MCAs are right around the corner! Well... ok, in two months, but in the math world that is pretty close! My PLC has been trying a lot of new things to get math scores up. I just wanted to share what we are doing and also see if anyone else has good ideas!
Our students took the OLPA test, which is basically a practice MCA. We were able to get a ton of data from it. We have grouped our students into six different groups based on their scores. We are using these groups to pull students for SWAT (school-wide enrichment/intervention time). As we are able to see whichstrands were strengths and which were weaknesses, we can focus in on one or two concepts during a SWAT to reinforce specific skills. We have only done this once so far, but we did it last year and it had good results. Another thing we are doing differently this year is putting more MCA type questions on assessments and in our daily lessons. At the end of each unit, we will devote an entire day to going over the types of questions students may see on the MCA using the concepts we have just learned. We are also trying to build in more test prep questions into homework assignments. I am excited to see how far our students can get before the test at the end of April.
What kind of activities or interventions will you use to prep for the MCA?
What a great idea to go over MCA-type questions at the end of each unit! We definitely need to use SWAT more for prep as well. For English, we made sure to focus on the non-fiction text as that makes up a lot of the MCA and students tend to choose fiction for independent reading. We have done practice tests both on the computer and on paper and have worked on test-taking strategies. We had talked about offering incentives, but I'm not sure what to offer/how to offer them. Has anyone done MCA incentives that have worked well in the past?
ReplyDeleteI teach a pull-out English 7 class, and I also made sure to focus on the non-fiction text in class because it makes up a good portion of the MCA Reading test. I have done practice tests both on the computer and on paper in class. I also have pre-assinged students to SWAT to get more practice. I have not done incentives in my class, but I do think that it would be a good idea.
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