New York: The Grades 3-8 Testing Program in English Language Arts and Mathematics (continued)

Q: Are students learning what they have been taught?

A: The New York State Testing Program helps determine the progress students are making.
Test results provide the student, teacher, and parent with an objective report of individual student strengths and
weaknesses in a variety of skill areas. These test results give teachers, schools, and school districts information they can use to improve teaching and provide additional assistance to students who need it.

Q: How can I find out if my child’s school is meeting the New York State Learning Standards?

A: Schools and school districts receive report cards—just as students do. The New York State School and District “Report Cards” are annual reports that provide information on how well schools and school districts are doing in helping students meet the learning standards. Copies of the New York State Report Card for all public schools and school districts can be found at
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov.

Q: Are there accommodations for testing students with limited English proficiency?

A: There are approved accommodations for limited- English-proficient (LEP) students on most New York State tests. The elementary- and intermediatelevel State Mathematics Tests are available in Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. If a test is not available in the language your child reads, the school may provide an interpreter. For the English Language Arts Tests, accommodations for LEP students may include allowing for extra time, separate test locations, and the use of bilingual glossaries.

Q: Are there accommodations for students with disabilities?

A: Testing accommodations are provided based on individual needs. During testing, accommodations must be provided for
students with disabilities. These accommodations are recommended by the Committee on Special Education and specified in each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), or in his or her Section 504 Accommodation Plan
(504 Plan). Certain testing accommodations are not permitted for some sections of the tests because these accommodations would change what the test is measuring. For example, reading to a student the portions of the English Language Arts Test intended to measure a student’s reading skills would not be a permissible testing accommodation. Students with disabilities who are also LEP students will receive both the IEP accommodations and the LEP accommodations appropriate for State testing.

Learning Begins at Home

The New York State Learning Standards require students to acquire a working knowledge of subjects and apply that knowledge to meaningful tasks at each grade level. The New York State Testing Program will ask them to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they need to solve real-life problems—knowledge and skills that you can help to improve through daily activities and conversations in the home.

When you teach your child to double a recipe, interpret a map, explain a newspaper article, or predict the outcome of a story, you help your child analyze the meaning of what he or she has heard, read, or viewed. Every time you ask your child to explain information—whether from a graph, cartoon, or news report—you help your child develop skills needed for success in school and on these tests. New York State’s public schools invite you to take an active role in your child’s education both at home and at school. Your involvement can lead to better attendance, higher test scores, and a greater likelihood that your child will continue on to higher education.

How Parents Can Help

Parents can play an important role in helping their children to do well in school and to prepare for these tests.
Here are some things you can do:

• Talk with your child’s teacher. Getting to know your child’s teacher is an excellent way to stay informed about your child’s performance at school. Attending parent-teacher conferences and school events is a good way to maintain regular communication with your child’s teacher.

• Be supportive throughout the year. Make sure your child comes to school ready to learn, attends school regularly, and completes all homework assignments. Ask your child about his or her performance in school, and be generous with praise.

• Encourage good work habits. You can help your child learn good work habits at home and at school. Explain the importance of carefully following directions, avoiding careless errors, and checking work to make sure it’s done correctly.

• Present a positive attitude toward the tests. Let your child know that you have confidence in his or her abilities. Explain that some of the test questions may be difficult and that it does not matter if other students finish earlier. Let your child know it is okay to proceed at his or her own pace.

• Be sure your child is physically prepared on the day of the test. Taking a test requires a student’s full attention, so your child should have a good night’s sleep before the test.

• Make sure your child has a healthy breakfast and a nutritious lunch. The English Language Arts Test The English Language Arts Test is administered in two or three sessions depending on the grade. The test includes both literary and informational passages and measures the skills and knowledge specified in the English Language Arts Learning Standards. Students read both literary and informational passages and then answer questions that test their understanding of what they read. They also listen to a short passage and then respond to what they heard, demonstrating their listening comprehension.

• Students will be asked to draw conclusions, compare and contrast information and ideas, interpret meaning, and explain cause-and-effect relationships. At Grades 4, 6, and 8, students will also be scored on their use of writing skills to effectively communicate ideas and information, and on their use of correct sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. At Grades 3, 5, and 7, students will be given an editing task to assess their writing skills.

• The English Language Arts Test contains questions in avariety of formats, including multiple-choice, short-response, and extended-response questions, as well as editing tasks.

• For multiple-choice questions, students select the correct response from four answer choices. For short- and extendedresponse questions, students write an answer to an openended question. Extended responses are scored for writing as well as for reading comprehension. For the editing task, students are required to make corrections and revisions to a short piece of writing. The following pages show examples of the types of questions that will appear on the test for each grade.

Sample English Language Arts Questions

The complete text and answers to these sample questions, as well as additional sample questions and answers, can be found in the Introduction to the Grades 3–8 Testing Program in English Language Arts and Mathematics at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8.