asset - Educational Initiatives
Transcription
asset - Educational Initiatives
test target transform The Duke University Talent Identification Program, USA, has partnered with ASSET to identify and serve academically -gifted students in India. Grades 3 - 10 English | Maths | Science | Social Studies | Hindi Test dates: August 2-5 / December 6-11, 2010 Advance Registration Deadline (Early Bird): March 1, 2010 Register Now! Duke University Talent Identification Program partners with to identify students for their Talent Search What is Duke TIP? The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a nonprofit educational organization that is recognized as a worldwide leader in identifying and serving the educational needs of academically talented youth. Duke TIP provides resources, recognition, and research to talented students, their parents, educators, and schools for the development of the students’ optimal educational potential. Since 1980, Duke TIP has served over 2 million students. Duke TIP is an affiliated program of Duke University, which is currently ranked as one of the top 10 universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Duke is one of the most competitive universities in the country and its various Schools (e.g. Medicine, Business, Public Policy, and the Environment) are among the best in the world. Duke TIP in India Mission The Duke TIP India Talent Search offers academically talented students in India an opportunity to better understand their academic capabilities and how to most effectively develop their optimal educational potential. Talent Search Overview The Duke University TIP India Talent Search identifies academically talented students from across the country, primarily using the ASSET test. We understand that academically talented students need special motivation and support. We will help them grow by providing the opportunity for above-level testing, resources, and encouragement so that them may continue challenging themselves academically. “Duke TIP in India has opened up a new world for [my daughter], making her more confident, more independent, and widening her horizon tremendously. “ - Parent of TIP student in India The Talent Search Eligibility & Timeline Students who qualify for the Duke TIP India Talent Search will be eligible for benefits such as: ? Recognition: receipt of a Certificate of Merit Out-of-level testing : the opportunity to take an out-of-level ASSET test ? and receive a diagnostic assessment of intellectual ability Students scoring at the 95th percentile or higher on the in-level Mathematics, Science, or English portion of the ASSET examination taken in July-August will be invited to participate in the Duke TIP India Talent Search. Spring ? Interactive seminars : participation in Duke TIP Webinars conducted by university faculty and graduate students ? Duke TIP in India Family Newsletter : information and practical advice for parents and guardians of academically talented students Educational Programming : participation in distance learning options and ? ASSET test July/August October If eligible, register for the DUKE TIP India Talent Search November Receive Duke TIP India Family Newsletter December Take the out-of-level, second ASSET test January Disclaimer: Duke University TIP is a well constructed program for students of Grades 7 and 8 and their having chosen ASSET is a measure of ASSET’s credibility. Please note that Duke’s TIP selection process is very intensive and the ASSET score is one of the steps of this process. The decision of the total number of schools to involve is a decision by the Duke TIP team and simply taking ASSET may not make you eligible for the Duke TIP program. Take the in-level, base ASSET test theopportunitytoapplyforDukeTIPSummerStudiesPrograminIndia www.tip.duke.edu/india Register for July/August Notification of out-of-level test scores and diagnostic profile February If eligible, apply for Duke TIP educational programming 1st January , 2010 Invitation Letter To The Principal Subject: Invitation to participate in the ASSET Advance Registration Opportunity - Early Bird, 2010 Dear Sir/ Madam, Greetings from the ASSET team for a very Happy New Year 2010! In 2009, we took the radical step of offering ASSET only to schools who take it as a “full school” or “full class”. We did this to help schools derive even more value from the ASSET diagnostic analysis as the data becomes truly 'representative' when the full class or school takes the program. We are happy to share that more than 850 schools (with 315,000 students) took ASSET in 2009. This gives us the confidence to work even more closely with schools that value our initiatives to improve student learning through yearlong improvement programs. It is heartening to note that almost all our partner schools have used the ASSET data and support programs in innovative ways to achieve improved student learning. 180 schools have sent us a detailed account of the Impact of ASSET’s diagnostic and benchmarking insights to improve student learning. 8 schools have been profiled in this brochure. What is most impressive is the sheer amount of effort put in and the clear results demonstrated within a short period of one or two years. Some examples of how schools have used ASSET and allied services this year include? Using the Year-on-Year analysis to track the impact of initiatives on an on-going basis. ? Integrating Teacher Sheets into teacher’s lesson plans. ? Displaying ASSET Question-a-Day(AQAD) on AQAD boards and discussing them with students on a daily basis, thus making “critical thinking” a daily activity. ? Using the Test Generator software and its online question bank to quickly generate weekly, monthly and term tests. ? Building remedial plans for specific misconceptions through visits of senior team members from EI under the Relationship Enhancement Program(REP). EARLY BIRD OFFER As a part of our 2010 Advance Registration – Early Bird benefits, we are offering students a “personalised booklet” that will help them work on specific questions related to their weak skills identified through ASSET. The book is being offered free of cost to every child if the school registers before March 1st with 30% advance. Other initiatives like REP visits (2 visits), Test Generator, ASSET Question-aDay, Teacher Sheets and the Question Making Competition will continue in 2010. DUKE UNIVERSITY TIP INDIA TALENT SEARCH AND ASSET Recognising the benchmarking capability of ASSET, Duke University, USA is partnering with ASSET for its Duke Talent Identification Program. ASSET scores will be used as the selection criteria for participation in the Duke University TIP Talent Search. CONTINUOUS and COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION (CCE) COURSE FOR TEACHERS EI is offering a 6 month distance learning program for teachers of grades 6 to 10 at a fee of Rs 5000 per teacher. The course will have an exam at the end with a certification of successful completion. The course is being designed keeping in mind the practical – application oriented approach that teachers are looking for to help them integrate CCE effectively into their regular teaching –learning processes. The best practices