Kathleen OConnor

EDSL660 Prince William County Cohort

February 10, 2014

Standardized Test/Standards for the 21 st Century

Learner Analysis
Spring 2010 Released Test
End-of-Course (administered in 11th grade)
Reading
50 test items
As a reading test, this SOL focuses primarily on Standard 1 (Inquire, think
critically, and gain knowledge). There are several longer readings on the test
and questions that follow. The long readings are fiction, nonfiction, and one
set of directions for building a horseshoe pit, Right in Your Own Backyard!
This happens to be my content area, and in preparing students to take this
test, I instruct them that one good strategy is to skim the questions once
BEFORE reading the passage. This gives them direction for their inquiry as
they read. They are certainly gaining knowledge as they read; knowledge
that they will need to answer the questions correctly. Some of higher-order
thinking questions do require students to think critically rather than just
regurgitating information they have just read.
The test also focuses a great deal on Standard 2 (Draw conclusions, make
informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new
knowledge). Students are specifically asked to draw conclusions about the
reading passages, such as determining authors purpose or identifying main
ideas. They must apply knowledge to new situations; because they will be
reading passages they have not seen before and asked to identify literary
devises, organizational patterns and other things they have learned in class
and applied to other literature. While the standardized testing scenario is
not necessarily conducive to creating new knowledge, there is enough of
Standard 2 at work here to justify including it in this analysis.
Analyze and report on three to five individual test items in the
context of the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. (For
example, question #18 requires that the student evaluate the
information given. It requires critical thinking and problem
solving.)

Kathleen OConnor
EDSL660 Prince William County Cohort
February 10, 2014

#3 Based on the section Tips to anchor the stakes more firmly,

the reader may best infer that---Because the question asks students to make an inference, 2.1.3 absolutely
applies here: Use strategies to draw conclusions from information and apply
knowledge to curricular areas, real-world situation, and further
investigations. Since the reading excerpt is actual directions for setting up
a horseshoe pit, it could be argued that this is at least a simulation of a realworld situation. Reading and following directions is definitely a real-world
skill.
Additionally, 1.1.6: Read, view, and listen for information presented in any
format in order to make inferences and gather meaning. The AASL Skill
actually uses the same language as this question (infer).
#20 Which sentence best expresses the main idea of paragraphs 5
and 6?
Standard 2.1.1: Continue an inquiry-based research process by applying
critical-thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to
information and knowledge. would be applicable to this question because
identifying main ideas is a baseline skill for effective critical-thinking.
Also, standard 2.2.3 would apply here because students are asked to draw
conclusions by examining a passage, identify a pattern of evidence and
come to a conclusion (identifying the main idea).
#31 Why does the author compare historical and modern attitudes
toward men and women in paragraph 7?
This question follows a reading passage that is basically a model of a student
research paper. This is something all eleventh graders have experience with,
so they would be employing 1.1.2 (Use prior and background knowledge as a
context for new learning). They would use the skills and knowledge that they
used to write their own research paper earlier in the year to analyze and
evaluate the sample that appears in the test. Using what they have learned
about organizational structures of research papers they should be able to
answer this question correctly, as well as the others in this section.
Students would also use Standard 1.1.6 (Read, view, and listen for
information presented in any format (in this case, textual) in order to make
inferences and gather meaning. In reading another students research

Kathleen OConnor
EDSL660 Prince William County Cohort
February 10, 2014

paper, they must use this skill in order to draw the necessary conclusions
and answer the questions.
#37 In paragraph 4, the words humiliating, disgraceful, and
shameful evoke what tone?
For this question, as well as all the others that ask students to refer back to a
certain section of the reading selection, Standard 1.1.4 must be used. (Find,
evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions). Granted, it is
being used on a much smaller scale (the test passage, rather than a library
full of resources), but the skill is basically the same. They must be able to
locate the correct paragraph, and then the correct line, in order to answer
the question correctly.
Standard 1.1.2 is also important here, because students will have to use prior
knowledge to recall the meaning of evoke and tone in order to
understand what they are being asked.
*Disposition 1.2.6 is applicable to the entire test. Students must display
emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite
challenges. Many of the passages are quite lengthy and may not be highinterest material for many high school juniors. Students must be resilient
and persistent to use their best skills from the beginning of the test to the
end.
Based on your analysis of the test items, look at the Reporting
Category Descriptions, which, if any, of the areas seem to require
the greatest number of skills from the AASL Standards for the 21st
Century Learner?
On this 50-question test, there are only two reporting categories:
Demonstrate comprehension of printed materials and Use work analysis
strategies and information resources. I think they both require an equal
number of skills from the AASL Standards. Because these reporting
categories are fairly broad (especially the first one), they are basically the
umbrella skills that most of the AASL skills detailed in Standards 1 and 2
fall beneath. I do not think that any standardized test would incorporate too
much of Standard 3 since it is about sharing knowledge and in a testing
environment we call this cheating. It could be argued, I suppose, that the
part about participating ethicallyas members of society is relevant in
testing insofar as it applies to academic integrity (not cheating). I am also

Kathleen OConnor
EDSL660 Prince William County Cohort
February 10, 2014

not convinced that standardized testing of any sort does much to encourage
Standard 4 (Pursue personal and aesthetic growth).
Specifically, how could library information skills instruction enhance
student achievement on this test?
Library information skills can enhance student achievement in every aspect
of this test. Most basically, it has been my experience that students who are
habitual readers (i.e. not just assigned reading, but reading for pleasure on
their own) are those who generally score advanced on this test, because the
skills that come second-nature to strong readers. The librarians role in
encouraging reading for pleasure is very important. And while the reporting
categories are very general, the test questions themselves include research
skills, analyzing sources for usefulness in specific tasks, fiction, non-fiction,
literary terms and use of text structure to garner meaning. Basically every
skill measured on this test can be supported and enhanced by good library
information skills instruction.