Helping Students Improve Responses to Short Answer (2 point) and Extended Response (4 point) OAA Questions presented by Marsha Berger Joyce Lawniczak Donna Kolodziejczyk Getting Ready for the OAA Assessments Jones Middle School November 16, 2009

Understanding the Anatomy of 2- and 4-Point OAA Questions

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Questions contain keywords and answers are expected for each one: Ex: Identify, describe, explain, compare, determine, list, draw, graph, give details, etc…  Special keywords:  Describe, explain and compare.  Require more depth and detail.  Worth two points since there is partial credit. Patterns of a Four-Point Question

KeywordAction Required Compare Show both the similarities and differences. Contrast Compare by showing differences. Criticize Give your judgment or reasoned opinion of something, illustrating its good and bad points. It is not necessary to attack it. Define Give the formal meaning by distinguishing it from related terms. This is often a matter of giving a memorized definition. Describe Write a detailed account or verbal picture in a logical sequence or story form. Discuss Describe giving the details and explaining the pros and cons of the subject. Explain Give reasons for. List Produce a list of words, sentences, or comments. Eight Most Often Used OAA Keywords (Identified by ODE) EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved

KeywordAction Required Explain/Identify “Cause and Effect” Give a description of event(s) and their consequences. (Often a single cause will have more than one effect, and a single event may have more than one cause.) Identify Find within the text or information provided. Support Give evidence from the passage or information provided to justify the response. Use “Text-Based” Examples Go back into the passage or information provided to “prove” the point(s) made in the response. Four Additional Commonly Used OAA Keywords (Identified by TPS Teachers as Additional Keywords Students Find Difficult) EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved

 When reading the question, circle all keywords.  If there are fewer marked keywords than the number of points, the special keywords need extra attention.  For example, instead of a quick description, a full and detailed description is needed. Patterns of a Four-Point Question (2)

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Test makers do not make all questions in the same way:  Questions have a mix of keywords, special keywords and subjects.  The most common combinations are:  Four keywords  Two special keywords for one subject  Two keywords on two subjects Patterns of a Four-Point Question (3)

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Four Keywords Patterns of a Four-Point Question (5) Joe and Janice are playing a guessing game. Joe tells Janice that he is thinking of a quadrilateral with at least one pair of parallel sides. Janice drew 4 different types of quadrilaterals that she guessed from Joe’s first hint. Then, Joe tells Janice that the figure has 4 right angles. Draw 2 quadrilaterals* that Janice could guess from Joe’s first and second hints. Write a third hint that describes only one of these shapes. Identify the shape. *Note: “Draw 2 quadrilaterals” counts for 2 keywords.

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Two Special Keywords for One Subject Patterns of a Four-Point Question (4) The Crusades had a great impact on European culture during the Middle Ages. In your Answer Document, identify and describe two ways the Crusaders’ contact with the Middle East changed European culture. (4 points)

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved One Special Keyword for Two Subjects Patterns of a Four-Point Question (6) The Framers began writing the Constitution of the United States in May 1787, but it was not ratified by all thirteen states until May One of the issues debated during the Constitutional Convention was the congressional representation of enslaved Africans. In your Answer Document, explain the positions of both Northern delegates and Southern delegates on the issue of congressional representation of enslaved Africans. (4 points)

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Would You Rather Have Lots of Money, Some Money or None? Remember: When it comes to answering test questions – Partial Credit Is Better than No Credit at All Lots of Money No Money Some Money EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved

 End Student Presentation

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved  Generally, students have a harder time responding to special keywords.  Model and provide guided practice to students on examples for each “describe, explain and compare” question. Extended-Response Considerations For Reading, Social Studies, Science and Math Often the difference between a score of 2 and 4 is the lack of details or support for each of these special keywords.

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Model and provide guided practice to students on:  Reading the question carefully and completely  Circling all keyword(s) – the action word(s) in the question  Underlining any special keyword(s) Extended-Response Recommendations For Reading, Social Studies, Science and Math

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved  A two-point question has two brief tasks or one detailed task.  It has the same keywords and special keywords as constructed response. It asks:  Two keywords, or tasks  One keyword for two subjects  One special keyword about one subject Patterns of a Two-Point Question

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Four Square Process for Responding to 4-Point (Extended Response) OAT Questions Create (draw) 4 boxes. Find and circle the keywords in the question. Record each keyword in its own box. Write, draw, and/or label a response in each box. Write your response using the information in each box. After you use the information in a box, check it off to make sure your answer is complete.