of schools that have been using CCE will also be shared with teachers who sign up for the course. For details please write to info@ei-india.com 2010 ARO details Schools will have to continue to register as Full Class or Full Schools in 2010. The cost of ASSET in 2010 is Rs 350 per student for the core subjects of English, Math and Science (Classes 3 to 10) and Rs 135 per subject for Social Studies (Classes 5 to 10) and Hindi (Classes 4 to 8). The registration deadline is March 1st, 2010 with 30% advance to avail the Early Bird benefits indicated above. We look forward to your continued active participation in ASSET, and rededicate ourselves to helping every student in your school learn with understanding! With regards, Sridhar Rajagopalan Managing Director Sudhir Ghodke Director Vishnuteerth Agnihotri VP - Test Development 1 ADVANCE REGISTRATION BENEFITS -EARLY BIRD ASSET offers a year-round engagement approach with schools and effective planning can be done if we can get an exact picture of the number and location of schools registering for the ASSET and allied services program. Therefore we offer schools the opportunity to confirm their registration for ASSET by paying 30% of the total amount as advance before 1st March, 2010. BENEFITS FOR REGISTERING UNDER EARLY BIRD 2010 ! ! ! ! ! Students and Parents: EARLYBIRD ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS Personalised booklet for students to help them work on their weak skills identified under the ASSET diagnostic program. The booklet is offered FREE to all 1. Registration of Full Classes or Full students of schools registering for ASSET, subject to their school registering School for the ASSET program. School under EB. Summary Form to be filled with Students and Teachers: tentative numbers for the chosen ASSET Question-a-Day: One Question sent daily via email to every class that classesfortheacademicyear2010-11. registers for EB. 2. Deciding to take 3 (core) or 4 (Core + Teachers: SS/Hindi)or5(Core+SS+Hindi)subjects. - Access to Test Generator Software and online Question Bank 3. 30% advance to be paid along with - Relationship Enhancement Program: 2 visits to the school by senior EI team the filled up School Summary Form members who will help schools use all the services offered and provide by March 1st, 2010. support to build remedial plans for identified misconceptions - Teacher Sheets and Misconception CDs Teachers and Management: Class-wise, section-wise, student-wise analysis with year-on-year comparison if ASSET is being taken for more than one year. Benchmarking with over 1000 schools and approx 15,000 students per class makes the analysis very comprehensive and accurate. Price Benefit: ASSET is offered at Rs 350 per student for three core subjects with a 10- 15% Test Admin Fee benefit depending on the number of students registering. Schools registering after the ARO deadline will be charged Rs 400 per student with Rs 30 offered as test admin fee. STUDENTS REGISTERING FOR ASSET EARLY BIRD BENEFITS STUDENT RANGE 200-799 800 - 1599 1600 and above TEST ADMIN FEE 10% 10% 15% Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + Test Generator for the full school or classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy) Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + [Test Generator for the full school or classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy)] OR A Laptop worth Rs 25,000 Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + Test Generator for the full school or classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy) AND A Laptop worth Rs 25,000 ADDITIONAL FREE BENEFITS FOR REGISTERING UNDER EARLY BIRD WITH 30% ADVANCE BEFORE MARCH 1st, 2010 Please Note: Schools that register under FC-FS (full class or full school) who cannot get their full class or full school to participate in ASSET will be refunded their advance payment after deducting a processing fee of Rs 5,000 and their registration will be cancelled. The Balance amount (70%) should be paid latest by July 7th, 2010 for Summer Round schools and September 30th, 2010 for Winter Round Schools. Schools that delay payments might not get the test papers in time to conduct the test test target 2 transform ASSET is India's leading skill based diagnostic test taken by over 300,000 + students annually from 800 + schools. Sign up for ASSET and accelerate improvement in your school. Questions that test real understanding Applicable for CBSE, ICSE, IB, IGCSE and State Boards STUDENT REGISTRATION + 30% ADVANCE PAYMENT Focus on specific misconceptions Specific suggestions given for improvement TEACHERS WORKING ON REMEDIAL PLANS T ASSET SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT CYCLE ASSET WEEK CELEBRATIONS ASSET TEST AQAD Full School participation deepens analysis TOR RA R SHEE CHE TS EA FOLLOW-UP FEEDBACK ON ASSET 2010 TEST GEN E Analysis is an “eye-opener” FINALIZING OF STUDENT DETAILS+BALANCE PAYMENT POST-ASSET SESSIONS FOR TEACHERS ASSET RESULTS + ASSET MYBOOK Question making support to teachers 3 test SCHOOL BENEFIT ASSET clearly pin-points the specific skills where the school needs to focus its precious time and energy to accelerate improvement. FOCUS ! Diagnostic, skill based test not competitive (applicable for whole school) ! Questions designed to test concepts underlying the curriculum ! Rigorous question making system ensures very high quality of questions ! Multiple choice format drills down to specific misconceptions ! National benchmarking clearly shows patterns allowing prioritization ACCELERATED IMPROVEMENT ! Assessment FOR Learning instead of Assessment OF Learning ! Clarity on specific misconceptions saves teacher’s time ! School management gets a yearly picture of academic progress ! Successful efforts can get highlighted enhancing teacher morale Diagnostic Tool ! ! Questions aimed at all children Feedback allows Year-onYear comparison Scientific Approach ! ! Rigorous pre-testing Misconceptions targeted Skill v/s Content ! ! Feedback skill-wise Aimed at application not rote test target 4 transform target ASSET analysis benefits for Principals and Top Management ! Bird's eye view report gives overall picture ! Year-on-year comparison can show actionable patterns ! Allows Principals to track teacher effectiveness ! Group schools can compare inter-group performance ! Best practices within groups can be identified and shared ! Visibility of the results of school efforts helps all stakeholders ASSET analysis benefits for Teachers ! Complementary insights of patterns from their own classrooms ! Misconception analysis saves time for teachers ! Feedback from ASSET Schools can build a strong best practices compilation ! Customised analysis folders provide personalised feedback to teachers ASSET analysis benefits for Students ! “ASSET MyBook” - a personalised question based booklet that helps students to improve their weak skills ! Personalised feedback helps students work on their strengths and weaknesses ! Parents and teachers can help students focus on specific areas ! Students encouraged to self-learn and improve every year Analysis of the MOST DIFFICULT Questions QNo. Paper Code %age of your students who answered correctly %age