Striking the right balance between covering the required content and adequately preparing students for these assessments is essential, specifically as nearly 80% of teachers report feel pressure to have their students perform well on these assessments.
At MasteryPrep, we offer Bell Ringers, or five-minute exercises that teachers can use to bolster students college readiness skills and prepare juniors and seniors for test day. Bell ringers, which teachers can display on smartboards at the front of their classroom, take a scaffolded learning approach with easy-to-follow explanations for every test item, to be administered throughout the school year. What does our scaffolded learning approach look like? Essentially, each week focuses on a specific skill, and questions gradually increase in difficulty. Our goal with Bell Ringers is to make learning fun.
Another option is to start and close each period with an entrance/exit ticket combination to differentiate instruction, measure progress, and remove dead time.
By aligning your teaching with the test requirements, students will gain exposure to the necessary material while still achieving broader educational goals. This approach ensures a balanced learning experience. At MasteryPrep, our test-prep curricula and tools are designed to align with state standards and ensure students are prepared to succeed on a high-stakes assessment, whether it’s a state end-of-course exam or a national assessment like the ACT.
With our suite of products, students can take a diagnostic pre-test at the beginning of the school year as well as a diagnostic post-test just before their exam. In between, teachers can leverage Bell Ringers and our Online Course to measure student progress in the MasteryPrep platform while integrated test-prep into their curricula.