Improving Test Scores with ExamView and the Learning Series

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Washington Middle School mathematics department has been using ExamView and the Learning Series for the past 3 years to improve student learning. We started out making chapter quizzes and unit tests and quickly moved into making common assessments and daily review problems for all levels of math classes, from Honors to Special Education. These daily review problems, which we call POD's for Problems of the Day, cover a specific math priority standard for two weeks and include an ExamView test to be given (via the CPS response system) at the end of the 2nd week. We knew ExamView was easy to use and aligned to our curriculum, but the extent of it's value was revealed last year when we held our first Data Days to analyze our state testing data.  

 

During our Data Days, we found that our students were showing marked improvement in some state standards, while showing only little to no improvement in others. Upon further investigation, we discovered that the standards that were covered in our POD's overwhelmingly scored higher than the non-POD standards. As these daily problems were made using ExamView and included problems taken from not only various text book banks but also from the Learning Series, we credit ExamView with helping us raise our overall state test scores in math over 14% in just the past three years (with scores going up over 40% in the past 4 years!).   

 

Following this discovery, we created a new schedule of ExamView-created POD's that included additional state standards. We also continue to "tweak" the existing daily review problems to better suit the needs of our current learners. ExamView allows us to make these changes quickly and easily, which is another reason we are sold on the program.   

 

This year I have "changed hats" and am no longer the building math coach at WMS but am now a Technology TIL for District 186. In this new position, I am able to "spread the word" about the ExamView program and the benefits of using it at all grade levels to improve student learning. Our buildings are setting specific goals for each grade level and subject area and are looking to ExamView as a means of helping them achieve these goals. Thank you for a wonderful product!  

 

Sincerely,

Jennifer Gilson - Technology Teacher Instructional Leader  

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