of ALL schools who answered correctly 26 379 20.5 % 27.9 % 3 379 7.3 % 15.0 % 38 379 38.6 % 50.2 % Performance Table showing MOST COMMON WRONG ANSWER Class 7, Science Question What is the chemical formula for steam? A. CO B. H2O C. O2 D. (Pure steam does not have a chemical formula) ASSET Speak The analysis clearly shows that the children of this class are not clear about the properties of steam. They believe that steam does not have a chemical formula and the teacher can now address this. 5 transform Components of the transformational process - 2010 Students and Parents: Personalised Booklet for Skill Enhancement - “ASSET MyBook” ! Every child who participates in ASSET will get an analysis (regular feature) & In addition to this, for students of EB schools (schools that register with 30% advance before March 1st) we are offering a personalised booklet for skill enhancement. The booklet will take up the 2 weak skills identified by ASSET and offer , Skill explanations , 6 questions per skill that will offer more practice to the student , Answers and explanations for each of the questions Students and Parents: Interaction with PTA/ Parents ! Presentation of school performance on ASSET ! Explanation of ASSET results and how to read the analysis ! What should parent do at home to support the child's learning ! Answering queries about how ASSET fits into the school's process ! Informing parents on what the ASSET team is doing with teachers to address misconceptions identified ! Making parents answer a few ASSET questions to give them a deeper perspective of the quality and design of the questions. Students and Teachers: ASSET Question-a-Day ! 1 Question per day by email to the school for every registered Class ! Specially designed boards to put up the questions in the school corridors will be provided to schools ! Recommendations on how to use will be offered during orientation programs (June-July) Teachers: Relationship Enhancement Program ! 2 visits to each school by senior EI team members. Visit details: 2 – 3 hours per visit , 1st Visit – Orientation visit for new schools/ “Sharing of learnings” visit for past participants , 2nd Visit – Post ASSET analysis session with focus on building remedial plans for questions that have likely misconceptions ! Appointment of Core Team that would ensure services are being used ! Regular interaction over email and phone to check for any additional support that schools might require Teachers: Test Generator ! Online question bank that helps teachers make customised question papers test target 6 transform The Orchid School, Pune Shilpa Solanki, Principal The main objective of taking ASSET was to know how the school is doing. We wanted to get a validation from a third party that has done extensive research in the field of education and to know if the school ASSET IMPACT is on the right track and promoting thinking. So if someone is able to tell us that we are developing skills, encouraging thinking, questioning, analysis and higher order thinking, it means a lot to us if it comes from an objective point of view. ASSET test is much awaited by the students as they do not have to prepare for the same. They are happy to appear for the test. This is one test they fearlessly and readily face, guess because it is so non - judgmental. While we do take other tests, ASSET has been made compulsory in our school. For parents, to have such a brilliant report for every child with a clear understanding of what are your child’s skill areas, where is she outstanding and what areas does she needs help is something I think if we got as parents then we would be in a much better place today. “The students are very comfortable with the ASSET type of questions because there are four options and they have understood that although theyhavefouroptions,wereallyneed to know what is the correct answer instead of randomly marking the answers. Even if there are questions that they have not learnt in class this reallyhelpsthemgettotheanswer” - Seema Shadbdar, Coordinator "I teach English and the questions from ASSET and the ASSET Test Generator have helped me a lot to get ideas for making my own test papers." - Monika Desai, Teacher Sanghamitra School, Hyderabad We need to start looking at our children 10 years from now and help them develop skills that they can use then. So with ASSET we are trying to change certain things. This is the first time we have set the test papers with the multiple choice questions. I have got very good feedback from the parents. They are saying that this is wonderful. The teachers are very happy, they know where they are lagging behind. ASSET has empowered both the teachers and learners with a new set of skills to read critically, think and reason logically and solve complex problems. Mrs. Arundhati, Principal 7 Don Bosco School, Guwahati ASSET IMPACT It is now about seven years since we decided to make a journey together with ASSET in the field of testing and evaluation. I was prompted to do so for a number of reasons: ?The students of North-East need to be exposed to a larger environment and assess their abilities in relation to their counterparts in other places of the country. ?The philosophy and methods of testing and evaluation have been changing rapidly and we believe ASSET would help us to keep track with these changes. ?Our teachers, like most others, were trapped in the traditional patterns, some of which were even obsolete. ASSET, in a way, offers an indirect training programme to the teachers. ASSET has also been a kind of foundation for our students in their preparation for external proficiency examinations. It guides and dictates them in specifications of the performance abilities desired in candidates to be selected for technical, medical and other courses of studies. Fr. Joseph Thalekkat, Principal I have noticed an increasing enthusiasm of our students in ASSET’s All-India tests. We have received positive responses and appreciation for ASSET from students as well as teachers which have been published in our monthly journal Bosco Times. ASSET’s Everyday questions (AQAD) have been compiled up and are forming a kind of question bank on different subjects. Some of our teachers are using them usefully. The test generator has begun to attract the attention of our teachers. I am glad to see our teachers using the teacher sheets in the classrooms. These diagnostic tests are like our remedial classes and have been helping both the teachers and students to assess their strengths and weaknesses. La Martiniere Girls’ College, Lucknow Educational Initiatives approached us last year to take the ASSET test for the children of classes 3 to 8. We agreed to go ahead with all the children of classes 3 to 8 taking the test because then we would have an analysis regarding the whole class and a better comparative study could be done. Mrs. Farida Abraham, Principal The children appeared for English, Mathematics and Science tests which proved to be of great help as they tested a variety of skills in those subjects and how the children would apply them in solving the questions. The questions were both interesting and challenging for the children as they had multiple choice questions - something that the children were doing for the first time. They were also the kind of questions that would help the children in the competitive exams in their future life. The results of the test guide the children about their strong and weak skills in the three subjects. The overall result helps the teacher in strengthening the weak skills of the children.Therewasanimprovement in the overall result when the children appeared in the test for the secondtimein2009. test target 8 transform Sishu Griha School, Bangalore We, at Sishu Griha, do not believe in formal examinations and ASSET as a ASSET mode of assessment is in line with our requirement. ASSET, as a diagnostic tool, brings out the true sense of assessment. We definitely don't look at it as a short term goal but as a long term goal for continuous assessment. IMPACT ASSET has played a very important role in catering to skills such as logical thinking and analytical reasoning. ASSET has accepted the school feedback regarding the need for modifying their language MCQ papers to suit student needs all over the country, in a positive sense, and this has helped the students a great deal. Mrs. Sujatha Mohandas, Principal Our teachers utilise the ASSET reports effectively to help the students build upon their strengths and improve on their weaknesses. Students respond very enthusiastically to the tests and have gained from this experience. ASSET has prompted the teachers to introduce higher order thinking questions for their own internal question papers. Teacher sheets was a very good idea and has been used extensively by teachers on a regular basis to strengthen comprehension and application skills. Parents and teachers of Sishu Griha appreciate ASSET as a very useful diagnostic tool which will reflect on the academic achievement scores of the students in the long run. Children themselves have give a feedback saying it was great fun to tackle application based questions. T h e I C S E b o a r d r e co m m e n d s application based question and HOTS type questions. ASSET strengthens and consolidates on that, in paving Our school results are a clear indicator to this and have shown very good improvement year after year. On the student experience about the tests , the ASSET coordinator, Mrs. Madhulika Chandrakumar, says, “Students find Multiple choice type questions interesting and this prepares them adequately to face competitive exams in future. It also enables them to eliminate wrong choices and to choose the right option”. the path towards answering such type of questions by students. DLF School, Ghaziabad This is the fourth year that the students of DLF Public School, Ghaziabad have taken ASSET. Every year, after the test, the EI team helps the teachers to analyze the school performance and diagnose the areas for improvement. Using this information as well as other resources provided by EI, the teachers plan the curriculum/activities for the following year. School improvements triggered by ASSET... The questions being sent everyday have engendered curiosity in the students and have led to active discussions in the corridors of the school. These questions have led to a lot of peer interaction which is a potent form of learning. Mrs. Seema Jerath says, “We look at the ASSET questions very closely and peg the questions from the paper to the relevant lesson plan. These questions are either used as thought provoking shakers during the lessons or they are incorporated in the assessments designed for the lesson. Mrs. Seema Jerath , Principal We use ASSET data to identify the misconceptions that our students have and track the teacher sheets which will help to diagnose the specific concept that needs to be discussed in the class. The teachers study the teacher sheets and gain an insight on how to facilitate the discussion in the class. They sometimes check out the useful resources that are listed as a footnote in the teacher sheet. This saves time as teachers get the treasure without having to hunt for it. Our teachers and our students benefit from your research!” 9 The High Range School, Munnar ASSET IMPACT ASSET has been a diagnostic tool which truly tests the conceptual understanding in the subjects assessed. It has been comprehensive, in the sense that it covers all areas of assessment in the subject concerned. It is age and curriculum relevant and at the same time it is an evaluation system which is out of the books and very generalized. Some of the school children who were class toppers did not fare well in ASSET. We realized that the application level of these children was very poor. It has led to extra reading, more of hands on activities and HOTS questions for children, even in the primary school. Most of the parents thought the test was very well organized. They found the questions thought provoking and a barometer of the real understanding of the subject. Most importantly they were very happy with the ASSET score card which gave a detailed report on the child's strengths and weaknesses and measures to improve them. Mr. Santosh, Principal It has led to incorporation of multiple choice questions in the school exams for all the classes. The analysis report was not only helpful to the children but it also helped the teachers to plan their lessons well. It has helped the teachers to know the absorption level of each child with reference to various concepts in Science, English and Maths. Atmiya Vidya Mandir, Surat ASSET provides a definitive solution in identifying our academic deltas(gaps), which we leverage by catering to the individual learning needs of the student. Their detailed results also help our teachers understand their strengths and weaknesses and help them grow as professionals who can empower the leaders of tomorrow, today-one child at a time. Journey with ASSET so far Mr. Yogesh Raval, Principal The basic philosophy of education at Atmiya Vidya Mandir is to develop the innate critical and creative thinking capacities of children and ASSET has been our partner in helping us reach our goals. Our students have been taking ASSET once every year since 2006. The brains behind EI are genuinely interested in knowing, understanding and solving problems for students, teachers, parents and anybody who takes education seriously. Therefore, they design innovative end to end solutions to educational problems that provide us with a unique and authentic perspective of what needs to be done. Students find ASSET appealing The unique concept-based approach of ASSET has inspired our students to come up with original questions thereby leading to independent inquiry based learning. AQAD has resulted in more collaborative efforts by students in finding solutions to a tough problem. After our school ASSET results are declared, the individual subject teacher are given a week’s time to reflect upon the concepts they had delivered in the class which the student missed or did not understand after which a detailed root cause analysis report and improvement plan is prepared. test target 10 transform PERSONALISED STUDENT BOOKLET ASSET MyBook - Personalised Instructional Material The ASSET MyBook process begins with data from the ASSET diagnostic program that is done exclusively in schools. The data from the diagnostic program is used to develop personalised instructional material for each student based on her test results. The instructional material is delivered in the form of a printed “ASSET MyBook”. WHAT “ASSET MyBook” CONTAINS 1. An explanation of the skills and concepts that the student is weak in. 2. Four to six questions per skill/concept to deepen the student's understanding on the concept and to give the student practice for mastering the skill. 