1. Answering Constructed Response Questions: Preparing your students for Georgia’s new assessment

2. Your Presenter is.. Dawn Bennett, Ed.S., NBCT Program Specialist, West Central GLRS Former Title I Needs Improvement School Improvement Specialist, West Ga. RESA Former administrator Former K-5 teacher

3. Learning Targets: I can explain the importance of teaching students how to answer constructed response questions. I can define constructed response questions and the types of constructed response questions. I can explain the components of exemplary constructed response questions. I can explain specific strategies to use in the classroom to teach students how to answer constructed response questions.

4. Why do I need to teach my students how to answer CRQ’s? Federal requirements for Race to the Top states (by 2014-2015 school year): High quality assessments Consolidate ELA, Reading, Writing into a single measure Increase rigor to align with college and career expectations Consistent alignment with external measures Georgia Department of Education, 2014

5. HOW DO WE MEASURE UP? Achievement of Georgia Students in Mathematics 2013 NAEP – Grade 8: 29% at/above proficient CRCT – Grade 8:83% met/exceeded Coordinate Algebra EOCT: 37% met/exceeded SAT – Class of 2013:42% college ready benchmark* ACT – Class of 2013:38% college ready benchmark** 2012 PSAT – sophomores:35% on track to be CCR Georgia Department of Education, 2014

6. Overall ELA Phase II Pilot Summary Data Grade Number and Percent of Students Achieving Each Score Point Total Student N/ % 01234 3 8121107762174262881 28.18%38.42%26.45%6.04%0.90%100% 4 9061145765168633047 29.73%37.58%25.11%5.51%2.07%100% 5 83994812945371833801 22.07%24.94%34.04%14.13%4.81%100% 6 62614671028408863615 17.32%40.58%28.44%11.29%2.38%100% 7 695100210355151403387 20.52%29.58%30.56%15.21%4.13%100% 8 11161534827391803948 28.27%38.86%20.95%9.90%2.03%100% 9 - 10 1262181655910693752 33.64%48.40%14.90%2.83%0.24%100% 11 - 12 739138911753881313822 19.34%36.34%30.74%10.15%3.43%100% Georgia Department of Education, 2014

7. Overall Mathematics Phase II Pilot Summary Data Grade Number and Percent of Students Achieving Each Score Point Total Student N / % 01234 3 13781152539121473237 42.57%35.59%16.65%3.74%1.45%100% 4 1323126432583253020 43.81%41.85%10.76%2.75%0.83%100% 5 1351104939164152870 47.07%36.55%13.62%2.23%0.52%100% 6 15791171370135533308 47.73%35.40%11.19%4.08%1.60%100% 7 160285621972362785 57.52%30.74%7.86%2.59%1.29%100% 8 15291049619217883502 43.66%29.95%17.68%6.20%2.51%100% 9 - 12 2570143529959234386 58.60%32.72%6.82%1.35%0.52%100% Georgia Department of Education, 2014

8. Why do you think students do so poorly on constructed response questions? Discuss with a partner…….

9. Some of the reasons kids do poorly on CRQ’s… Many students don’t answer the question. Some responses are very shallow and need more details. Some students get off topic. Spelling and handwriting may impact a student’s score. Students don’t understand what the question is asking. Instead of writing about what the passage talked about, students write about what they know about the topic. Students don’t think about their audience.

10. What do you know about constructed response questions? (CRQ’s) Constructed Response Questions

11. Constructed Response Questions (CRQ) Constructed response questions are assessment items that ask students to apply knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities to real-world, standards-driven performance tasks. Constructed response questions are so named because there is often more than one way to correctly answer the question, and they require students to “construct” or develop their own answers without the benefit of any suggestions or choices. (Tests That Teach by Karen Tankersley)

12. What’s in a Prompt? Background information “Birds’ babies hatch from eggs. Birds have wings, but not all adult birds fly. They live all over the world, even in Antarctica. ” Petitions “Explain how birds protect themselves.” Questions “What is migration?” Better Answers: Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart, Ardith Davis Cole

13. Academic Vocabulary Traits (most students below grade 7 struggle with this word) Qualities Evidence Sequence Stanza Line Infer Point of View Support Simile Metaphor Figurative language

14. Strategies for Answering CRQ RACE ACE (math)

15. RACE steps for answering CRQ R eword/restate the question Provide an A nswer C ite using evidence from text E xplain how the evidence supports your answer CREATE A FLOW MAP OF THESE STEPS

16. R eword the question/ R estate Why were the three bears so upset when they got home?

17. Mark all restated words: Prompt: I What do you do in the evening I when you get home from school? Restatement: In the evening when I get home from school I... Return to the prompt and mark the words used.

