannot provide enough help the proponents with any of the homework. With the help from other teachers, a â€Å"Mock FCAT Test† will be conducted which is going to be based on the materials the students have covered for the year. The test will consist of a multiple choice section, a true or false part, and several essay type questions. One of the co-teachers in the science classes will have to modify the test for the ESE students just as it has been practiced during regular test or quizzes. Some of the ESE students have a modification clause in their Individual Education Plan or IEP and the test questions have to be read to them so that they will be able to understand better the test questions and answer them to the best of their knowledge. Further, it will provide the students with the guidance for studying and preparing for the real FCAT test. Two periods per week can be used for the test preparation which serves as a review time and after four weeks the test will be given. The teachers should make themselves available before and after school for students who feel they need some help. Also, letters must be sent to the parents of the students which will serve as letters asking for their help, if possible, with students’ practice work. In addition to the help that is to be obtained from both the teachers and the parents, the students themselves will also participate and cooperate in order to further advance the help they can receive. That is, students will be paired, carefully selecting their pairs according to their academic level. All of these activities will be conducted in the regular classroom during the third quarter of the school year. A journal will be maintained which will serve as the record for all of the observations obtained as well as the progress of the students throughout the course of the scheme. Dates will be analyzed in order to predict any changes in the students’ progress so that it will be easier to identify where help is most needed for the students. The journal will also include information gathered from parents on the progress of the time spent with their children who are studying at home. Moreover, the journal will contain a comparison column to see the results from all of the quizzes and serve as a guide for intervention when needed. The information that will be obtained will be thoroughly shared with the students so that they ca follow their progress and pinpoint any deficiencies in which they have to work on. Lastly, the journal will provide information on what and where the needs are to be reviewed, revisited, or reinforced. This is to keep a sustained check on the progress of the project. With the cooperation of the other teachers, information will be shared and concerns will be exchanged concerning the progress of the students. The members of the project will be involved in monitoring, discussing, and helping students to stay on track. There will be daily discussions with the students about the difficulties of the study material or to share the successes and ideas about the methods of studying. Student’s input is most important as their suggestions will be shared with every student in both class periods. Also, students who have already taken the FCAT and have successfully passes the test will be introduced into the group of students in order for the former to be able to relate to the students their previous experience with FCAT. The techniques used by these previous students who have already successfully passed the FCAT will be shared to the current students so that the latter will be able to obtain any important information or insights into the FCAT. The data will be interpreted in terms of an analysis of all the information obtained before, during, and after the project has culminated. Input from the teachers involved will be greatly considered inasmuch as the conference with the parents and the participating students will provide the data that will be analyzed. Students will be given a self-survey to assess their own progress from their personal viewpoint and provide guide for reviewing the material for the test. Also, with the cooperation of the other teachers, notes will be compared and pinpoint the relation of time, the involvement of the parents and the scores obtained from the test. All obtainable manpower will be used in completing the project. The findings of the study or project will be shared with the entire staff of the school, specifically the administrators and the teachers, as well as with the parents and the students. The success of the project will be shared with other schools as it will be important and useful information in preparing their students for testing via the regular curriculum. The goal presented is to make the students aware of the possibilities of learning through organized effort and the learning intelligence that most befits each student. Also, the information obtained from the project will be shared with other teachers in order to reinforce the methods and styles and teaching practices that will be used. The parents will realize that their involvement with their children in learning is of great significance as they keep in contact with the teachers and monitor the progress of their children. The next phase is to work on continuous cooperation with the parents and other teachers and to provide the maximum help to the students. An open relationship with students will also be developed through an action plan where everybody is involved in the educational process working together for a common goal. This will help and encourage students in their future study as they will be able to comprehend the positive outcome of their efforts and the cooperation they maintain with their fellow students and with their parents and teachers. The bulk of the critical colleagues in the entirety of the project will be comprised of fellow teachers as well as the assistant principal of the school who will provide the support and approval for the implementation of the project. Permission will be sought after the school principal as well as from the parents of the students as both parties will have to invest time and a few other resources for the initiation and completion of the project. The permission of the other teachers will also be obtained primarily because classes will be conducted in their respective classrooms and class sections that they handle. CONCLUSION By monitoring the test results obtained from the FCAT and comparing these results with the previous years, the knowledge of the students can be relatively increased specifically in the domain of science. By guiding the teachers find the specific areas where the students needs some room for improvement especially their weaknesses as well as their strengths that need reinforcement, teachers can correspondingly adjust their lesson plans. Further, since the work aims at expanding the skills and knowledge of students based on FCAT results, the work also shares a relevant contribution to the overall academic and holistic development of the student as relationships are established and strengthened between students, parents, teachers, and the school administrators. References FCAT Fact Sheet. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 5, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatfact. pdf. FCAT Myths vs. Facts. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/myths-facts. pdf. What every teacher should know about FCAT. (2005, August 24, 2005). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from http://fcat. fldoe. org/pdf/fcatguid. pdf.