Instructional Content
Process:
- Teachers began by researching potential test bank questions, mostly drawn from the SBAC list of released questions:
- The department lead created a group in Schoology, where they would store question banks and collaborate online.
- The department created folders by grade level within the “resources” section of their group, where they will store question banks.
- The English Department used common planning time to work in grade-level teams. Each team used the researched sample questions to build a question bank within the group resources.
- Teachers used the “Align Learning Objectives” Schoology feature, on each question they created, to tag each question with the appropriate standard or learning goal.
- Once all questions had been created, the department made practice SBAC exams for students and saved them to the “group resources” within Schoology.
- Individual teachers assigned these practice SBAC exams to courses using Schoology’s “copy to course” feature, to be given to students so they can see their own learning needs.
How does this work empower learners? Task Force Recommendations and ISTE Standards
Empowered Learner (ISTE 1) Based on the work of the teacher to design a dynamic way to build and assign practice common assessments, students will be able to seek and utilize personalized feedback on common assessments to determine their individual learning needs, rather than merely teaching to a test.
Enact a continuum for achieving learner agency for students and school leaders (TFR 1) The work of the English Department in creating assessments that can be tailored to various student entry points and needs, as well as be individually assigned to students who need them, honors the Task Force call for “personal reflection, self-assessment, and growth.” Students will have access to activities which help them grow demonstrably on the SBAC exam.