3. Explanations and answers to each question. BENEFITS 1. Delivers instructional content at an unprecedented level of personalisation to advance student learning 2. Sense of ownership for each child as the content is personalised and designed differently for each child 3. Offers a specific activity/ process for each child to follow after the diagnostic test so that the benefits of the diagnosis can be offered both at the class level (through work at school with teachers) and at the individual level (through the personalised instructional material). t sonalised bookle er p d se a -b n o ti Ques skills to improve the ROLL-OUT 1. After the scoring and analysis is done – the ASSET Analysis Program (AAP) identifies two skills per subject that the child is weak in. 2. Based on this identification – the Program then identifies specific questions that match the weak skills and compile the questions in the form of a customised list 3. ASSET experts explain the answers for each question so that after the student has worked with her ASSET MyBook – she can refer to the Answers and Explanations and strengthen her own understanding. 4. The ASSET MyBook is then compiled for all the subjects and printed (customised for each child). 5. The ASSET MyBook is then delivered to the students along with their customised analysis. 6. Teachers can work with individual students and discuss the questions or common weak skills and common misconception questions in the classroom. 11 TEST GENERATOR FOR TEACHERS Why “ASSET TEST GENERATOR” ? Designing and implementing a high-quality continuous assessment program is an important and challenging task for teachers. Apart from the balance that the teacher wishes to achieve in terms of question types, difficulty levels and topics, she also spends a lot of time actually “making” the paper. Through the “ASSET Test Generator” tool, teachers would find the task of generating high-quality customised tests, easier, faster and more enjoyable. WHAT DOES “ASSET TEST GENERATOR” DO? ASSET Test Generator is an online tool, that helps teachers to? Quickly build customised tests that are appropriate to the class and topics/ sub topics covered by the teacher. This tool can be used for unit tests, half-yearly tests, final exams or any kind of test. Tests are compatible with the curriculum of ICSE, CBSE, IGCSE, IB and state boards. ? All the common types of questions used in school tests are covered including 'fill in the blanks',' true or false', 'short answer' and 'multiple choice questions. ? Once the teacher specifies the 'parameters' like class, subject, topic and type of question, the system automatically generates questions for the test paper in an easy-to-use format. ? Teachers can choose questions of the appropriate difficulty level. ? The tool also gives flexibility to teachers, so that they can modify the questions generated, add their own questions, and allot marks to each question for the question paper. KEY BENEFITS ? Saves time in the construction of tests ? Offers teachers exposure to a wide variety of questions (designed by peers and experts) – expanding their own portfolio of potential questions for any topic/ sub-topic ? Helps teachers plan and design post-test remediation approaches while constructing the test – this helps integrate assessment into the teaching-learning process (from start to end) instead of leaving it as an “end of topic/ term” exercise ? Teachers can add their own questions to the database, thus allowing them to create a paper with a mix of internal and external questions ? Quality of test papers can be monitored and maintained across the school/ school groups by academic heads eliminating potential biases of teaching to the test ? Creates a platform that encourages sharing of “good” questions amongst a group of like-minded, progressive schools and their teachers ? Can provide benchmark data through the use of ‘benchmark’ questions from ASSET or other international standardised tests Test generator is available for English, Maths and Science test target 12 transform ANALYSIS ASSET is a unique diagnostic test that gives teachers and students specific feedback that helps them to improve the quality of learning. The analysis forms a critical component of the improvement process as it provides a clear picture which can be the basis for planning specific interventions. Analysis Best Practice The use of ASSET data has also evolved over the years. Schools that take ASSET regularly are seeking patterns in the data that can give them deeper insights. Some specific actions taken by schools are listed below. These can be termed as “BEST PRACTICES” related to ASSET Analysis. 1. To identify specific concepts that children across grades are weak in and to explore the possibility of one teacher teaching the same concept across 3 – 4 grades. Hence a teacher would teach the concept of Fractions, Decimals and Percentages for all sections in Grades 3 to 5 whereas another teacher would teach Basic Shapes, Angles and Patterns in the same sections. S N Kansagra School Group in Rajkot has been following this system for higher grade math teaching. 2. The teachers assess themselves on the skills that their children are weak in attempt a specially constructed paper with questions from ASSET that their class children are finding difficult 3. To “thread” a misconception/ weak skill across classes to check the misconception source by analysing the data across 3 – 4 grades as a group. To get to the source of the misconception, a lot of teachers are engaging their students in open-ended discussions related to the misconception. Teacher Sheets are being used as guides to keep the discussions on track. 13 Bird's Eye View Report Analysis for School and Teachers Class English Maths Science 3 82.66% - 78.26% 89.32% - 4 100.66% 100.33% 97.88% 5 90.34% 84.38% 91.75% 6 100.62% 93.30% 96.15% 7 104.87% 99.50% 96.88% 8 104.95% 105.05% 107.01% 9 112.57% 115.87% 107.96% 10 102.32% 101.78% 101.99% An overall look at the school’s performance gives us a picture of the school’s best practices and concern areas. Skill Performance Report Each ASSET Question has a skill mapped to it. Responses from students are collated and a class-wise skill performance report is generated. With this report one can easily identify the strong and weak skills of the entire class and take corrective action. Year-on-Year Analysis This is a comparison of ASSET performance of the school for two separate years, made on the request of the participating school. This report shows whether the school has improved in comparison with other schools and in its own performance. test target 14 transform Class Performance Table Analysis for School and Teachers A comprehensive map of all student responses in a class for a particular subject - useful to identify misconceptions. Questions Students found Difficult / Easy A quick indicator of 3 most difficult questions and 3 most easy questions for every class in each subject - helps teachers pick the questions for further analysis. Questions with Common Wrong Answers. Questions that are likely to have misconceptionshighlighted for use by the teachers. 