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College Hill Elementary: Providing instructional insights and test prep inspiration with LS Test Builder
Each morning, when Phyllis Kewley steps into her fifth grade classroom at College Hill Elementary in Wichita, Kansas, her goals are manifold. Throughout her 23 years of teaching, goals have always been in large supply. But these days, achieving those goals is possible – in large part because she’s using LS Test Builder, LearningStation’s standards-aligned formative assessment and integrated instruction tool.
In Kewley’s school, because she’s part of a statewide deployment of LearningStation’s Education Desktop, a portal full of integrated instructional tools including LS Test Builder, Kewley has had access to the tool for three years. Across the nation, teachers in more than 2,000 schools use LS Test Builder to prepare their students for state tests and provide them with differentiated instruction efficiently and effectively.
A powerful and versatile tool
Like schools everywhere, College Hill Elementary is home to a diverse student body. Each and every student has unique learning needs and poses unique instructional challenges. “Meeting the needs of at-risk students is difficult, as is providing instruction challenging enough for students meeting and exceeding standards,” says Kewley. With around 53% of the student population free-and-reduced-lunch-eligible, Kewley interacts with many at-risk kids. What’s more, many of these students change schools frequently, making a disparity in knowledge almost inevitable. It takes a versatile approach to fulfill each student’s needs.
Though her students are diverse in background, ability, learning style, and more, Kewley and her colleagues strive to fulfill the same school, district, state, and national standards with each. LS Test Builder pinpoints students’ learning variances and generates data that shows teachers exactly which areas of instruction need addressing to ensure success on state test. It starts by providing teachers with insight into what their students know and don’t know. Then the program directs them to instructional resources that target those gaps. The combination of being able to pinpoint what students know and know how to address specific instructional needs is an extremely valuable key to teaching and learning.
Teachers narrow in on students’ needs
LS Test Builder allows Kewley to create tests quicker and better than ever before. Thousands of pre-written standards-aligned test questions for language arts, math, social studies, and science are at her fingertips – each one aligned with her state standards. There is no double-checking to make sure questions hit on test material, no wondering if the wording makes sense. It’s all ready to go.
During “enrichment” instruction, many of Kewley’s 22 students rotate to other classrooms and several others come into hers. Kewley’s focus turns to reading and math for 12-15 students in grades 3-5. They work in small groups based on mastery level. It is here that tests are administered to students – online through LS Test Builder’s intuitive interface. Results are instantly available in a variety of reports for Kewley’s review. “LS Test Builder pinpoints my students’ knowledge and helps me hone in a little quicker so I’m not wasting my time,” she says thankfully. “I don’t have time to not be productive for kids.”
Collaboration thrives among teachers and parents
While differentiated instruction accelerates learning among students, collective knowledge increases the effectiveness of all College Hill teachers using LS Test Builder. “We’re a very open community of teachers and we share what we learn,” says Kewley. “The more information that we can share to reduce workload and increase student achievement the better it will be for all.” LS Test Builder makes it easy to save and share tests with teachers and support staff school-wide.
At any point, a teacher may choose to rework a shared practice test or create an entirely new one, drawing from the cache of preloaded questions or by creating and saving custom questions. Again, the results point to students’ areas of success and difficulty, further sharpening a teacher’s approach and increasing each student’s chance at content mastery and test success.
To encourage growth beyond the school walls, Kewley shares in every parent-teacher conference all of the LS Test Builder tests and reports that have been used. She points out the real-world applications of each lesson to the parents, too, so they recognize the importance of their child’s positive performance. “It’s great to be able to share reports with parents. I try to tell them that every test is a tool in our toolbox; they show areas of growth and areas they can work with their kids on.”
Preparation for state tests a critical focus
LS Builder strengthens teachers’ ability to provide differentiated instruction and general instruction. It also reinforces key concepts by exposing students to material multiple times. Each test Kewley administers with LS Test Builder adds to the store of knowledge and confidence that students will draw upon during state tests.
LS Test Builder builds on the idea that students benefit from seeing the same content material multiple times, just as they benefit from experiencing the test environment prior to the actual test. With this notion in mind, Kewley and her colleagues at College Hill use LS Test Builder to create what they call a “pre-test experience” for their students. Students are given as many opportunities to experience the test structure as possible, “which is extremely beneficial,” Kewley explains. “They say it takes three times for learning to occur, and LS Test Builder does that.”
Coming full circle with differentiated instruction and test preparation
At College Hill Elementary, LS Test Builder enables teachers to create and administer standards-based, formative practice tests, affording differentiated instruction along the way to expand learning and raise achievement.
Kewley believes that LS Test Builder has impacted her school’s success is a big way. The school has made tremendous growth from last year, she says, especially in special education. Notably, College Hill also received the Kansas Department of Education’s top honor, the Standard of Excellence award, based on the school’s overall exemplary scores on the state assessments in reading, math, and writing. Now, each morning when Kewley reviews her goals for the day, she knows that LS Test Builder will play a critical role in helping her achieve them.