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Math specialist urges practice on new state digital math-assessment tools
Summary
Christy Reed, the district's math specialist instructional supervisor, demonstrated new technology-enhanced item types on the state's DRC testing platform and urged teachers and families to practice the digital tools with students to avoid anxiety and lost time during assessments.
Christy Reed, the Clover School District math specialist instructional supervisor, told trustees the state’s new digital math-assessment items require student familiarity with built-in tools and reference sheets and recommended classroom practice and parent support before testing.
Reed demonstrated examples of technology-enhanced items on the DRC platform, including multi-select questions, digital rulers and protractors, a built-in reference sheet that remains on screen until closed, interactive clock and graphing tools, and constructed-response items that require students to use the platform’s tools rather than select a prefilled answer. She said the reference sheet and tools are available during the test but students must know how to find and open them.
Why it matters: Teachers and students across grade levels will face new item types that add a layer of technology to the content knowledge being tested. Reed said this can increase anxiety for students who know the mathematics but not the platform controls, and that a lack of familiarity could depress performance if not addressed.
Trustees asked Reed whether teachers may operate or assist with the tools once testing begins; Reed said they may not, because the platform’s tools are item-level features and teachers cannot manipulate them during the live test. Reed also confirmed students may use scrap paper (gridded or plain) during the assessment and that reference sheets remain visible until the student chooses to close them.
Reed recommended that teachers introduce the online-tool training (OTT) available on the state department website, practice the tools in small groups, and encourage families to explore the OTT at home so students enter testing comfortable with the interface. "I don't want our children to end up performing poorly because they didn't know how to use the tool on the assessment," Reed said, urging targeted practice for third graders taking the test for the first time.
The district will continue training teachers and administrators and share the state OTT with families ahead of the assessment window.
