All posts tagged: Access Test

Access Testing (Again)

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Every year, the state and federal government requires that we assess the proficiency of all ELLs in our district. At the high school level, this can be a nightmare to schedule, especially with such a large, populated building. However, this year we decided to run an experiment: to test all students on a day already designated for other testing. Each year my school district provides a day for high school juniors to take the ACTs. The building is basically closed with the exception of 11th grade students who choose to participate. Staff are then designated to proctor or assist proctors in rooms. It’s an incredible opportunity for the students to be given the time for such an important exam. Best of all, for them it’s completely free. After last year’s nightmare of Access testing problems, we came up with the idea of also having our EL students arrive on that day and take as much of the Access test as they could complete. For the weeks and days leading up to “Testing Day” my colleagues and I …

What’s working. What’s impractical

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Today was a solid reminder of how teaching is 99% assessment. I am constantly assessing something, especially the situation I find myself. I have now tried several ideas in the math class for getting students to settle down into a routine. The problem is that I have yet to set a routine. Having CM gone in the middle of creating materials has been a challenge for me. I’m looking at these materials and trying to figure out what to do with them now. Tomorrow I’m supposed to meet with the long term sub to plan for the next unit. He seems very capable and competent, so I have high hopes for what we can accomplish together. In fact, he impressed me with his work ethic and flexibility today as he moved between the groups of students and helped out with problem solving and negotiation of meaning. Deep down, this shouldn’t impress me as much as it is. However, we need more teachers who are willing to do the extra work. When I see a teacher this dedicated, …

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It’s now day 3 of me trying to come up with a great title for my blogs. I just searched for “linguistic terms” in the Google machine in hopes that I can finally find something to use. Honestly, numbers alone are boring. I have done something like this before when I discovered the hidden secret of creating humorous screen names. Long story short, you take a noun and give it an adjective that is either ironic, backwards, or doesn’t match the category of the noun. For example, legless fish. Or, excellent meeting. Or even, productive day. Get it?Today I found more evidence for why I dislike WIDA. This time it comes from one of the corporations that works closely with WIDA, which is kind of ironic if you ask me. It would make more sense if this information had come from someone who also didn’t like WIDA. But this takes the cake. The whole cake. One of my biggest arguments against WIDA, as I have written about before, is that their products are not all they are …

Testing is Over!!

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I know that I haven’t posted in a week or so, but testing has taken a lot of out me. Can I be honest here? I hate ACCESS testing. It is the largest waste of time we have in the ELL world. For those who don’t know what that test is, let me sum it up. The WIDA Access test is a battery of 4 tests; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Each test is designed to take a certain amount of time, which can vary between 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. YES, I said HOURS. Plural. This is where my problems with the test start to unfold. The tests, again plural, take up an inordinate amount of time. Then you have the speaking test. Let’s talk about the speaking test. The speaking test can only be done with up to 8 students in a room, at a time. Take 176 + students and divide that by 8 and you end up with 22. 22 groups, on 6 different class / grade schedules, with numerous absent students …