Third Grade District Assessments

Observation Survey – Language Arts Literacy – Fall & Spring

1.     Decoding and automatic word recognition skills. - Slosson Oral Reading Word Test

Students are asked to read words within 5 seconds each from graded word lists. It yields a raw score that can be converted into age/grade equivalent scores. Third grade students are expected to be able to accurately read 101 to 105 words from the lists by the Spring assessment.

The context free identification of a large number of words with accuracy and speed, is characteristic of a skilled reader. Automatic, fluent word recognition allows a reader's attention to focus almost exclusively on text meaning. On the other hand, children who are not able to recognize words with automaticity will encounter comprehension difficulty as their attention is diverted from meaning making to the identification of individual words. Readers utilize a variety of word attack strategies to identify out of context words - analogy, chunking, sight memory, etc. Providing additional opportunities to read increases reading vocabulary, automaticty, and fluency.

2.     Text Level Reading – DRA

Utilizes selected text level reading, spanning a range of text difficulty from emergent to grade five, to assess a student's discrete instructional reading level. The student must maintain phasing and fluency while reading text, which is observed and noted. The student's level of accuracy is noted on the "Running Record" by counting the number of miscues and referencing the "Observation Guide" to assess the accuracy rate, which is expected to be 34 to 38 in the Spring of the third grade.

In addition to the overall instructional reading levels, observing the student's reading fluency shows how he/she reads word by word, fluency, phased reading, punctuation and syntax, and rereading for problem solving all have instructional implications that may need to be addressed with interventions. The information gathered from this assessment enables us to:

a.      Determine the student's independent and instructional levels;

b.     Confirm or redirect ongoing instruction;

c.     Group students effectively for reading experiences and instruction;

d.     Determine if the student is working below proficiency and needs further intervention.

Oral Reading Fluency – November, January and March

Students are required to read appropriate grade level narrative or expository text within a timed interval. The Oral Reading Fluency assessment provides a teacher the opportunity to assess oral reading fluency, compute a fluency score, interpret the score, and make comparisons of progress at intervals throughout the school year.  This individualized assessment requires the teacher to take a running record of student performance measuring accuracy as well as reading rate.

Instructional Implications

The observable and measurable data on the above assessments should identify strengths and weaknesses to be addressed in classroom instruction, school-based interventions, special education evaluations and reports, and/or IEP programs/services (e.g., IEP PLAAFP statements, goals and objectives, etc.).

Writing Assessments

Writing Tasks – Fall & Spring

Students are provided 30 minutes to draft a response to a narrative prompt.  During the assessment period, the teacher should walk around the room and record notes on individual children.  Collect the students’ writing at the end of the testing period.

The student’s work is scored using the primary version of the Registered Holistic Scoring Method Rubric. The collection of student work provides authentic data on which to assess progress; show what the child knows about the processes of writing and spelling; identify particular strengths and instructional needs; and influence instructional decisions, the selection of resources and teaching strategies. Review class data sheet for all students to see if selected student scores above/below benchmark and how they perform compared to classmates to identify each student’s strengths and weaknesses, which should be addressed in classroom instructions, school-based interventions, special education evaluations and reports, as well as IEP PLAAFP statements, goals and objectives.

In addition to the overall rubric score we should note the criteria skills that were and were not exhibited to guide instruction. The information that's gathered helps assess if the student:

a.   Has a desire to write and knows what they want to write;

b.   Employs spelling and proofreading strategies;

c.   Uses phonemic awareness to spell words;

d.   Has known words at their disposal;

e.   Is correctly/incorrectly forming certain letters, mastered the rules of directionality, etc.;

f.    Has mastered certain stages of writing and spelling;

g.   Uses capital letters, lower case letters, begins sentences with a capital letter, ends sentences with punctuation marks, has a knowledge of first/last letter, consonant and vowel sounds;

h.   Takes a risk to write imaginatively rather than sticking to a pattern of known words, repetitive sentences, or the same stories;

i.    Knows what a sentence is.

Mathematics Assessments

Practice New Jersey ASK - Mathematics

The NJ Practice ASK was designed by the district and closely resembles the format of the New Jersey Standardized assessment administered in Grade 3.  Practice dealing with enhanced multiple choice questions and open-ended questions enables children to approach the NJASK in March with increased confidence and skill.  Teachers may use results of the practice test thoroughly analyzing student responses to provide information on areas of strength and weakness by student, class, school, and district

Math Midterm and Final Assessments:

These assessments are designed by the district and are similar in format to the New Jersey Standardized assessments. 

On the mid-term and finals, there are both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Most of the questions are multiple-choice, where the student chooses the best answer from among 4 choices and uses an answer sheet to darken in the circle of the correct choice. For the open-ended questions, the student writes and/or draws answers to these questions in the open-ended booklet provided with the test.

The open-ended questions are scored with specifically designed Scoring Rubrics for math that gives 0 to 3 points for each answer. The rubrics help ensure that students are scored in the same way for the same demonstration of knowledge and skills regardless of the scorer. The open-ended questions require students to construct and explain their own written or graphic responses. Students earn points by showing their work and clearly explaining how a solution was reached.

Unit Assessments:

The unit assessments are part of the Everyday Mathematics series published by McGraw Hill.  These assessments are closely aligned to the NJCCCS and are administered at the end of each unit.  The questions on these assessments contain both pure computation and word problems.  In addition, teachers may use the Assessment Assistant (a component of Everyday Math) to tailor computer-generated assessments formatted in the same way as the unit tests to the needs of the class.

As part of the Third Grade Everyday Math Kit, each teacher receives an Assessment Handbook.  The handbook contains masters for individual student profiles and class profiles correlated to the objectives unit by unit.  Teachers are encouraged to use this as part of daily on-going assessment in conjunction with portfolio assessment of students.

Open-Ended Questions:

Performance assessment tasks for children in grades K-8 that meet national standards to improve assessment and instruction have been downloaded to all networked Newark Public School computer labs.  Each EXEMPLAR includes a performance task and the context for the assignment, a specific rubric, annotated benchmark papers at Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner and Expert levels, concepts to be assessed and skills to be developed, interdisciplinary links and teaching tips, possible solutions, suggestions on how students might carry out the task, and the estimated time required.   

Science:

Foss & FTC Modules  

-FOSS assessment takes the form of informal teacher observation and teacher questioning. The teacher guide suggests behavior to watch for during investigations and questions to ask about the content. Assessments fall into two categories: formative and summative. Formative assessments are integrated into instruction. Based on these two means of assessment, teachers will know how to adjust their teaching for individual students or for the whole class. A recording system is included.

New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS) -

The above district wide and statewide assessments are aligned with New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. Therefore, teachers, parents, administrators, school-based intervention teams and/or IEP teams can utilize the hyperlinked CPI (cumulative progress indicator) checklists developed by the Newark Teachers Union (NTU) for reading, writing, math, and science to identify strengths and weaknesses, in the corresponding grade's knowledge/skills. These strengths and weaknesses can be integrated into teachers' lessons, school-based interventions, special education evaluations/corresponding reports, and IEPs (e.g., PLAAFP statements, goals/objectives, and supplementary aids and services.