What families need to know
This school year, children in grades 6, 7 and 8 will
take new state tests in English language arts and math. Similar exams
have been in place for eighth graders for a number of years, as have
tests in second languages, science, social studies and technology.
Although testing at all levels can provide useful feedback about how
well children are learning their lessons, testing during the middle
school years is considered particularly important.
The pre-teen years are a time of rapid change for kids. Physically,
socially and emotionally, the years between 10 and 13 rival the first
three years of children’s lives in terms of growth. Often, all this
upheaval can leave kids less self-assured and less interested in
academics.
However, demanding state and national learning standards don't allow
students the luxury of taking a break from academics during the middle
school years. Everything about school today—from the courses students
take to the tests they need to pass in order to graduate—is more
demanding than ever before. Success with their middle school lessons now
will help students excel later on.
Testing children regularly throughout the middle school years is one way
of ensuring that they are progressing academically. Such tests help show
whether children need additional help to confidently move ahead in
school. These tests will also help teachers identify where the
curriculum might need to be fine-tuned to better meet students’ needs.
A look at the new middle school tests
The new state tests are carefully designed to
reflect the types of information and skills that children are expected
to learn at their respective grade levels. Although students will be
given opportunities throughout the year to become familiar with the
format of these tests, the school year will not be spent drilling for
these exams. Instead, the primary focus of middle school education is on
expanding children’s knowledge in many subject areas, teaching them to
be more self-reliant and preparing them for the academic challenges that
lay ahead.
The English language arts (ELA) tests
The English language arts tests are administered in
two sessions for students in grade 7 and three sessions in grades 6 and
8. These exams are designed to measure students’ abilities in reading,
listening and writing. The tests contain a variety of questions
including multiple choice, short- and extended-response and editing
tasks.
Sample questions:
Sample listening question (Gr 6)
After listening to a story about Sojourner Truth, a
woman whose heroic life inspired many both before and after the Civil
War, students will answer questions such as the following:
-
Why do you think Sojourner Truth changed her
name from the one she was given when she was born? Was her choice of
name a good one? Write an essay in which you explain why Sojourner
Truth changed her name, what that name represented to her, and
whether the name was a good choice. Use details from the article to
support your answer. In your answer, be sure to include:
• why Sojourner Truth changed her name
• what her new name represented to her
• whether her new name was a good choice
• details from the article to support your answer
-
Check your writing for correct spelling, grammar
and punctuation.
Sample editing question (Gr 7)
-
There are some mistakes in this paragraph. Some
sentences may have more than one mistake, and other sentences may
contain no mistakes at all. There are no mistakes in spelling. Read
the paragraph and find the mistakes. Draw a line through each
mistake in the paragraph. Then write the correction above it.
When you look up at the night sky, you see the
beautiful stars shining, you see a full moon. The view from space can be
quite another matter, though. From Earth you cannot see none of the
nuts, bolts, paint chips, and other assorted pieces of space debris
orbits Earth every day. The worst thing about space debris is not it’s
ugly appearance; space debris can be extremely dangerously. These bits
of metal and other junk travels through the air at speeds greater than
20,000 miles an hour and can create serious damage.
Math
The middle school mathematics tests are administered
in two sessions in grades 6 and 7 and three sessions in grade 8. They
are designed to assess how well students have mastered the newly
proposed mathematics learning standard.
At all grade levels, students will apply the skills and knowledge gained
in the classroom in order to answer three types of questions:
multiple-choice, short-response, and extended-response.
Sample questions:
Short response (Gr 6)
Multiple choice (Gr 8)
What do the test scores mean?
The state exams are graded using a scale of 1-4,
with a 4 being the highest score.
-
Level 4—Student has exceeded state academic
standards
-
Level 3—Student has met state academic standards
-
Level 2—Student has fallen short of state
academic standards and needs help to meet those expectations.
-
Level 1— Student is in academic jeopardy and
needs significant remediation/extra help.
Families can expect to learn how their children have
scored on these tests early in the 2006-07 school year. The state
requires that Academic Intervention Services (AIS) be given to students
who score at a Level 1 or 2 on the ELA and math exams. These services
can include extra instruction during and after school as well as special
remedial classes.
Reading for joy…and for school success
Because the state tests are designed to reflect the
skills and information students are learning each day at school,
out-of-school test prep isn’t recommended. However, there is one
important activity that will give children an academic leg up—reading.
On the new English-language arts tests, 6th, 7th and 8th graders will be
asked to correct a written passage for grammar, punctuation and proper
usage. And throughout all of the other subject-area tests, students will
also be asked to read for understanding and respond to questions with
writing that is clear, expressive and properly punctuated.
Middle school teachers and librarians say that reading is the number one
activity for counteracting the poor grammar students experience daily on
television, when talking with friends, etc. The more “good” (e.g. rich
and grammatically correct) writing students read, the more likely they
are to absorb this language and use it correctly when they speak and
write. Reading can also improve student’s comprehension skills.
The New York State Education Department recommends that students in the
middle school years read at least two books/month.
There are many helpful online reading resources with suggestions that
can inspire even the most reluctant middle school reader. Here is a
sampling:
Great middle school reads:
Books that boys will love:
|
