By: Helen Reas, LearningRX Center Director
LearningRX | 972-299-8474
Here are a few questions for you...
Mr. Garza has three kinds of animals on his farm. He has 6 dogs. He has twice as many cows as dogs. He has 3 times as many sheep as cows. How many sheep does Mr. Garza have on his farm?
Now, how about this one?
A monthly cell phone plan charges $5 for the first 300 text messages used and $0.15 for each additional message. On this plan, what is the number of text messages that must be used in a month in order to make the average cost per message $0.05?
A. 400
B. 350
C. 900
D. 500
Both of these questions are samples of what can be found on the new STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) tests for 3rd grade and Algebra II. We've heard a lot about it in the news lately and if you have a child in public school, you've probably heard about their opinions of it! The STAAR test is the fifth generation of the state mandated test and there are quite a few changes from the previous TAKS test.
The STAAR test replaced the TAKS test in 2012. The subjects and grades that were tested by the TAKS for grades 3-8 will remain the same, but high school students will now receive an End-Of-Course (EOC) assessment instead of general subject area tests. The goal of STAAR is to increase postsecondary readiness of graduating students and to ensure that Texas students are competitive with other students nationally. In fact, the goal is to become one of the top ten states in terms of college readiness by 2020.
How does STAAR intend to meet this goal? Compared to the TAKS, the rigor of test items will be increased by assessing skills at a greater depth and level of cognitive complexity. Assessments will increase in length at most grades and subjects. Tests now have a time limit of 4 hours as opposed to unlimited time to complete the TAKS. The reading assessment will place a greater emphasis on critical analysis rather than literal understanding (see English III reading sample questions).
An increased number of open-ended questions in science and math allow more of an opportunity to derive an answer independently. In addition, STAAR will have two writing tasks instead of one. Studies will be conducted to compare performance with nationally norm-referenced assessments.
Performance standards are set at a higher level than was required from TAKS. STAAR EOC assessments for high school students will count for 15 percent of the student’s final grade in the course.
What does all of this mean for our students? They will be challenged at a higher level than before but not just academically! Some of the cognitive skills needed to perform well on the test include processing speed, logic and reasoning, working memory, and visual processing. We all know that student that performs well on tests but is always the last one finished. Why does this usually happen? We often find that while their logic and reasoning and other cognitive skills are functioning well, their processing speed is functioning below the norm. Given plenty of time, they will perform well on a test, but put a time limit on it (such as the new four-hour limit) and the results can be very different. A weak-working memory can play into this as well by causing difficulty following directions and lots of starting over. The reading assessment places much more of an emphasis on critical analysis, which will require good logic and reasoning skills.
LearningRx can assess each of these cognitive skills and can strengthen each of them with one-on-one training. These skills are not only important for test taking but they are the root source of learning as well. Boosting these skills will enable your student to learn faster and easier and set them up for success for the 2012-2013 school year and STAAR.