State Testing Updates

1. State Testing Updates

2. 5th and 8th Grade Writing Assessments • Will be given sometime in April • Will be passage-based • Will involve two tests per grade level • Operational test (Scores will count.) • Field test (Scores will not count.) • Results will not be available until June.

3. 5th Grade Test • Tests may be opinion, informative, or narrative. • Will be document-based • Consider the CCSS which are covered • Teachers should review the rubric.

4. Grade 5 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 5.W.5. With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 5 on pages 28 and 29.) • 5.W.6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

5. Grade 5 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 5.W.7. Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. • 5.W.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

6. Grade 5 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 5.L.3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening • b. Compare and contrast the varieties of English (e.g., dialects, registers) used in stories, dramas, or poems.

7. Grade 5 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 5.L.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. • a. Use context (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. • b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affxes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., photograph, photosynthesis). • c. Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

8. Grade 5 test • Common Core standards not covered • 5.L.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. • a. Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context. • b. Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs. • c. Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homographs) to better understand each of the words.

9. 8th Grade • May be argument, informative, or narrative • Will be document-based • Consider the CCSS which are covered • Teachers should review the rubric.

10. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 8.W.5. With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 8 on page 52.) • 8.W.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

11. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 8.W.7. Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. • 8.W.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

12. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. • a. Use verbs in the active and passive voice and in the conditional and subjunctive mood to achieve particular effects (e.g., emphasizing the actor or the action; expressing uncertainty or describing a state contrary to fact).

13. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 8.L.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. • a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. • b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., precede, recede, secede).

14. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • c. Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech. • d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

15. Grade 8 Test • Common Core standards not covered • 8.L.5.a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g. verbal irony, puns) in context. • 8.L.5.b. Use the relationship between particular words to better understand each of the words. • 8.L.5.c. Distinguish among the connotations (associations) of words with similar denotations (definitions) (e.g., bullheaded, willful, firm, persistent, resolute).

16. Common Core State Standards • A number will NOT be covered on the state writing test. • Remember, they may very well be covered on the multiple choice on the 5th grade OCCT and the English II and English III EOIs.

17. Online Testing • Grade 6 mathematics and reading • Grade 7 mathematics, reading, and geography • Grade 8 mathematics and reading • All EOIs (except writing component of English II and English III)