I passed out the individual testing results from last year's third grade state test. The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test was administered in the spring for Mathematics and Communication. In the interest of transparency, I want to share the results for students who are now in my class.
There are four levels to the results. While we strive to accomplish levels of Proficient or Advanced, there is also much to be said for general and individual improvement (more about that below). The two lower levels for the test are Basic and Below Basic.
| For Reading and Writing, our class had only one student who achieved Advanced and five who made Proficient. Of the remaining students, eight scored Basic, and whopping nine kids were unable to make higher than Below Basic. |  | For Math, the results look only slightly better. We had seven at Below Basic and eleven who made Basic. At the other end of the scale, two scored Proficient, and three achieved Advanced results. |
You know what that means, right? It means we need to hunker down and work hard to improve ourselves. The good news is that we really have no where to go but up. We have an opportunity to make great strides toward raising our achievement levels by this spring. I need to have everybody on board, supporting these kids. They're going to need patience and instruction, but at the same time, some of them are going to require some stronger nudges and encouragement if we're going to see significant results. I have no doubt that it's possible.
| In the past few years, our class has developed a statement of our belief about learning. We call it our Declaration of Intelligence. Here is where you will find our desire to improve. This year, I will be asking my students to memorize the declaration, and we will use parts of it to help us maintain focus through "call backs" in a lesson. Depending on the situation, I may expect students to recite or write the entire declaration as a demonstration of their understanding. |  |
At the same time, students must understand their responsibility in the education of their peers. If one is an obstruction to the other, the education process will continue to be hampered, and the declaration becomes moot. My students realize that they are not only responsible for themselves, but they are responsible for creating the proper atmosphere for their peers, as well.
