McDowell Exchange School is always focusing on preparing students for the upcoming AIR Assessments (American Institute for Research). Recently, the teachers at McDowell have decided to better prepare students for the Math AIR Assessment through an online program called ALEKS. The McDowell Staff have also constructed a board in one of the hallways to showcase students’ progress. Before going into too much detail, here is a description about the ALEKS Assessment Program.
Firstly, the ALEKS Assessment Program is a website that helps students with their Math skills. The website was founded by McGraw Hill, the same company that produced a few of the Math books at McDowell. The program helps develop Math skills in young minds all the way to seniors in high school and higher education; grade levels ranging from Kindergarten to 12th Grade. The goal of the ALEKS Assessment Program is to determine what a student already knows in their Math level, and what they need to learn. Students learn new Math skills through a process of learning topics. Once the student spends enough time and learns a certain number of topics, they take a Knowledge Check and master the topic. The goal is to fill the entire Pie Chart by mastering every topic. The Math Teachers have also decided to make ALEKS count for a grade. There will be more detail about ALEKS counting as a grade next.
The Math Teachers have also set a goal for the number of topics the students have to complete in a certain amount of time. Some of the Math Teachers decided to set a number of topics to be completed every quarter semester, while others set a goal to be completed every week. Either way, all of the Math Teachers made ALEKS count as a quiz grade. So, ALEKS can either make or break a student’s grade. A few of the Math Teachers also count extra topics completed as extra credit. This can also boost a student’s grade if their grade is suffering. Along with topics completed, the teachers set up a board to represent each student’s progress in the ALEKS Assessment Program. More detail is to come about the ALEKS Board soon.
In McDowell Exchange School, there is a board in one of the hallways that compares student’s progress in the ALEKS Assessment Program. This board is divided into six sections: 7th and 8th Grade, and whether the student is in advanced. Every section of the board is broken into different parts, based how many topics a student has completed, whether it is 100, 200, 300 and so on. The ALEKS Board is a recent addition, as it was added last Wednesday, January 31st. The more topics completed, the higher up the student’s card with their name advances on the board. Enough talking about the ALEKS Board, time to conclude about the ALEKS Assessment Program at McDowell.
Overall, the ALEKS Assessment Program is a way to better prepare the students for the Math AIR Assessment at McDowell Exchange School. The program is another way for the Math Teachers to help students perform better in Math class as well. The ALEKS Assessment Program has also lead to the development of a board that compares students’ progress on the website. The total effect that the ALEKS Assessment Program will have on McDowell Exchange School should be positive, resulting in students having better scores on the AIR Assessment.