Low-Stakes Testing Engages Students and Improves Learning
Wakefield, MA (PRWEB) June 09, 2015 -- As the JogNog Science Challenge completes its fifth year of helping students excel on standardized tests, schools across the state turned in a stellar performance, with Everett, Massachusetts, correctly answering over one million questions. The concept of the challenge is simple: engage students in fun, competitive, low-stakes testing to help them prepare for high-stakes tests. Studies have shown that schools participating in the JogNog Science Challenge can expect an average 3.5 percent improvement over the average student proficiency on the statewide Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Science and Technology/Engineering exam.
Leading educators advocate the use of low-stakes assessments to help students master complex material. Unlike high-stakes exams that make up a substantial part of a student’s final grade, low-stakes assessments instead provide meaningful feedback to students and teachers and assess in small increments as the student learns. The JogNog Science Challenge was created and managed using the JogNog Assessment System, which helps teachers manage all aspects of formative and summative assessments, including standards alignment, quiz distribution, and identification of problem areas for students. When the time for high-stakes testing comes, students prepared by JogNog perform better.
In the JogNog Science Challenge, students worked together to help their schools succeed as they answered fun and interactive science quizzes on their phones, tablets, and computers. Students were able to collaborate throughout the entire school year, tracking their school’s progress on competition-wide leaderboards.
“We are thrilled with the schools that participated in the JogNog Science Challenge. The number of schools exceeding 100,000 correctly-answered questions increased more than three-fold this year,” said Stephen Smith, CEO and co-founder of JogNog. “We continue to hear from teachers that their students were more confident and better prepared for the MCAS test because of the competition.”
“The JogNog Science Challenge was a great way to motivate all my students to work together to learn science. The students love it. It is also a great time-saver for me because I can find pre-existing quizzes that match standards,” noted Jack Cash, seventh grade science teacher at the Parlin School in Everett, Massachusetts. “I use JogNog mostly as a learning tool, but I’m also only two mouse clicks away from a progress report with real-time assessment data that I can send to my principal.”
The top 10 Massachusetts schools in this year’s competition (ranked by the number of correct answers per school) are:
1. Parlin School, Everett - 601,811
2. Stoneham Middle School, Stoneham - 419,313
3. John W. Rogers Middle School, Rockland - 402,186
4. Lafayette School, Everett - 254,976
5. Douglas Middle School, Douglas - 240,537
6. Ottoson Middle School, Arlington - 234,541
7. East Middle School, Braintree - 206,054
8. Marshall Simonds Middle School, Burlington - 187,262
9. Norwell Middle School, Norwell - 165,480
10. Galvin Middle School, Canton - 138,080
About JogNog
JogNog provides a comprehensive system for formative and summative assessment that motivates students to learn in an engaging and fun way. Specifically designed to meet teachers’ needs, JogNog delivers quizzes aligned to Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards, and state curriculum standards for grades 2 through 12. JogNog uses the latest in educational research to create a competitive learning app that enhances student assessment and learning. JogNog is available on the web, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone, and the educational tablets Amplify and Kuno. For more information about JogNog, visit http://www.JogNog.com.
Paul Buta, JogNog, http://www.JogNog.com, +1 (312) 834-7285, [email protected]
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