Here are some staff development ideas to prepare students to respond successfully to the types of questions on the high school assessments.

 

Train staff to understand the distinctions among the various types of questions found on the State High School Assessments: selected response, limited constructed response, and extended constructed response.
Provide opportunities for staff to work in study groups to review and analyze the implications for instruction of selected response questions. How, for example, can we help students understand how to "unlock" each question, respond to all of its components, and access appropriate declarative and procedural knowledge.
Offer training opportunities to assist instructional and administrative staff to understand and integrate into practice the use of limited constructed responses. Explore, for example, how timed and untimed limited writing experiences can be used to help students acquire and integrate the declarative and procedural knowledge necessary for test success.
Provide staff development concentrating upon writing within and across the disciplines. Encourage content-based study groups that can concentrate upon specific ways in which essay responses and related writing activities can be integrated into the assessment and monitoring of student achievement within content areas.
Develop and implement training programs designed to help both staff and students understand the implications of the scoring procedures used for the State High School Assessments, including the use of rubrics, rules, keys, analytical, and modified holistic scoring.

 Back to High School Assessment Initiative Page

 

This site was developed by the Department of Staff Development, in collaboration with the Division of Instruction. Questions, comments, and other inquiries may be addressed to Allene Chriest (achriest@pgcps.org) or Jeff Maher  (jmaher@pgcps.org).