Edsurge

DECEMBER 11, 2018

This is the second part of a two-part story looking at how one school is piloting MIT research on playful assessments to measure student growth. And perhaps most novel, instead of traditional tests, they’re using “Sparkle Sleuths,” one in an emerging set of assessment tools to measure their mastery. Read part one for background.

Testing 167

Testing Schools Interdisciplinary Middle School 167

eSchool News

OCTOBER 28, 2015

As students plan investigations to answer a question posed to them, they conduct tests, record and analyze data, and communicate their results. They’re actually “doing science,” not just memorizing terms and concepts for a test. I have students design structures and then test their designs on a simple shake table.

Science 246

Science Interdisciplinary STEM Learning 246

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

Whether text, video or something else entirely, each of these mediums encompasses a form of writing. The ubiquity and impact of digital writing can’t be ignored. The ubiquity and impact of digital writing can’t be ignored. Increasingly, writing doesn’t mean a five paragraph essay written by hand. engagement and passion.

Writing 167

Writing Teaching Essay Assignments 167

Catlin Tucker

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

I invited Rabbi Elchanan Poupko , a middle school teacher, to write a guest blog and share a strategy for pairing and grouping students for after school work. Growing up, once we left school at the end of the day, it was over. We did not connect with our teachers or school friends unless we chose to.

Assignments 318

Assignments Schools Middle School Middle School 318

eSchool News

DECEMBER 5, 2024

The report also cautions that the pandemic’s full effects on high school graduation likely haven’t been felt yet, as the children who struggled in middle and elementary school are still working their way toward a diploma. Members of the class of 2028 were in fourth grade in March 2020 and are currently high school freshmen.

Exams 273

Exams High School High School Schools 273

eSchool News

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Eleven years later, as I walk through the halls in a middle school/high school setting, I see students sitting on a tile floor crowded around a device trying to type, communicate, take videos, and record their voices with background noise and distractions often interrupting their progress.

Teachers 280

Teachers Students Assignments Communication 280

eSchool News

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Just as in classrooms nationwide, Montana’s teachers place an intense focus on supporting literacy in elementary school instruction. As a veteran teacher of 17 years who has taught in both elementary and middle school classrooms, I have found that there are a number of powerful edtech tools available to support student literacy.

Elementary School 339

Elementary School Elementary School Schools Quizzes 339

Edsurge

OCTOBER 2, 2017

What’s interesting to me is that students are more concerned about their writing being effective and well done, knowing their peers or people outside their school are going to read it versus just the teacher. But it really kicks in during middle school. But there is something.

Writing 128

Writing Feedback Exams Middle School 128

Edsurge

OCTOBER 31, 2017

Many educators recognize that standardized tests don’t measure everything—and that some of the most critical types of growth can’t be measured by a numerical score. Seven years ago, during my first year of teaching, all of my eleventh graders failed the Georgia State End of Course Test in American Literature. Something didn’t add up.

Testing 134

Testing Exams Essay Ethics 134

eSchool News

OCTOBER 1, 2022

“D&D saved my life, I’ve seen it save and change the lives of others, and I watch as it shapes the lives of the children who learn to play in my class,” said Kade Wells, Harrisburg North Middle School ELA Instructor in South Dakota and founder of Building Heroez. My students’ test score growth doubled each time they tested.”

Schools 262

Schools Middle School Middle School Art 262

Edsurge

MAY 1, 2017

Writing the first version of the code was easy. When my Whack-a-Mole prototype wasn’t working, I would make a list of things that could be wrong and test them individually. I programmed it through an Arduino UNO and it’s all hooked up to the circuit board using a large breadboard. It just didn’t work. It was also a lot of fun.

Middle School 129

Middle School Middle School Technology Schools 129

eSchool News

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Let’s take an example of a middle school student struggling with systems of equations. They want to know what they don’t know and prefer to review tests thoroughly, identifying trends in their mistakes. In contrast, listing the student’s deficiencies can seem overwhelming and not give the student a road to success.

