Getting Ready For Spring Testing With Mastery Connect

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Getting ready for spring testing is a big part of the school year. Leveraging Mastery Connect can help provide teachers with a variety of tools to more easily target students for the support they need in preparation for this, and Mastery Connect can also simplify data collection for teachers through easy to access reporting features. Don't forget to watch the Video Blog about this post as well!

Key Audiences: Teachers and Instructional Support Staff 

Spiral Review

Spiral review is an effective instructional strategy many educators use to give students multiple opportunities to access content. Implementing the spiral review practice in your classroom works best when the task is short and focused, and data is used to determine the focus of the review. 

Identifying Standards | Spiral Review

The main tracker view and Student Mastery report allows teachers to easily identify standards that students need additional support in. Identifying these standards and creating a spiral review that will incorporate them into your classroom routine provides students the opportunity to revisit previous content. This will benefit all students, regardless of mastery level. 

From the Main Tracker View

• View your class Mastery Tracker
• Scrolling through the tracker, look at the stoplight totals at the bottom of each column
• Identify 5-10 standards that have the lowest class performance
• Use these identified standards to build a spiral review to use over the coming weeks, leading up to spring testing

From the Student Mastery Report

• Access the tracker assessment list
• Locate the assessment you wish to view
• Select the Reports icon
• Toggle over to the Student Mastery report
• Identify 2-3 of the lowest-performing standards from that assessment
• Consideration: How many items were used to assess that standard? Is this impacting the data?
• Include these identified standards in your spiral review 

Identifying Item Types | Spiral Review

The Item Analysis report provides teachers with the ability to quickly view student performance across each item on an assessment. Reviewing the Item Analysis report(s) may highlight specific item types that students are struggling with. Identifying these item types and incorporating them into classroom instruction with practice provides students the opportunity to be challenged and gain confidence in approaching different types of items. This will benefit all students, regardless of mastery level. 

Item Analysis

• Hover over a recent assessment in the tracker
• Select Reports from the drop-down menu
• Review low-performing items. Are there any specific item types that students struggled with?
• Include these item types in your spiral review

Identifying DOK Levels | Spiral Review

The Item Analysis report provides teachers with several insights, one of which is Depth of Knowledge (DOK) levels if the items are tagged with this information. Districts with purchased item banks, such as the Mastery Item Bank or Mastery Item Bank Supplemental will find that these items are aligned to DOK levels. Reviewing the Item Analysis report(s) may highlight specific DOK levels that students are struggling with. Identifying these levels and incorporating this level of rigor and complexity into your classroom routine provides students the opportunity to be challenged and gain confidence in approaching all levels of content. This will benefit all students, regardless of mastery level. 

Item Analysis

• Hover over a recent assessment in the tracker
• Select Reports from the drop-down menu
• Review low-performing items. Are there DOK levels that students consistently struggle with?
• Include this level of questioning in your spiral review

Final Thoughts

Getting ready for spring testing is a big part of the school year. However, leveraging the tools and reporting features in Mastery Connect can help target students for intervention and simplify data collection for teachers!

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Our Mastery Services team provides expert professional development, strategic consulting, and alternative options designed to support the vision, goals, and adoption of Mastery products. If you would like to learn more about our services check out our Professional Development Options and contact your CSM for more information!

Also don't forget to watch the Video Blog about this post as well!