7th Grade Math Benchmark

We have discovered that there was an error on the final 7th grade math benchmark assessment. 

Question 17 had an incorrect answer identified as the correct answer. This has been corrected. If you have already administered the assessment, you can go into the answer sheet for each student and simply click on the button to score the assessment. You will then get the correct results. If you need assistance with this, contact your project leader.

If you administered the test telling all students to choose "C", those results will be skewed. C will now not be the correct answer. In this case, you could go in and mark every answer sheet with the correct answer, or you could simply ignore the third test's results on that skill.

We apologize for the error. The Princeton Review corrected the mistake as soon as it was brought to their attention.

Adobe Flash Player Version

Skills Iowa makes use of Adobe's Flash Player. Some of the lessons in Skills Tutor will load with older versions of the programs, but the ones created most recently like Language Arts, will not. It isn't easily evident which version of the program you have installed on your computer, so it can take a bit of time to go to Adobe's website and run through the install routine on your computer. Fortunately, Adobe does offer a tool to determine which version of the program you have installed on your computer. Just go to www.adobe.com/shockwave/welcome . Once there, you will click on the About button to see which version of the Flash program you have installed. There is also a Shockwave Player section, but Skills Iowa doesn't use this technology.

If you need any help with this, please contact your project leader.

Spring Math Benchmark

The third math benchmark is ready for you to administer to your kids. To find it, you must log in to Assessment Center and choose the class in which you want to administer the test. Once you are there, click on the Assessments link. By default, the new page will have a search window available for you. Enter the words Skills Iowa and click the search button (note: hitting return or enter will not do the same thing). Your search should result in an assessment named: Skills Iowa Grade X Math Test 3. If the assessment does not show up for you, you may have to check the settings in "Class Details". If you do not have the math level for that class set in the last set of settings on that page, the assessment will not be available. You can add the appropriate math level to the settings, and then save your settings and search again.

Once you have located the assessment, put a check mark in front of it; click on assign, and then choose the options you want on the next page. After clicking Next on that page, you will be given a list of students who have been assigned the assessment. You must click on Save at the bottom of the page, or the assignment will not be given.

This assessment is a good end of  year check up and can be compared to the beginning benchmark assessment and the mid year assessment if you administered them. Let us know if you need help.

Looking for a way to work on "Main Idea"?

Something sort of odd happened to me today. During a demonstration of the program, I was asked whether a science lesson in Skills Tutor would read the text on the page. I said, "Let's click on it and see." Not all Skills Tutor pages work in exactly the same way. Some read passages sentence by sentence, some read the entire page, and some read a summary of what is on the page. Science is one that reads a summary of the page. 

While it was reading the summary or main ideas of the page, it occurred to me that this could be a great way to work on identifying main idea or summarizing.

Here's the suggestion. Assign a science lesson that you think would be interesting to your kids. We used the lesson on the cell in Science I. Either have them all bring the page up, or, if you have the technology, bring it up on a projector or smart board. Have the kids read the contents of the page; a process which will take about three minutes. Then, have your students write a quick summary of what the main or most important ideas on this page were. Next, click on the text on the page and it will read its summary out loud. It's a quick way for the student to do some self evaluation to see if they were correct. There should be about three pages at the beginning of any science lesson which will operate in this way, and when you get to the point where your students are having to answer science questions, you can either choose to have them answer, or you could exit that activity and go to another.

Keep in mind that the Science lessons are leveled for high school, but are frequently used in middle school and occasionally lower. The vocabulary may be too difficult for lower grades. I'd love to hear from you in the comments if you try this

Do you have questions?

Sometimes we don't ask questions because we don't want to bother someone who might have the answer. We at Skills Iowa want to assure you that you are never a bother to us; we are always happy to answer your questions. Just contact your project leader and he or she will get right back to you.

Another solution is to ask someone at your school who is using Skills Iowa's programs to help improve student achievement. Usually, those folks are happy to help.

A third option might be to ask the questions right here on this blog through the comments section. It's easy, and you can bet you aren't the only person with the question you might want to ask, so just ask!

Is your report not loading?

If you are getting a white screen that doesn't go away when you are trying to download a report, the problem is most likely an activated pop up blocker.

You may have already turned off the pop up blocker, but in a Windows computer, you may have a Google toolbar which also contains a pop up blocker. Check for that too. When you turn off the pop up blockers, try your report again, and it should load.

Reports, Reports, Reports

Skills Iowa usage really comes down to Assess, Analyze, Act. If you are giving assessments and assigning lessons in Skills Tutor, you really need to be checking the reports. This article gives a review of what the reports are and what they do. 

Let your project leader or your building leader know if you have questions.