Teacher Education Instruments

Student Content Assessments

Instrument 4: National Evaluation of the Algebra Project

Project: Middle School Intervention to Prepare all Students for Algebra
Algebra Project, Inc.

Funding Source: NSF: Teacher Enhancement (ESIE)

Purpose: To evaluate student's abilities to complete problems that reflect the subject matter of Unit 1, Book 1 of the Algebra Project

Administered To: Students whose classes participated in the Algebra Project

Topics Covered:

• Content Specific Assessment: mathematics

Format/Length: 99 open-ended questions, plus 6 demographic questions. Questions include fill-in-the-blank and drawing responses.

Dear Algebra Project Teacher,

Enclosed in this package you will find the Unit 1 Book 1 Assessment Test. This assessment is designed to evaluate if children can:

1. Identify the start, finish, number of stops and direction of a trip from a drawing of a trip.

2. Represent a written description of a trip through a drawing and the identification of the start, finish, number of stops and direction of the trip.

3. Identify trips that are equivalent on the basis of the four features of trips, and;

4. Explain equivalence in the context of a coding and decoding scheme.

Teachers should inform students that this is a test designed to assess what they have learned in the first unit of the Algebra Project curriculum. They should be told that they will not receive a grade on this test, but that it is important that they do as well as possible. Teachers should also make sure that students fill in the subway, bus or walking trip line on the 1st page of the test, including the appropriate label for directions used in the class. (The test uses a generic label of station 1 through 8 and arrows for directions because of the variety of trip lines and directions used in Algebra Project classes.) If you think students will have difficulty using the generic labels you may have them fill in the appropriate abbreviations and directions on every question or refer to a specific trip line written on the blackboard.

We suggest that teachers guide students through the test by allowing the following amount of time for completion of each part of the test. (Please feel free to adjust these suggested times if you think students need more or less time.)

Part 1: 5 Minutes

Part 2: 15 Minutes

Part 3: 10 Minutes

You should also feel free to read the questions of the test to your students or to explain or elaborate on questions to make sure that students understand what they are being asked to do. You should also feel free to write comments on the back of students' tests if you believe that you can help us with the implementation of the results.

You will also find in this package a brief teacher survey asking about your experiences teaching the first unit. We would appreciate if you would fill out this survey while the experience of teaching unit 1 is fresh in your mind. We would also like to note again that the names of students, and teachers will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be used in any public evaluation documents.

Once again, thank you for your assistance in the evaluation of the Algebra Project.