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Grade 3-5 students face new state testing

Help your children succeed with these tests
Beginning this school year, children in grades 3 and 5 will take a new crop of state tests in math and English language arts. Similar exams have been in place for fourth graders for a number of years. The expanded testing in English language arts—covering reading writing and listening skills—and math for each of the upper elementary grades is designed to show whether children have a firm grasp on the skills they will need to succeed as they move toward middle school, high school and beyond. These tests will also help teachers identify where the curriculum might need to be fine-tuned to better meet students’ needs.
Undoubtedly, high school may seem a long way down the road. However, as they move ahead in school, children will be asked to tackle increasingly more challenging coursework. And once they hit high school, students will need to show they have mastered the learning and skills that the state requires in order for them to graduate. Success with their elementary school lessons now will help them achieve these goals later on.
Testing children regularly beginning in the upper elementary years is one way of ensuring that they are on track academically. Such tests help show whether children need additional help to confidently move ahead in school.

A look at the new state tests
The goal of these tests is to find out whether students are learning their daily lessons well. These tests are carefully designed to reflect the types of information and skills that children are expected to learn at their grade levels. Although students will be given opportunities throughout the year become familiar with, the school year will not be spent drilling for these exams.

The English Language Arts (ELA) tests
The English Language Arts tests are administered in two sessions for students in grades 3 through 5 and three sessions in grade 4. 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.

Reading
In the reading section, students read several passages. These may include short stories, folk tales, poetry, excerpts from biographies or other types of informational writing. For each passage, students will answer questions that demon. How well they understand what they’ve read.

Listening
For this portion of the test, students will listen to a passage and then answer questions demon how well they understand what was heard. The listening section of the tests in grades 3 and 4 contain literary passages similar in content and vocabulary to the materials they read and hear in the classroom each day. The listening section for students in grade 5 contains informational passages.

Writing
In the writing section of the test, children will be asked to make corrections to paragraph containing errors in capitalization and punctuation (grade three) or in capitalization, punctuation, grammar and usage (grade five). Before tackling this editing task on their own during the exam, students will practice an editing task with their teachers (see below) to make sure they understand how to complete this part of the test. Students in grade 4 will answer two extended-response questions, one in the reading section and one in the listening section. Their answers will be evaluated for their writing skills, as well as reading comprehension.

Sample editing task (grade 3):
“There are some mistakes in this paragraph in capital letters and punctuation. Let’s correct them together. ”
My red bicycle is my favorite toy. It used to belong to my big sister katie. She gave it to me. I ride it after School each day. I like my bicycle because it is my favorite color. Do you have a favorite toy.

Reading/writing question (grade 4):
After reading The View from a Hot-Air Balloon by Ben Sutter
students will answer questions, such as:

Which of these would be another good title for the article?
A. How to Draw a Map
B. Making Sense of Maps
C. States, Countries, and Oceans
D. Airplanes, Balloons and Birds

Explain what the title of the article means. Use details from the article to support your answer.


The mathematics tests
Each of the math tests in grades 3 and 5 is administered in two sessions. Fourth graders will take three sessions of tests. The first session will include multiple-choice questions only. The second session—as well as the third session in grade 4—will consist of short- and extended-response questions.
Here are two sample questions:

Multiple choice (grade 3):
Sam and Jenna have been saving pennies. Sam has 232 pennies, and Jenna has 151 pennies. How many more pennies does Sam have than Jenna?
A. 71
B. 81
C. 121
D. 181

Short answer (grade 5):
Elissa and Matt bought 7/8 of a yard of fabric to make a class project. They used only 1/3 of a yard. How much fabric was left?
Show your work.
Answer: ____ yard


Helping ease children’s test taking jitters
When taking the state tests, children will be drawing on what they know from their day-to-day lessons. For this reason, at-home studying isn’t necessary or recommended.
If your children seem nervous about the tests, offer words of encouragement. Practice a few stress-relieving exercises together such as deep breathing or shoulder shrugs. If they don’t seem to be taking the tests seriously, let them know you view the tests as important tools for showing that they are learning well. Let your children know that you have confidence in them and that you will be proud of their results as long as they put forth their best effort.

As the test day approaches, see to it that your children:
• get a good night’s sleep;
• eat a healthy breakfast and take a wholesome snack to school;
• dress comfortably;
• are on time to school;
• have all the necessary materials (pencils, erasers, etc.); and
• avoid stressful situations at home, such as arguments.


Elementary testing dates for the 2005-06
English Language Arts (ELA)
Grades 3, 4 and 5
Monday, January 9-Friday, January 13*

Mathematics
Grades 3, 4 and 5
Monday, March 6-Friday, March 10*
*Students will not be tested for all five of these days. Depending on the grade level, tests run two to three days. This range is given so school districts can stagger tests for different grades throughout the testing week.


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 falling 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 done 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 to special remedial classes.