15 Student Circular Skill Profile Chart Analysis for Students Core skills remain constant across classes 3-10 It shows the student's strengths and weaknesses across 12 comprehensive skill nodes in the 3 subjects of English, Maths and Science. Students Scorecard A question wise analysis that provides an immediate tool to check whether the child made a silly mistake or there was a mistake in understanding of concepts. test target 16 transform PAN Card Analysis for Students Jinaal Shah Permanent ASSET number English | Maths | Science | Social Studies | Hindi 906726155 C55 DOB: 19/12/1996 Permanent ASSET Number Card provides unique ASSET ID to track student performance across years. Student Strength/Weakness Analysis A detailed skill-wise break-up of each skill node sharing strong and weak skills. 17 ASSET WEEK WINNERS Good Shepherd English Medium School, Nandyal conducted a competition where students prepared ASSET type questions and put it into the ASSET question box. Winners were declared for the best questions. ASSET questions were used in the school quiz to improve the ability to handle analytical and application oriented questions. Vidya Vikas Academy, Margao made a graffiti- chart on “Why I like to do ASSET” where students freely expressed their ideas, with interesting thoughts like –“it helps us think and our brains won’t get rusted!”. Some students wrote an imaginative poems about ASSET. The efforts of the students were appreciated and some poems were chosen to be published in the annual school magazine. Delhi Public School, Bangalore East organized ‘ASSET CIRCLE TIME’ - where students sat in circles on the floor in the classroom and discussed the previous years’ question papers among themselves. These interactions helped them to have healthy debates while solving a problem posed to them. Sri Jnanakshi Vidyaniketan, Bangalore, conducted meetings for the discussion of teacher sheets. They also conducted a special session - a question from last year’s ASSET paper was selected, which most of the students had misunderstood. Students expressed how they thought, teachers analyzed the misconceptions and made a report. K PAT D h a r m a r a j N a d a r Rojapputhayammal Sivakasi Jaycees Mat. Hr. Sec. School, Sivakasi formed an ASSET committee in the school, which takes care of all ASSET related activitiesintheirschool.Theyarranged ‘Talent Quest’ programmes, in which students participated with interest. StudentsofclassesVIIIandIXcameout with charts and models relating to the various principles of science and discusseditwithothers. test target 18 transform The pre ASSET meeting though successful, left me with hundreds of questions about the previous year's ASSET results and our standing in comparison with our own school and schools across the nation. I rather found it difficult to understand and compare our own results. POST ASSET But the presentation that your team member made exploded all the myths and misconceptions I had. I really can assess my school's standing now. The teachers too are very clear about the ways to overcome their hurdles in the forthcoming years. I really am very satisfied with the POST ASSET ANALYSIS. - S. Chitra Jeyanthi, Jaycees, Sivakasi Till last year whatever services were offered by EI required the Principal to take it ahead and proved to be difficult because there were other responsibilities that the Principal had in the school. Now with the model of a core team, it will surely work and I am sure all services will get used. - Dr. Seethalakshmi Amrita Vidyalayam, Chennai We have got a positive response from the parents and got the suggestion that these kind of activities (ASSET Week) should be done so that it will be helpful to them in the future competitive world. Also, it will make their position strong and make them confident. Some of them had also demanded to make these kind of activities compulsory as they are helpful to improve critical thinking and decision making. - N. S. N. Matriculation Higher Sec. School, Chitlapakkam, Chennai The students are absolutely delighted with the AQAD Questions and they have begun to eagerly wait for the question next day. Some of them copy it down in their notebooks as soon as it is pinned to the AQAD board and are ready with the answer before the teacher walks into the classroom. Surprises, dime a dozen, were there to make the young and the not so young think from the morning till evening and later at home making everyone around too excited with a question or two. Students were thinking on their feet and forgot the daily routine of even wishing the teacher for the mind was ticking away to ask a question or answermanymore. - St. Mary's J. N. P. School, Navi Mumbai - Sri Shenbaga Vinayagar Matriculation School, Sivakasi ASSET dovetails very well with what the school offers in terms of methodology and content. This is what The Shri Ram Schools have always done and now we have a professional organisation that offers similar standards. - Ms Manika Sharma The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi We have received a positive response from our children as well as from their parents. We are very thankful to ASSET for providing wonderful mixing of Joy & Knowledge. - Rizvi Springfield School Mumbai The ASSET exam has worked very well for our school. Since it has been scientifically designed, after a lot of research and is tailored for the Indian school system, it works very well. However, unlike regular exams, it gives students a feel of what international exams are like, since it follows a similar pattern- testing skills and concepts, not merely book knowledge or rote memory! It also evaluates each student individually, providing a complete analysis of their strengths and weaknesses thus helping them realize their potential, while improving and bettering the problem areas. Not only students, even school administrators have a clear picture of school standards, since subject- wise, class-wise analysis is provided. Thus raising the general academic level in the institution is made that much easier. It has worked successfully for Vidyashram and students from Std III – X have proved to be rathergoodatthistestingsystem. - J Ajeeth Prasath Jain, Principal Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Chennai 19 SAMPLE PARENT LETTER Date: _________________ Dear Parents, ASSET – A DIAGNOSTIC SKILL BASED ASSESSMENT We are glad to inform you that Educational Initiatives (EI) – an Ahmedabad based research organisation, founded by a group of IIMAhmedabad alumni, is conducting a skill-based diagnostic assessment – ASSET. Over 2500 leading schools in India, Gulf and Singapore have partnered with ASSET over the past 8 years. Our school is planning to participate in ASSET for all our students as it will give our teachers