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Helping Students Understand Scoring: Teaching about the Rubric The final (and critical step) is to provide feedback on the quality of students’ responses using the rubric. Discuss rubric, explaining what makes an answer worth 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0 points. Model how you would score, using sample (teacher- written) responses. Use think-alouds to explain why you would or would not give a particular score to each answer. Use guided practice to do additional examples together. Have students self-score, explaining why they gave themselves the scores that they did.

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Four Square Process for Responding to 4-Point (Extended Response) OAT Questions Create (draw) 4 boxes. Find and circle the keywords in the question. Record each keyword in its own box. Write, draw, and/or label a response in each box. Write your response using the information in each box. After you use the information in a box, check it off to make sure your answer is complete. Make sure students understand that they need to “set up” the answer process before beginning to work.

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Using the 4-Square Process To Answer an Extended Response Question Question: Identify Jane Goodall’s dream as a child. Explain how that dream became a reality using text-based examples to support your answer. Identify: Dream  studying animals in Africa Explain: Support 3  established an Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation to promote animal research all over the world Explain: Support 1  met anthropologist Louis Leakey, who offered her a chance to study chimps in Tanzania Explain: Support 2  observed chimps for years, taking notes for research

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Question: Identify Jane Goodall’s dream as a child. Explain how that dream became a reality using text-based examples to support your answer. Identify: Dream  studying animals in Africa Explain: Support 1  met anthropologist Louis Leakey, who offered her a chance to study chimps in Tanzania Explain: Support 2  observed chimps for years, taking notes for research Explain: Support 3  established an Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation to promote animal research all over the world A third example is that she established an Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation to promote animal research all over the world. Answer: Jane Goodall’s dream as a child was to study animals in Africa. Her dream became a reality when she met anthropologist Louis Leakey who offered her a chance to study chimps in Africa. A second example of how that dream became a reality was that she observed chimpanzees for years, taking notes for research. Using the 4-Square Process To Answer an Extended Response Question (continued)

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Using the Rubric To Improve Responses Sample 1 Score: Jane Goodall’s dream was to study the animals of Africa. Her dream came true when someone asked her to observe chimpanzees in Tanzania. She gave names like David Greybeard, Flo, and Goliath, to the chimps she watched. She saw what the chimps ate and how they raised their young. She watched David Greybeard use a twig as a tool to get food. She still watches chimpanzees, even now. 3

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Using the Rubric To Improve Responses (2) Sample 2 Score: Jane Goodall’s dream became a reality when Louis Leakey gave her a chance to study chimpanzees in Tanzania in Africa. She observed chimpanzees for years and wrote many notes in her journal about their behavior. She continues to study chimps even now. Finally, her dream became more of a reality when she established the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation. 0

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Using the Rubric To Improve Responses (3) Sample 3Score: Jane Goodall’s dream was to study animals in Africa. To make her dream become a reality she observed animals near her home. She watched for hours while hens were laying eggs. When she got older she visited a friend in Africa. There she met Louis Leakey who was curious about animals too especially chimpanzees. 1

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Activity Designing a Practice Lesson on Responding to a 2- or 4-Point OAT Question and Using a Rubric as Feedback 30 OAT Science Assessment

Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Thank you for your participation today. Next Session: January 25, 2010 “Vocabulary Instruction”

This presentation includes excerpts from a presentation by located on the ODE Success Web Site Adapted from ODE Recommendations for Preparing Students for the OAT Assessments OAT Social Studies Assessment

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved I Do We Do You Do  Make instruction explicit and direct.  Model and explain your thinking aloud.  Provide lots of guided practice, scaffolding as needed.  Assign independent practice.  Monitor work and provide immediate, specific, corrective feedback.  Withdraw scaffolding/support, as appropriate. DON’T ASSUME THEY KNOW!! Review of Principles of Effective Teaching

EXCEL Program/Getting Ready for the OAT Assessments © 2009 Marsha R. Berger All Rights Reserved Activity Simulation of a Lesson on Responding to a 4-Point OAT Question and Using a Rubric as Feedback 30 OAT Reading Assessment