Multiple Choice Questions 276

Multiple Choice Questions Feedback Students History 276

eSchool News

JULY 20, 2017

Imagine a 5 th grade classroom in the middle of a lesson. A teacher writing notes on a large chalk or white board at the front of the room? At South Carolina’s Saluda Trail Middle School, my room has evolved from this stagnant design to one of innovation. What do you see: charts, letters, and drawings on the wall?

Achievement 226

Achievement Students Middle School Middle School 226

eSchool News

APRIL 15, 2024

A study co-authored by MIT scholars concludes that widely disseminated school quality ratings reflect the preparation and family background of their students as much or more than a school’s contribution to learning gains. In these districts, students can opt for any school in the district, but some schools are oversubscribed.

Schools 250

Schools Students Assignments Testing 250

eSchool News

DECEMBER 25, 2019

Eleven years later, as I walk through the halls in a middle school/high school setting, I see students sitting on a tile floor crowded around a device trying to type, communicate, take videos, and record their voices with background noise and distractions often interrupting their progress. It begins with supporting the “change.”

Teachers 233

Teachers Assignments Students Participation 233

eSchool News

MARCH 7, 2025

A meta-analysis of studies, including data from 145,000 students in 33 nations, tell two notable truths: By age six, kids already see girls as worse than boys at computing and engineering Kids see girls as far superior in reading and writing by age eight, a belief that strengthens over time. Find out by taking a test designed to measure bias.

STEM 250

STEM Reading Beliefs Middle School 250

Teachers Pay Teachers

MAY 14, 2025

There will always be reliable and relatable topics that K-5 students want to write about. Encourage deeper thinking and advance writing skills by adding a new layer of creativity and skill-building with this list of unique elementary writing prompts, which can help turn your go-tos into gold! Write their dialogue.

Writing 86

Writing Grades Elementary School Elementary School 86

Edsurge

DECEMBER 6, 2023

A few classrooms down, Baselice’s colleague Jonathan Nardolilli teaches middle school mathematics using a board game he created himself to instruct students about the different angles created by parallel lines intersecting a transversal. With each piece of the bridge students build, they have to write a paragraph. “I

Teachers 215

Teachers Quizzes Testing Learning Outcomes 215

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Romano-Arribito is an EdSurge columnist and has spent about 27 years in the classroom teaching everything from first grade to middle school in her home state of New Jersey. I did get to a point where I saw that the kids were coming in and their love of reading and writing was just slowly going out the door,” she says.

Teachers 167

Teachers Middle School Middle School Testing 167

Edsurge

JUNE 28, 2023

Everyone has a memory about feeling lost on the first day of school — figuratively or literally. Yes, it can be, according to two groups of researchers who have tested how programs aimed at fostering belonging have impacted students’ academic performances. Middle School Blues It’s not just your imagination.

Middle School 175

Middle School Middle School Schools Students 175

Edsurge

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

On a recent walk after spending a day working with middle school teachers on engagement strategies, I was listening to the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast. Most of the oldest students of this generation are now in middle school. What have they learned that is not demonstrated on the tests they take?

Education 212

Education Middle School Middle School Coaching 212

Ask a Tech Teacher

APRIL 9, 2018

I know the difference but write them wrong when I’m not paying attention. It seems everyone equates good writing mechanics with quality whether from a teacher, in her/his lesson plans, or on notes to parents. Analyze My Writing. Free; best for high school and older. Free/fee; best for high school and older.

Writing 92

Writing Plagiarism English Languages 92

Edsurge

MARCH 22, 2022

School is not the problem. This statement was shared by a former middle school student of mine during his freshman year of high school. John* was getting all A’s and one B in stark contrast to the B’s, C’s, and D’s received in middle school. Students are the problem.”

Middle School 187

Middle School Middle School Schools Motivation 187

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

my students informed me, running over after their latest test. “Is If we have always taught our kids that every test must be an A+, then how do we support them when it isn’t? Carol Dweck and others have written about a “ Growth Mindset vs. a Fixed Mindset ” in learning and school. Bycraft, our robot goes backward!”

Failure 217

Failure Testing Beliefs Middle School 217

Edsurge

APRIL 29, 2022

And his newest scholarly paper, published just last week, describes an experiment designed to test the hypothesis that a lesson in VR would be more effective than the same lesson delivered via standard video. The study took place with about 100 middle school students taking a brief “virtual field trip” to learn about climate science.

