Preparing students for state testing can feel like a daunting task. However, using the right edtech tools can help put your mind at ease and equip your students with the tools they need to succeed. What features are important in an edtech tool to help prepare students for a state test?
Look and Feel
The layout and wording of state tests can be startling to anyone seeing it for the first time. Luckily, Edulastic has the tools to get students familiar with what the test will look like. Edulastic is a free assessment tool with the opportunity to upgrade to a paid account, which includes additional features.
What do teachers love the most about it? There are thousands of assessments already created and ready to use in the classroom right away. They even have a bank of assessments dedicated to state tests. View state test aligned assessments here. If your district has a paid version of Edulastic, another vital feature is the test interface. When assigning an assessment, go under the miscellaneous settings, then scroll down to choose the test interface. Search the drop-down menu for your state test. This interface will transform your assessment to look more like the state test.
Interactivity
Gone are the days of classic multiple choice and short answer questions. Students are now expected to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. Students can anticipate technology-enhanced questions such as drag and drop, matching, drawing, select or deselect, highlight, and many more. Using edtech tools that have these features throughout the school year can help your students feel more confident navigating these types of questions. Wizer.me and Kami are both valuable tools that make plain worksheets come to life. With Kami, your students can use the highlight feature or the pen to draw. Wizer.me has more interactive features such as drag and drop, label, and matching. Tools like Peardeck and Nearpod also include a lot of these features.
Perseverance
While some students may feel tech savvy, another challenge is the amount of time needed to focus on the state tests. How can you incorporate practice in your classroom in order to build perseverance? Using online platforms where you can build and edit your own assessments can allow you to customize the number of questions. Slowly build up your assessments throughout the year in order to give students test-taking stamina. If your tests will include essay questions or reading passages, be sure to utilize these question types.
Engagement
With all this prep, you may begin to lose student engagement. In order to keep students engaged, utilize edtech tools that bring gamification in the classroom! Tools such as Blooket, Quizizz, Kahoot, and GimKit encourage friendly competition and learning! Use the test prep questions you normally would, but instead, enter them into one of the platforms mentioned above. Students will ask you to play again and again!
Looking for even more assessment tools to try in your classroom? Check out this assessment tools choice board.