Kaplan Testing This Week
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 begins our second round of Kaplan Testing. The students in Intensive Reading 11 will take the 10th grade Baseline Reading test. This test will be sent off to the Kaplan company for scoring, and I will record that score in my grade book as a test grade.
The students don’t like to take tests, so I thought I would post the rationale for this particular test here.
Q: Why do we have to take the Kaplan test?
A: Because …
1. It gives Mrs. Cook a way to measure your progress - did you do better or worse on the second test than you did on the first? Are you making learning gains or falling behind?
2. It tells Mrs. Cook your strong and weak areas in reading so she can plan lessons to help you improve your weaknesses.
3. The Kaplan is supposed to be an indicator for the FCAT. This means that if you do well on the Kaplan, you will do well on the FCAT; and if you do poorly on the Kaplan, you may do poorly on the FCAT. So your Kaplan score helps Mrs. Cook see how far you need to go before you will be successful on the FCAT.
4. The Kaplan helps you practice for the FCAT. Sometimes the hardest part of the FCAT is just having to sit there and take a boring test. The Kaplan helps you practice the test-taking skills and strategies you will need on the FCAT, only with fewer questions and less time.
So, try your best on this test! Make sure you are here for the rest of this week to finish your test, because it will go in the grade book!