Learning 176

Learning Testing Middle School Middle School 176

Edsurge

MARCH 1, 2023

ChatGPT adds to the suite of AI tools that might be encountered in an ELA classroom, along with automated essay scoring, writing evaluation and feedback. We evaluated one writing platform that gave students immediate, AI-generated feedback, with unlimited opportunities to use the feedback to revise and resubmit their essays for better scores.

Grades 172

Grades Teaching Teachers Essay 172

eSchool News

DECEMBER 24, 2024

We have a class we call Tournament of Technology in our middle school geared toward design, coding, robotics, and video production. I see where technology will play a significant role–there are some awesome programs to reinforce those reading, writing, and math skills. So, we test whether or not we covered content.

Internet 284

Internet Accessibility Local Government Activities 284

eSchool News

MARCH 13, 2024

We have a class we call Tournament of Technology in our middle school geared toward design, coding, robotics, and video production. I see where technology will play a significant role–there are some awesome programs to reinforce those reading, writing, and math skills. So, we test whether or not we covered content.

Internet 312

Internet Accessibility Local Government Activities 312

Edsurge

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

In middle school, I participated in Future City , a STEM competition for middle schoolers. Influenced by my own experiences and the philosophy of my school, competition became a staple in our classroom culture. Another student cried when they didn’t get stickers on their test, even though they tried their best.

Motivation 178

Motivation Students Middle School Middle School 178

eSchool News

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

That was what inspired Berman to found Boston STEM Week, which just concluded its second successful year by replacing the usual curriculum for the more than 6,000 students and 300 teachers across 37 Boston middle schools. Why Middle School? And Why Engineering?

STEM 186

STEM Middle School Middle School Learning 186

Edsurge

APRIL 28, 2020

Researchers at California Polytechnic State University conducted a study in 1994, which showed conclusively that the group that was given a random assortment of pitches did much better in the post test than the group that received blocked pitches—several of one kind followed by several of another—and the control group.

Math 216

Math Coaching Testing Assignments 216

Edsurge

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

Their natural interests and abilities became apparent—whether it was writing, drawing or a head for numbers. In high school, he reasoned, students might take vocational training courses, intern at local businesses or meet with guidance counselors to discuss their future. But it rarely starts any younger.

Counselling 215

Counselling Middle School Middle School Testing 215

eSchool News

MARCH 26, 2020

With virtual learning a reality for many families for the rest of the school year, the Learning at Home Center is an educational and fun supplement that features daily activities, printable worksheets, test prep quizzes, videos, and book vocabulary lists.

Quizzes 135

Quizzes Middle School Middle School Education 135

Edsurge

JANUARY 31, 2019

And when he’s not spending time with some of his favorites—StarCraft and Hearthstone—he’s teaching middle school students how to build their own. Writing and literacy are two major focuses of the seventh grade course, for instance, where students craft narratives for their games. Steve Isaacs has long identified as a gamer.

Skills 167

Skills Game-Based Learning Middle School Middle School 167

Ask a Tech Teacher

JULY 22, 2015

By middle school, they work in online groups through forums, wikis, and Google Apps. Doing a project that uses Google Docs or MS Word doesn’t mean students will apply that knowledge to the year-end PARCC and SB tests. Quick writes on the computer. you have a BYOD school, teach these. Problem solving.

Skills 155

Skills Students Plagiarism Knowledge 155

Edsurge

DECEMBER 12, 2018

Since the days of “Oregon Trail,” educational games have teased at the possibility that learning in school can be freed from the doldrum of textbooks and tests. Yet building learning games—and selling them—is an expensive endeavor that tests patience and wallets, as several startups have learned. middle-school market.

Learning 165

Learning Middle School Middle School Testing 165

Edsurge

FEBRUARY 18, 2020

Giving regular feedback to roughly 100 middle and high schoolers has been my greatest challenge as an English and writing teacher, and it hit home for me sometime in 2013. She pushed me to test and measure the quantitative and qualitative data I was gathering. Middle school students role-play feedback interactions, 2019.

Feedback 218

Feedback Peer Review Teaching Writing 218