What will we do to prepare our students?

The teachers at BSHS plan to pull all juniors together for 4th period for one whole week every month (January-April) to provide PSSA prep sessions and test-taking strategy sessions.  The only question is how?? Group them by ability? Throw them all in one big room? We don't care...we just want to DRILL them.

How is each teacher preparing his/her students?

1. Giving open-ended comprehension questions at the beginning or at the end of each class period.
2. Making inferences.
3. Common Texts: Our Town, The Crucible
4. 5-paragraph essay structure.  Giving quick 5-paragraph essay prompts and outlining them in class.

Study Island

Students will work on Study Island to prepare for the PSSAs because it is designed to reflect the concepts that students need to master. 

But...

1. Students do not like it.
2. Students misuse it--there are shortcuts/ways to beat the system just so that they can play the games in the end.
3. It takes up class time.
4. It gives teachers little responsibility for what their students are actually learning.

MAPS

Who?: Northwest Education Systems
What?: PSSA Prep Test
Where?: Big Spring High School 11th Grade Classrooms
When?: Twice per school year
Why?: To find out who is likely to pass the PSSAs, who needs a little extra boost, and who will not pass.

RIT Range- Tells you the percent chance of a particular student passing the PSSA

Questions/Concerns:

• How much does MAPS correlate with the standards? 
• How much does MAPS correlate with the PSSAs?
• How literally can we take these results?

Perks/Why it is helpful:

• Can print out a profile for each class
• Can print out a profile for each student
• Targets the exact concepts you need to clarify, improve, and/or forget about (because they have already mastered them).