Transcript No Slide Title

Welcome to the
TAYLOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Grade 3 MCAS
Information Night
Massachusetts
Comprehensive
Assessment
System
MCAS
Why does my child need to take the
MCAS?
• The law requires all public school students in
Massachusetts to take part in the MCAS*
• MCAS measures performance based on Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks Learning Standards
• MCAS provides a measure of accountability for students,
schools, and districts
• In grade 10, students must pass English Language Arts and
Math (Class of 2010 must pass Science and
Technology/Engineering)
*ELL students
Questions to be answered today…
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What is MCAS?
What tests will my child take part in?
How many sessions of testing will my child participate in?
How many questions will my child answer?
What type of questions will my child be asked?
When will I receive results/What will they look like?
What does the school do with the information from
MCAS?
• How can I support my child for MCAS?
• Where can I find additional information?
What is MCAS?
• MCAS: an assessment designed to meet
requirements of Educational Reform Law of 1993
• All tests are un-timed
• Grade 3 MCAS: Reading and Math
• Grade 4 MCAS: Composition, Reading, and Math
• Composition-rough draft and final copy
• Reading-3 sessions over a two week period
– Practice is a one paragraph story with 3 questions
– Read selection and answer multiple choice and open
response questions
– Multiple choice-1 point each
– Open Response based on each questions (see fraction)
What is MCAS?
• Math-2 sessions over a two week period.
– Practice is multiple choice and short answer
– The test is assesses:
• Number Sense and Operations
• Patterns, Relationships, and Algebra
• Geometry
• Measurement
• Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability
– The test has multiple choice, short answer, and open
response questions
• Multiple choice-1 point each
• Short answer-1 point each (refer to each question
for scoring guide)
• Open Response- based on each question (refer to
each question for scoring guide)
How many questions will my child
answer?
• Reading
– selection followed by multiple choice questions and open
response questions
– Last year children responded to 60+ questions only 42 were
scored questions
• MATH
– Arrangement of word problems, tables, graphs, number
sentences with higher order math skills embedded
– There were only 3 computation problems
– Last year children responded to 50+ questions only 35 were
scored questions
What type of questions will my child
be asked?
• The release questions from past tests are available
through
The Department of Education website
(for all grades dating back to 2003)
http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/testitems.html
Children’s author Joanna Cole is best known for her Magic School Bus books. Read this selection
about her and then answer the questions that follow.
Joanna Cole
by Deborah Kovacs and James Preller
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Born:August 11, 1944, in Newark, New Jersey
Home: Sandy Hook, Connecticut
W hat’s Joanna Cole interested in? Well, just about
everything. And when Joanna Cole is interested in
something, she usually writes a book about it.
She’s written about fleas, cockroaches, dinosaurs,
chicks, fish, saber-toothed tigers, frogs, horses,
snakes, cars, puppies, insects, and (whew!) babies.
“I was never one of those wonderful students who
gets straight A’s and everything right on the tests,”
says Joanna Cole. “But I’ve always been obsessed
with logical thinking. I used to argue with my
teachers when things didn’t make sense to me.”
Joanna grew up in East Orange, New Jersey. Her
interest in science grew from her natural curiosity
about the world in which she lived. “We had a
small backyard, and I was the gardener in the
family. I spent a lot of time planting flowers,
daydreaming, watching ants, and catching bugs.”
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IT BEGAN WITHCOCKROACHES
All writers must begin somewhere, and Joanna Cole
began her career by writing about cockroaches.
Joanna was working as a library-teacher in a
Brooklyn elementary school when her father gave
her an article. Joanna remembers, “It was about
cockroaches and how they were here before the
dinosaurs. It got me thinking about all those
science books I’d read as a kid—insects had been a
special interest of mine—and it occurred to me that
there wasn’t one about cockroaches.”