detailed feedback along with a year-round school improvement program with specific ideas on helping our children in their learning and our teachers in improving their teaching methods. We would like ALL the students to participate from each class, so that the ASSET analysis can empower our teachers to consolidate strength areas and improve on specific areas of weakness and misconceptions (common to all students of a particular grade). The test is objective-multiple-choice type and the duration is between 45 minutes to an hour for each subject. No preparation is required as the tests are based on what the students have already learnt in the classroom. The fee for the test is Rs 350 for English, Maths and Science (Classes 3 to 10) and Rs 135 each for Hindi (Class 4 to 8) and Social Studies (Classes 5 to 10). This amount has been added to the fee structure itself to facilitate collection of the fees. It is also worth noting that Duke University (USA) which is one of the top 10 universities in the US has chosen performance in ASSET as one of its pre-selection parameters for its Duke Talent Identification Program (Grades 7 and 8). Duke TIP will reserve the right to choose schools and students and participation in ASSET does not mandate a pre-selection. More information is available on the Duke TIP website at www.tip.duke.edu/india Please visit www.ei-india.com for more information on how ASSET is helping children and schools across the country. We do look forward to your continued support towards the initiatives taken by the school in helping our children learn better. Yours truly, Principal test target 20 transform ® School Summary Form 2010 - Early Bird To, School Code WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH. PLEASE DO NOT HAND OVER ANY CASH TO OUR REPRESENTATIVE Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd. 613-615, JB Tower, Opp. Doordarshan, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad 380 054. Phone: 079-40269696 Fax : 079-26841400 (Leave blank if not known) For the items marked (*), please read the instructions overleaf carefully before filling. 1. SCHOOL NAME* 2. PHONE NO. 3. FAX STD Code 4. E-MAIL* 5. WEBPAGE If Any Name: Mobile: E-mail: 6. ASSET COORDINATOR (from School) Name: Mobile: E-mail: 7. PRINCIPAL 8. SCHOOL ADDRESS TOWN/CITY : 9. AFFILIATION BOARD PIN : TOTAL STUDENTS (Classes 3-10) LOWEST CLASS 10. TEST DATES (tick one) August 2-5, 2010 December 6-11, 2010 11. TYPE OF PARTICIPATION (tick one) Full School (All Classes 3 - 10) Full Class / Classes HIGHEST CLASS 12. DETAILS CLASS CORE SUBJECT (E, M, Sc) OPTIONAL SUBJECTS (SS, Hindi) Amount Rate Students SS Hindi N.A. Total Rate 3 350 N.A. 4 350 N.A. 5 350 135 6 350 135 7 350 135 8 350 135 9 350 10 TOTAL 350 (a) Amount 135 N.A. 135 N.A. 135 (b) (c) TOTAL AMOUNT *: Rs. (d=b+c) TEST ADMINISTRATION FEE (see table overleaf for percentage): Rs. (e) NET AMOUNT PAYABLE TO EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES ADVANCE PAYABLE @30% OF THE ABOVE Rs. (d-e) Rs. Please find enclosed (tick P one and fill) a Multi-City Cheque no. _____________ dtd ___/___/_____ for Rs. __________ drawn on__________________ Bank, _________ branch. a Demand Draft no. _____________ dtd ___/___/_____ for Rs. ___________ drawn on________________________ Bank, _________ branch. signed and stamped ICICI Bank Pay-In Slip dtd ___/___/_____ for Rs. ________________ of Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd's ICICI Bank account no. 006405000246. (PAN no. AAACE9834B.) PLEASE DO NOT PAY CASH. Date: EI WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CASH PAYMENTS MADE BY SCHOOLS. Principal / Coordinator's sign with school stamp NOTE : Incomplete forms will not be accepted. Last date of submission of the form is March 1st, 2010 for the Advance Registration Opportunity, Early Bird. INSTRUCTIONS for filling up the School Summary Form ® Thank you for registering for We request you to carefully read and follow these instructions which will help us process your registration quickly and in an error-free manner. General Instructions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Retain a copy of this form while submitting the original to Educational Initiatives (EI). The last date for submitting the form is as follows: Registration Last Date Registration date with advance payment Final Registration for Summer Round Final Registration for Winter Round March 1st, 2010 July 7th, 2010 September 30th, 2010 A test administration fee may be retained by the school to cover test administration expenses including invigilation charges, DD charges, courier/postage charges, etc as prescribed below. Please mention the school code (provided by EI if the school has taken ASSET earlier) in the space provided on the top right corner. Schools registering for the first time may leave the school code blank. Students should be charged Rs. 350 for the 3 core subjects and Rs. 135 each for the optional subjects (Social Studies and Hindi). Rs. 5,000 from the advance payment will be deducted if the test is cancelled or if the number of participating students falls below the eligibility slab. Full payment should be credited to our bank account so that we can ship the papers on time. Item-wise Specific Instructions: Item No. Special Instructions 1. Please fill the school name legibly in the blocks provided writing one letter per block. Leave a blank box between each word. The school name will appear on all certificates as written here, followed by the town name in brackets. 4. You will receive communications, automatic updates and dispatch details if you give an e-mail address. 11. Participation in the Advance Registration Opportunity has to be full class or full school only. Optional participation is not allowed in the Advance Registration Opportunity. 12. The test administration fee is calculated as a percentage of the total amount payable based on the number of students and date of registration. Use the table below to calculate the amount to be retained by the school as the test administration fee. TEST ADMINISTRATION FEE PERCENTAGES AND ARO BENEFITS STUDENTS REGISTERING FOR ASSET EARLY BIRD BENEFITS STUDENT RANGE 200-799 800 - 1599 1600 and above TEST ADMIN FEE 10% 10% 15% Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + Test Generator for the full school or Classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy) Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + [Test Generator for the full school or Classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy)] OR A Laptop worth Rs 25,000 Student Personalised Booklet (ASSET MyBook) + Test Generator for the full school or Classes participating in EMS for the year + AQAD via email + REP (2 visits) + Teacher Sheets (soft copy) AND A Laptop worth Rs 25,000 ADDITIONAL FREE BENEFITS FOR REGISTERING UNDER EARLY BIRD WITH 30% ADVANCE BEFORE MARCH 1st, 2010 Please do not pay by cash or local cheque. You may pay by multi-city cheque, or demand draft or deposit the amount directly into the Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd. ICICI Bank account No. 006405000246 in any ICICI Bank branch in your city. Multi-city cheques and demand drafts must be drawn in favour of "Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd."