I blame it on parent/teacher conferences... not really, those are actually this week, so I'm not sure why I'm making a post before this heinous week! haha ;)
We've been talking a lot at my school recently about motivating students to do their best on standardized assessments. All of us as educators know how unfair these can be... how it's such a slim snap shot of what a child is capable of, and how unfair it is to judge a child based on a few questions during a few hours of their educational career. That being said, those tests aren't going away! And we have to come up with ways to motivate our students, to see the value of those tests, and to help them understand why they take them and what we are looking for.
Our district takes the MAPS assessment 3 times a year, and as those of you who use this test know, what we look for most is growth and improvement. Each child has a "targeted growth" score, which is the goal that NWEA sets for them based on their previous performances of what they should achieve by the end of the school year.
Of course, I spend time before the test talking about it with my students - I'm pretty frank in explaining why we take it ("We teachers are looking to see if you're learning everything a 4th grader should be learning, and if you're improving - the point isn't getting the highest score, but in beating your previous score") and we set goals together (I blogged before about my goal-setting worksheet found here).
So how do I motivate them to take the test?
...candy, of course!
After the test, each student receives a little baggie, with a candy (either M&Ms or Skittles) for each point they improved on the math and reading tests combined, along with a cookie and a note saying "You are one smart cookie!" - an idea I cannot take credit for, as I borrowed it from my awesome coworkers.
In an ideal world, this motivation would be intrinsic - obviously I want my students to WANT to learn and grow and improve. But again - this is the real world. And in the real world, studies show that kids in poverty (like the kids I teach) do not look at long-term consequences, either positive or negative - they live in RIGHT NOW... and right now they want some candy.
Besides, it's a great visual - although some might balk at the fact that some students receive baggies full of candy while others receive only a few small pieces - it's a great visual representation and reward for how hard they have worked.
It's not ideal... but on my MAPS test this winter, my students earned a total of 361 candies for points improved in math and reading! I'm very proud of them for that.
