Our school has purchased Scantron’s Achievement Series to make the administration of common formative assessments easier. Tech Team member Marc S. will be heading up the implementation of this “web-based assessment solution” with assistance from fellow Tech Team member Jason F. Many thanks to both of them for graciously volunteering for this duty!

For those of you interested in learning more about this assessment tool, check out the website at http://www.achievementseries.com/!

With final exams fast approaching, here is a link to Hylton’s collection of bookmarked study tools.

http://delicious.com/hyltonhs/study_tools

There are links for educational games, practice tests, and test-taking strategies. Take a gander, and if any seem appropriate, please share with your students.

Our SOL schedule is available in several locations. Here is an abbreviated schedule, showing subjects and periods by date.

May 09 Calendar.xls

You can also find this schedule posted on our online Faculty Calendar.

The best place to look, though, is on your personal online calendar. That’s were you will see not just the abbreviated schedule, but all the details you’ve entered for each of your classes–all in one convenient spot!

This site has been making the rounds for quite a while. Thanks to Jennifer C. (with an e) for pointing it out to me, again.

It’s a wonderful way to practice vocabulary while at the same time providing food for needy countries. Check it out!

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

It’s that time of year — SOLs, AP tests, and then final exams. Testing can be a VERY stressful time for students, parents, and staff. So, I thought the best website to share this week would be one that was all about taking a break and having some fun. When it feels like testing will never end (I think I’m already there, and SOLs have only been going on for a few hours….), do yourself a favor and take a break. Here is a fun site where you can design your own kaleidescope. It’s very cool!

I know that we are all very busy, but it’s important to take mental breaks once-in-a-while.

SOLs are approaching very quickly! I remember when I returned to education in 2004 I was a bit taken aback by the World Geography pacing guide which had me finishing instruction by April 21. It did not make much sense to me since the last day of school was not until June. And then I remembered — SOL End of Course exams are actually given in May, many weeks before the end of the school year. (I still have issues with this, but that’s a topic for another day)

With that in mind, I know many of you are getting ready to delve into SOL preparation and review for your students and you may not know where to find our SOL online resources. At the start of the school year, I moved them all to our web portal. You can find them under the category “SOL Preparation”.

If anyone is aware of any resources that are not included in the portal, please post a comment with the link so that they can be shared with your peers. Then, I will add them to the portal ASAP.

Here’s an interesting commentary on our favorite piece of legislation, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, done by Tom Chapin. The original video can be found at http://www.notonthetest.com/.

Not on the Test

This was written by a retired school superintendent from South Carolina named John Taylor way back in 2002. It’s been making the rounds for years now and I’m not sure how I could have missed it. Better late than never. Enjoy.

No Dentist Left Behind

Welcome back and happy 2008!

The link for VDOE’s SOL electronic practice tests (ePats) has changed. Last year, we downloaded all these tests to the computers in the library and IT Lab to assist with SOL remediation. This year, a link has been added to our Novell desktop which is great! Now, you and your students can access these practice tests from anywhere in the building! At home, though, your students will still need to download and install the tests they wish to practice with. The link has been updated on our portaportal, and I’ve provided it for you above, as well.

As we are in the midst of SOL remediation and testing, I found Alfie Kohn’s post, Do Kids Read Less for Fun? Blame Standardized Tests from The Pulse, particularly poignant. One quote, in particular, stood out:

“We haven’t been doing any reading since we started preparing the kids for the reading test.”