Practicing Statewide Assessments with Accommodations in Small Group

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 Practicing Statewide Assessments with Accommodations in Small Group

Here in Washington State, students take the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) in grades 3-5, 6-8, and 11. 

There are practice interim assessments on the SBA website, which you must have a login to access.

After students are identified and their accommodations are loaded into TIDE, they are able to use accommodations while taking practice tests (interims)! This is a game-changer in preparing students for success.

How do we expect them to use accommodations successfully (even if they use them in class daily with the Read&Write extension, for example), if they don't have an opportunity to practice with something that is formatted like the statewide assessment?



Here's how we practice:

1. Over 2-3 opportunities, I pull them in a small group setting to walk through the accommodations and general test-taking strategies.

2. For students who qualify in math, they use the same 100s number table and multiplication table in their pull-out math groups that they will use on the SBA. This allows them familiarity and previous practice, as well as not assuming they will generalize that all multiplication tables work the same way. 

*Also, I think during a stressful time like statewide testing, any familiarity is good!

3. Many of my students benefit from the use of the "print on demand" accommodation. If the majority of their instruction is on hard copies, where we teach them to cross out answers for answer elimination or use a highlighter to go back into the text and find answers to comprehension questions, we should give them the opportunity to be assessed the same way they receive instruction.

Of course, these tools are available with the SBA assessment, but like with the multiplication chart, there is an assumption that they will generalize and be able to manipulate the electronic tools the same way they use physical tools. 

So when we practice, I have them click the printer icon so that they know where it is and how the process works, but I already have a printed copy available that I bring them.

4. They listen to the questions, if text to speech is an accommodation they receive.

5. Then, we practice answer elimination as a group.

We highlight in the text and strikethrough incorrect answers. We also practice this using tools on the computer-based assessment so that they can make the connection between what we do on a paper copy and what they can do on the electronic test.

Here are the tools we practice:













Are there any I missed? Do you do practice sessions like this as well? I always want to learn from others' practices!

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