Mathematics and ELA Practice Test Answer Keys for Grades 3-6, Assignments of Mathematics

Download Mathematics and ELA Practice Test Answer Keys for Grades 3-6 and more Assignments Mathematics in PDF only on Docsity!

Educator Guide to

Student Readiness

Table of Contents

Purpose of this Guide

This Educator Guide to Student Preparation provides an overview of the resources created to help prepare students for the Alaska System of Academic Readiness or AK STAR. This guide is intended to help educators familiarize students with the format of the assessments using the Student Tutorial and Practice Test resources.

The Student Tutorial and Practice Tests are available to students, educators, families, and community members. DEED encourages everyone to utilize these tools to become familiar with the assessments.

Descriptions of the Student Tutorials and Practice Tests are presented in this guide. The items presented in this guide are for illustrative purposes and allow students to become comfortable with the assessment platform and presentation.

Connection to the Standards

The AK STAR assessments measure the skills and concepts outlined in the Alaska English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards. These K-12 standards can be found on the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Standards webpage.

Although it is important to familiarize students with what they will experience on the AK STAR summative assessment, ensuring that students receive instruction in the ELA and math standards is key. These standards establish a strong foundation of knowledge and skills all students need for success after graduation. A solid curriculum and instruction based on evidence and best practices will provide a strong content background for students. The AK STAR summative assessments measure a student’s understanding of the standards.

AK STAR Assessment Preparation

The AK STAR student readiness resources are comprised of two components to support students learning to navigate within the test environment, utilize the tools available, and become familiar with the format of the assessment: Student Tutorial and Practice Tests.

Student Tutorial

The Student Tutorial is a narrated video that introduces the test platform. The tutorial uses narration and visual descriptions to explain the testing tools and navigation though the test engine.

How to Access the Student Tutorial

Quick Guide: Accessing Student Tutorial is located in Appendix A of this guide and on the AK STAR webpage. This one-page document provides step-by-step instructions and screenshots to guide users to the tutorial.

The following lists show some of the tools and navigation controls available on the AK STAR Summative Assessment.

Tools Students must be able to read and use these buttons for navigation

• Help (?) • Next
• Eliminator • Back
• Guideline • Mark for Review
• Highlighter • Clear
• Sticky Note • Pause
• Magnify • Return to test
• Drawing • End test
• Protractor (grades 4-5 only) - Submit and End Test
• Ruler
• Graph Paper

The following list shows some technology skills that students may need to use for the AK STAR Summative Assessment.

Keyboarding skills Mouse or touch screen skills

• Type single word or numbered responses
• Type paragraph response. - Click or touch to select an answer or multiple answers. - Click or touch to highlight a word or sentence. - Select an item from a drop-down menu. - Drag and drop a word, number, phrase, or image to sort, order, label, match, or complete model. - Move the line in a bar area to construct a bar graph.

How to Access the Practice Tests

Quick Guide: Accessing Student Practice Tests is located in Appendix B of this guide and on the AK STAR Student Readiness webpage. This one-page document provides step-by-step instructions and screenshots to guide users to the practice tests.

English Language Arts Item Types

Specific item types students may see are listed below and are taken from the AK STAR ELA Practice Tests.

Multiple-Choice Single-Select

This type of question lists four choices and asks students to select the correct answer. It is worth 1 point.

Multiple-Choice Multiple-Select

This type of question lists five or more choices and has two or more correct answers. (Students will be told how many choices to select.) It is worth 1 point. Students must select all of the correct choices and none of the incorrect ones for their answers to be scored as correct.

Select in Passage

This type of question asks students to select answers from a short section of the passage or another text, such as a dictionary entry. In the given text, certain words, phrases, or sentences are underlined. The students’ job is to select the underlined choice or choices that provide the best answer. (They will be told how many choices to select.) This type of question is worth 1 point.

Drag and Drop

This type of question asks students to move one or more choices into the correct box. If there is only one box to fill or if the number of choices equals the number of boxes to fill, the question is worth 1 point. If there are two or more boxes to fill and there are more choices than boxes, the question is worth 2 points. For the 2-point questions, students can earn partial credit of 1 point if they fill all but one box correctly.

Text Entry

This type of question asks students to write a short written response—usually of just one word—in a box. It is usually used to test knowledge of spelling. It is worth 1 point. In the example that follows, part B is a text-entry question.

Multipart

This type of question combines two other kinds of questions. Usually, the first part asks about a passage, and the second part asks for evidence to support the answer in the first part. This type of question is worth 2 points, but students can earn partial credit of 1 point if they answer the first part correctly and the second part incorrectly. Students earn no credit if they answer the first part incorrectly, even if they answer the second part correctly.

Written Response

This type of question asks students to write a short response of about a paragraph based on a passage or two passages. The response is worth 3 points.

Numeric Entry

This type of question asks students to enter a number or numbers. Students can use the digits 0 through 9 in their answer. In grades 4 and up, students can use a decimal point, and in grades 6 and up, students can also use a negative sign.

Fraction Entry

This type of question asks students to give their answer as a fraction by entering the numerator and denominator. Students can use digits 0 through 9 in their answer, and students in grades 6 and up can also use a negative sign. They cannot enter a decimal point. Unless an exact match is required, equivalent

responses are scored as correct. For example, if the answer is

(^2) , then

(^8) is scored as correct.

Graphing

This type of question asks students to graph one or more points or lines on a grid. To graph each object, students must first select the button for that object. Then they select a place on the grid where they want the object to appear. To graph a line, students place two points on the grid that the line should pass through. Students can move objects after they are placed by first selecting the Chooser button ( ), and then selecting and dragging points.

Drag and Drop

This type of question asks students to move one or more choices into the correct space or spaces.

Zone

This type of question asks students to select one or more sections of an image presented to them. When selected, the portion will be highlighted.

Written Response

This type of question asks students to write a response that includes a combination of words and math expressions or equations. Although not required, students can use the equation editor buttons to add mathematical symbols to their answer. Words can be typed from their regular keyboard. This type of question is worth three points for grades 3–5 and four points for grades 6 and up; it is human scored.