18. A Text-Based Example Prompt: (after reading “Little Red Riding Hood”) knew How did Little Red Riding Hood know the character in the bed was not her grandmother? Little Red Riding Hood knew the character in the bed was not her grandmother because... Not “She knew…. (avoid pronouns) Use specific nouns, proper nouns

19. USE TRANSITIONS A Boost into the Right Answer Little Red Riding Hood was not afraid of the wolf because... The wolf ran to Grandmother’s house to... Father got rid of the wolf by... Little Red Riding Hood was afraid when... Little Red Riding Hood would not have been bothered by the wolf if... Little Red Riding Hood did not leave Grandmother’s house until...

20. IN THE CLASSROOM… ASSIGN ROLES RESTATEMENT HELPER (ORAL) RESTATEMENT MARKER (MARKS ON THE SENTENCE STRIP) SCRIBE (REWRITES THE STATEMENT ON CHART PAPER)

21. Practice First! Practice this first step by asking students questions and have them respond orally by restating the question: Example: What did you do last night? Students should always answer in complete sentences. (written and verbally) Give students an opportunity to create their own questions and have partners answer them by restating.

22. YOUR TURN! CREATE A GROUP OF THREE, THEN NUMBER OFF 1-3 1’S: RESTATEMENT HELPERS (ORAL) 2’S: RESTATEMENT MARKERS (MARKS ON THE SENTENCE STRIP) 3’S: SCRIBE (REWRITES THE STATEMENT ON CHART PAPER)

23. Provide an Answer Clarify Answers why? Generalize- not details Makes you want to ask “What do you mean?” or “Where’s your evidence?” The three bears were upset when they got home because someone had been in their house.

24. Practice Answering Model good vs. bad answers (broad vs. detailed). Create sample prompts and have students restate and answer giving broad answers. YOUR TURN…

25. Cite using evidence from text The first thing they noticed was that someone had eaten their porridge. The next thing the bears noticed was someone had been sitting in their chairs. Finally, the three bears found the culprit, a little girl sleeping in their bed!

26. CITING (EVIDENCE) Use a one-sided multi-flow to cite evidence (in most cases- depends on the question) Use specific evidence from text, not prior knowledge Remember transition words YOUR TURN…..

27. Explain how the evidence supports your answer As a result, the three bears were furious with the little girl that came into their home without asking!

28. EXPLAIN (conclude) Refer to the question again Don’t construct a new ending to the story Restate with a touch of your own voice YOUR TURN…..

29. RACE Checklist Name__________________________ Date__________ Minimally Partially Completely 1 2 3 Restates question _____ _____ _____ Develops a broad _____ _____ _____ Answer Cites using details _____ _____ _____ Draws conclusion _____ _____ _____ Stays on topic _____ _____ _____ Writes neatly _____ _____ _____ Uses proper Conventions_____ _____ _____

30. What about MATH? A nswer the question C ompute your work (show work) E xplain in writing how you got your answer

31. There are 29 NBL teams. Each team is allowed to have 12 active players and 3 on injured reserve. How many players are in the NBL at any one time? A…(Answer) 435 players There are _435_ players in the NBL at any one time. C… (Compute) or show your work X = (12+3) 29 X = (15) 29 X = 435 E… (Explain) in writing. 435 First, each team is allowed to have 12 active and 3 reserve players which equals 15 total players on each team. I then multiplied the total number of players (15) by the number of NBL teams (29) to find that 435 players are in the NBL at any one time.

32. Encourage students to EXPLAIN their work - not DESCRIBE it Description: “I multiplied $1.25 and 13 and got $16.25” Explanation “I multiplied the price of gas per gallon ($1.25) and the number of gallons (13) to get the price for the gas used ($16.25).”

33. How are constructed response questions scored? Holistic rubrics South Carolina- 3 point rubric Montana- 4 point rubric Indiana- 2 point rubric New York- 2 point rubric North Carolina- 2 point rubric Georgia-?????

34. Ideas for Teaching As a baseline, read a fairy tale to your students and then have them answer one CRQ Have your students answer your EQ as their exit ticket. Add constructed response questions to each test or quiz you give. What other key words (Tier 2 or Tier 3 vocabulary) are important to teach? Teach students not to skip these questions!

35. More Ideas……. In math, practice using Exemplars using the gradual release model. Model, guided practice, and independent. Let your students struggle!! Begin with simple questions. Require students to answer questions (orally and written) in complete sentences. Ask WHY questions Look at sample questions

36. Where can I find sample questions? New York North Carolina Louisiana Oregon Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium PARCC

37. Excellent Resources for CRQ… http://writingfix.com/RICA/constructed_resp onse.htmhttp://writingfix.com/RICA/constructed_resp onse.htm Tests that Teach, by Karen Tankersley Better Answers, by Ardith Cole

38. Thank You! Dawn Bennett West Central GLRS dbennett@garesa.org 678-621-3410