It’s not to soon to begin thinking about the ways you can help your child to do better on the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing. Not all Oregon schools participate in the NAEP tests, but all public school students do take the OAKS tests. There are practice tests available online (http://www.oaks.k12.or.us/default.html) to better acquaint students with the format and types of questions that will be asked in reading/literature, mathematics, science, and social sciences.
The paper-based OAKS writing test in particular is given to students in grade 4 and grade 7 in January/February (and 10th grade students during that same time and in April). In the 2008-2009 school year, the percent of students who met the writing standard declined in 7th and 10th grade, but rose for those in 4th grade. There is still a lot of progress to be made. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in the 4th grade was 44% (up from 43% in 07-08); 7th grade was 48% (down from 49% in 07-08); and 10th grade was 55% (down from 56% in 07-08).
Some in education believe the low scores are a reflection of the difference in process versus on-demand writing. In process writing, students have much time to craft, research, brainstorm, draft and revise their essays. The greatest obstacle for students in yearly testing in writing may be the lack of time given (in respect to papers for school). Students have difficulty streamlining the process to fit the on-demand prompts. Frequent practice in both types of writing will benefit students.
At home, parents can provide opportunities for students to write (whether through note-taking, letters to relatives, or using a journal), responding to their children’s writing and giving them praise. Fluency in writing can be improved by this increase in frequency. Parents can help students with school-assigned papers and ask teachers for prompts to better equip students with opportunities to practice on-demand essays.
SYLVAN LEARNING CENTER can help your students with both process and on-demand writing with a mini-writing program designed to prep your child for state testing. In the traditional writing program at Sylvan, elementary, middle and high school level students learn and practice grammar as well as writing techniques. They also write several essays. In the mini-program, students go through each step of the writing process to compose one traditional essay followed by a series of on-demand writing prompts where they will have the opportunity to work within time constraints to streamline their knowledge of the writing process.
Contact Lucille VanHouten at SYLVAN LEARNING CENTER in Tualatin (503/692-5080) for more information.
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