Smart Futures’ Rational for Math Testing/Assessment Process

The Future Ready Math Badging system uses the results of a series of brief tests to discover the progress the student has made as it relates to the preparation needed for career success and provides help, if necessary, for improvement.  Test results are used to compare to the math levels needed for career success. The assessment helps build a student’s confidence in his/her ability to learn which is important for career, college, and life.

SmartFutures testing/assessment process is based on the findings from the Common Core State Standards InitiativePreparing America’s Students for College and Career. The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics information is specifically designed to help students succeed in college and career choices.  The revised math standards outline three key shifts from the previous ones – greater focus on fewer topics, coherence, and rigor. (Common Core State Standards Iniitiative, n.d.).  Additional linkage to careers is informed by ACT’s WorkKeys ® Occupational Profiling Database research, and the O*Net Job Classification System.

Support for the revised math standards is the research done by the Centerfor Curriculum Redesign which shows the typical usage of Mathematics by various professions.  Numbers and operations, basic algebra and applied math are all necessary skills in all or many of thee professions.  The need for a deep understanding of basic math is also critical for students who enter the workplace without a college degree. 

In designing the SmartFutures math tests, we used these findings to create five grade- based level tests, plus an emerging skills level 0, focusing on the critical topics at each of the levels (Common Core State Standards Iniitiative, n.d.).  The goal was to make sure students have the necessary foundation to be college and career ready.  Each level’s learning assumes that students have mastered the lower level material which is critical for learning new knowledge.  Finally, SmartFutures developed word problem questions based on real world situations to ensure students have a deeper understanding of the math concepts.

SmartFutures Texting/Assessment Procedure

Future Ready Math Locator Test

The first step in the badging process is to determine the likely current level of the student.  This is done using a quick and easy locator test.  The locator provides five questions at level 0 and then moves on through level 1, then level 2 etc. until questions begin to be missed.  Once a question is missed, another similar question is added to the remaining list of questions.  If a student answers a second question incorrectly within the same level, they are kicked out of the locator test and granted a Future Ready Math Badge at the previous level (the last level where they had answered all questions correctly). 

Future Ready Math Level 0-5 tests and Badges

Once Earning a badge based on the Locator Test, students have the option to upgrade their badge to a higher level.  Each level 0-5 contains a 20 question level test.  Testing and assessment are consistent across all five (or six including level 0) levels. Answering 80% of questions correctly yields a passing score on the level test.  All tests can be done in 30 minutes or less.

Future Ready Math in Progress Badges

Failing a level test yields an “IN PROGRESS” badge.  In Progress Future Ready Math badges are powerful because they include a link to an IMPROVE report containing links to remediation.  Improvement support is provided by Khan Academy® which is an amazing website providing excellent, world-class remediation for the topics the Future Ready Math tests cover.

The IMPROVE report overviews the results of the test and shows areas of competence and where additional improvement is needed. Topics needing improvement link directly to the appropriate Khan Academy module for that topic.

After improvement modules are complete, students upgrade their badge by retaking the test again to earn the higher level.  Improvement may be tracked by creating a teacher account in Khan Academy and having students approve access to connect their accounts.  Directions can be found here: https://www.khanacademy.org/resources/teacher-essentials/getting-started-on-khan-academy/a/teacher-quick-start-checklist