Integrating PARCC Practice:
Rethinking
Homework
This post is part of our blog
series on PARCC. In this series, we offer tips and strategies you can use to
ensure that your students perform at their very best on the PARCC tests.
Preparing for the PARCC assessment is not something that can be done overnight. It’s important to set a year-long plan of PARCC integration so that students are prepared for not only the content but also the format of the test. Many facets of the school day may need to be reexamined, including rethinking traditional homework.
What does homework currently look
like?
In
many cases, homework looks a lot like it has always looked. For math, it may be
a series of short answer items, designed to give students practice with the
skill that was taught in class that day. It may conclude with a word problem
which requires students to practice that same skill. For English, it may be
reading a passage and answering questions or looking up definitions for the
weekly vocabulary list. This is the way homework has always looked. But now
students are taking a new type of assessment, based on a new set of
high-expectation standards. It’s time to rethink homework.
Homework, PARCC Preparation-Style
“Teaching
to the test” is a negative term that is often tossed around when talking about
preparing for any assessment, especially PARCC. But consider that PARCC is the
assessment of the Common Core State Standards, and these standards set the
expectations for our students. Therefore if classroom (and homework)
experiences are aligned to these standards, then PARCC preparation is already
taking place to some degree. It’s important to examine all facets of the students’
learning to ensure this!
Rethinking Homework in the
Mathematics Classroom
The
mathematics portions of the PARCC assessment include three types of items:
- Type I items assess concepts, skills, and procedures. These items are all machine-scorable and include multiple select, category sorts, drop down menus, drop and drag items, and other technology enhanced items.
- Type II items assess expressing mathematical reasoning. These items may require students to critique the mathematical process used to solve a particular problem or to describe their own process in solving a problem.
- Type III items assess modeling and applications. These items require students to apply mathematical models to real-world contexts or scenarios.
So
what does this mean when it comes to mathematics homework? Consider how to
incorporate PARCC-like items alongside or in place of the more traditional
homework. For example, instead of asking students to solve a list of
expressions such as 5 x 75 + 3,
provide students with a Type I multiple-select item, such as:
With this Type I item they are practicing the same skill they would have with the traditional homework, but now they have also practiced answering a PARCC-like Type I item.
What
about the more challenging Type II and Type III items, in which students may be
asked to critique a process or apply a mathematical model? In this case,
students may not be ready to attempt these items as homework until they have
had ample classroom practice. This is a perfect opportunity to implement a flipped classroom model. The “homework”
is actually the lesson, delivered through a digital media format such as an
existing YouTube video or a teacher-made Powtoon. Students learn the skill or new
concept at home, and then practice with the Type II or III items comes during
class, when students can collaborate with each other and receive guidance and
feedback from the teacher.
Rethinking Homework in the English
Classroom
Parts
of the ELA portion of the test are performance-based assessments, where
students have to read one to three passages, answer questions, and write a
prose constructed response (PCR). Other parts of the ELA portion require
students to read a single passage and answer questions. For both the
performance-based assessments as well as the stand-along reading passages,
there are two types of questions:
- Evidence-Based Selected Response (EBSR): An EBSR is a two-part question (Part A and Part B). “The term refers to a type of ELA/literacy test item that asks students to show the evidence in a text that led them to a previous answer.” (parcconline.org). An EBSR item assesses vocabulary knowledge, elements of literature, main ideas, key details, structure, or integration of ideas.
- Technology-Enhanced Constructed Response (TECR): “This ELA/Literacy item uses technology to capture student comprehension of texts in authentic ways that have been historically difficult to capture using current assessments. Examples include using drag and drop, cut and paste, and highlight text features.” (parcconline.org). A TECR item also assesses elements of literature, main ideas, key details, structure, and integration of ideas.
Many
times students are assigned “reading comprehension” packets which require them
to read one or more texts and respond to questions about those texts. Creating
EBSR and TECR questions to accompany these reading comprehension packets will
familiarize students with these types of questions, providing them with a
comfort level when it comes to answering questions in this format.
A
typical vocabulary assignment for students will find them looking up
definitions for a specific list of words, perhaps using those words in a
sentence, and possibly finding a synonym and antonym for each word. The
standards require students to go beyond this, however, and on PARCC, students
may be asked to reflect on author’s choices when it comes to vocabulary. Consider
this alternative to the traditional vocabulary assignment: instead of just
looking up definitions, students first identify three to five words in a
reading passage. They then consider possible synonyms that the author could
have used in place of the identified word (looking up the definitions and
synonyms as needed.) Finally, students write a description of how the meaning
or tone of the passage would have changed had the author used one of the alternative
words instead. This combines the development of vocabulary (in looking up the
definitions) with consideration for an author’s choices and the impact of words
in a text.
By
making changes to homework such as those suggested above, students will have
experiences applying their knowledge and skills in a variety of formats,
including those that will prepare them PARCC.
Standards Solution and Inspired Instruction offer
540 PARCC lesson plans, online PARCC-like assessments with technology-enhanced
items, PARCC workshops, and PARCC demonstration lessons. Please contact Judy
Cataldi for more information:
judy.cataldi@standardssolution.com
or call 908-223-7202
Standards Solution Holding, LLC is not owned by or affiliated in any fashion with PARCC, Inc.