As a nonfiction writer, Joanna does a lot of research
before she writes a single word. “The impossible
dream is to know everything,” she says. “When you
are writing the book, you must select what you
want to go into the book. What always happens is
that more things are left out than can go in.
“I have a question that I ask myself as I write: Why
does the reader want to turn the page? I never feel
that kids are going to turn the page just because it’s
there to turn. There has to be a question that’s in a
reader’s mind—and he or she turns the page to
find the answers.
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it’s fun to be a writer. That question always leaves
me a little speechless. Because the answer is, of
course, yes and no. When it’s going well, there’s
nothing more exhilarating. But it’s so much work!”
Joanna has been praised by both teachers and
children for being able to make science interesting
and understandable. And now, with the Magic
School Bus series, she’s done the impossible—she’s
made science funny.
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“Before I started writing the first Magic School Bus
book, I had a lot of lofty goals—and I had no idea
whether they could be achieved. I wanted it to be
a very good science book. I also wanted it to be a
good story, a story you might read even without
the science. And I wanted it to be genuinely funny.
Well this was terrifying to me. I couldn’t work at
all. I cleaned out closets, answered letters, went
shopping—anything but sit down and write. But
eventually I did it, even though I was scared.”
The Magic School Bus books were a huge success.
Readers across the country loved them. They
especially loved the wacky science teacher, Ms.
Frizzle. “We were concerned that teachers might
be offended by Ms. Frizzle, with her crazy clothes.
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But what’s happened is that teachers love her.
Whenever Bruce Degen, the illustrator, and I go to
schools, there’s almost always somebody dressed
as Ms. Frizzle. The teachers are even asking for Ms.
Frizzle outfits.”
In addition to her many science books, Joanna Cole
has written over twenty books of fiction including
Don’t Tell the Whole World, The Clown-Arounds,
Bony-Legs, Doctor Change, Monster Manners, and
The Missing Tooth.
Joanna Cole finds pleasure and excitement in each
new project she takes on. “When I was starting to
write The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body,
I didn’t know whose body the bus would travel in.
Then I thought of the idea that Ms. Frizzle and her
class would go into Arnold’s body, and that he
would eat them as Cheesie Wheesies. That was one
of the happiest moments of my life. I was walking
on clouds all day.”
Mark your choices for multiple-choice questions 13 through 20 by filling in the circle next
to the best answer.
What type of information will I
receive after the test?
• With your child’s results you will receive a guide
to reading the report (green pamphlet) as well as
a legend on the Parent/Guardian Report.
• The Parent/Guardian Report will show how well
your third grade child performed in Reading and
Math compared to the average performance of
third grade students at the Taylor School, the
town of Foxborough and the state overall.
• The Parent/Guardian Report will show range of
scores (performance level) and the test item
scores for your child.
How are MCAS results reported?
• MCAS Scaled Scores Ranges
(DOE identifies the score ranges each year after the
assessment is administered)
Performance Level
Scaled Score Points
Proficient
32-40
Needs Improvement
19-31 (Passing)
Warning
0-18
How can I support my child for MCAS?
• Keep stress level down.
• Make sure your child has a good night’s rest, eats
properly, and gets to school on time every day.
• Emphasize MCAS has no impact on your child’s
report card, grades, or promotion, and encourage
your child to do their best.
• Communicate with your child’s teacher regularly to
see how the family can support your child’s learning
at school.
How can I support my child for
MCAS?
• Ask your child about the homework that is due
tomorrow and next week, and make sure it gets done.
Send your child to school prepared to learn.
• Ask your child to explain to you what he or she is
studying. These conversations help you to follow
your child’s progress, and help him or her to
remember what has been learned.
• Encourage your child to use Study Island at home.
– Username is: their student number@taylor
– password is: last name in all capitals
Where can I find additional
information?
• The Taylor School Website
http://foxborough.k12.ma.us/fpsweb/
TAY/TAYindex.html
• The Department of Education
www.doe.mass.edu
• all test items from past MCAS tests are
available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/
testitems.html