(payable at Ahmedabad). We believe that student learning can be significantly improved only through systematic research into learning which includes assessment, as well as areas like misconception research. The working paper series shares learnings from various past and present EI projects as well as path-breaking work in these areas elsewhere in the world. EI WORKING PAPER SERIES Working Paper 1 - ANNUAL STATUS OF STUDENT LEARNING Background: The Royal Education Council (REC), Bhutan partnered with Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd (EI) to carry out the 'Annual Status of Student Learning (ASSL)', a large scale assessment study for the school children of Bhutan. Key Findings: 1. The level of learning of Bhutanese students is lower than average international levels as represented by reputed international studies. 2. Children are learning certain basic concepts reasonably well, but there clearly are gaps in the learning of intermediate concepts across subjects. Working Paper 2 - STUDENT LEARNING IN THE METROS Background: How well are students in our 'top' schools learning? In order to try and understand this, Educational Initiatives (EI) and Wipro Ltd. conducted a research study in the 5 metros – Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore among the 30,000 students from 'top' 40 schools in 2006. However the larger goal was to take a critical issue - the quality of student learning - and to try and gain insights about it based, not on opinion or 'experience', but on hard data. Key Findings 1. Students across classes answer rote-based or procedural questions relatively well. The flip side of this, however, is that students seem to rely on memory or learnt procedures to answer almost all questions, rather than trying to think through and solve the unfamiliar ones. 2. Students are learning in 'compartments', i.e. they may be aware of two pieces of information, but often don’t know how they are related or how that relation works in a real life situation. 3. Apart from problems with learning strategies, a number of specific and clear 'common errors' exist in the different subjects. Since they are widespread, it should not be difficult for textbooks and teachers to specifically address these errors. Working Paper 3 – A personalized adaptive learning system for students Background: Studies conducted by Educational Initiatives (EI) indicate that the problem of poor learning standards affect almost all 'schools for the poor' – government-run as well as the so-called 'lowcost private schools.'The problem exists at two levels – one, students are often not developing even the basic literacy skills like reading, counting, etc. Two, the little learning that happens tends to be procedural or 'mechanical' learning – students are able to follow taught procedures but have not understood the underlying concepts. With the constant advancement in Technology, many e-learning solutions have been introduced to achieve quality at scale, but in reality the e-learning solutions tend to be technology-driven and educationally weak. We present here a solution – Mindspark - we believe is educationally-rich and technology-supported. It is a computer based, adaptive learning solution designed to allow the child to learn at her own pace and to serve, wherever possible, to supplement, not replace classroom teaching. The system is currently being used for Maths learning and early results have been very encouraging. A language Mindspark system is currently under development and trial. Mindspark Impact 1. A comparison of the pre- and post-test scores in the Mumbai trials shows a statistically significant positive improvement in student learning – an increase of over 34% on the existing learning base. The improvement in student scores in the Ratlam project was to the tune of 90% on an extremely low learning base. 2. Thesystem'sadaptivelogicallowseachchildtoworkatherownpacereinforcingthechild'sconfidenceandinterestinthesubject. 23 EI IN MEDIA test target 24 transform Questions trigger the children’s thinking process in an interesting way Greatly thrilled to find the questions they posed had even the teachers thinking for a while Educational INITIATIVES EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES PVT. LTD. (EI)’S BASKET OF OFFERINGS Head office: 613, J.B.Towers, Opp. Doordarshan, Drive-In Road, Ahmedabad - 380054 Phone: +91 79 40269696 Fax: +91 79 26841400 MindSpark: A unique computer-based self learning program which uses questions of gradually increasing level to help students gain mastery and confidence over key concept - automatically adjusting itself to the need and speed of each student; suitable for students of ICSE, CBSE andstateboardandiscurrentlyavailableinMaths. ASSET Online ® ABOUT EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES (EI) EI is now recognized as the leading organization working in the field of learning assessment in India and abroad. Its vision is “A world where children everywhere are learning with understanding”. The founding team of EI started and ran Eklavya School in Ahmedabad for several years. This experience and interactions with thousands of teachers, parents and principals told us that learning is often being equated today with marks in school tests and Board Exams. ASSET is our vehicle to change that, not by prescription, but by sharing information on what children are really understanding, how they tackle unfamiliar questions and indeed how well they are understanding. We believe that these are the skills that will be of crucial importance in the years to come. Based on our work in ASSET and large scale assessments over the last seven years, we have launched “Mindspark” in July, 2008 that actually helps students and schools improve learning. EI's team has experienced and dedicated teachers and professionals with strong backgrounds in school education. This background helps the team understand and implement solutions that are based on actual needs of schools, students and teachers. Bangalore Office: No. 97, 2nd Floor, Robertson Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore – 560 005 Tele: 080-64567049, 41237162 Delhi Office: A-252A, 3rd Floor, Lakshyadeep Plaza, Sant Nagar,East Of Kailash, New Delhi – 110 065 Tele: 011- 26462264, 40584952 Hyderabad Office: Flat No 401/A, Shri S.K.Vihar, H.No:3-4-578/1, B/S Sri Chaitanya College, Opp. Deepak Cinema, Narayanaguda, Hyderabad – 500029 Tele: 040 – 32419534 Mumbai Office: RH – 1, Sea coast - 2, Kille Gaothan, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai - 400 614 Tele: 022 – 32686329, 27561430 www.ei-india.com ASSET ® QUESTION - A - DAY ® National Question-Making Competition TEACHER SHEET ASSETOnline: Internet-based version of ASSET that can be taken at any time by students – available in 3 subjects for classes 3-10; provides detailed analysis of students' strength/weakness and benchmarking data with the peer group. ASSET Question-a-Day (AQAD): Sample ASSET questions sent to students by email on every working day so that they can test their understanding daily and learn from the right answers given the next day; available to all students taking ASSET. ASSET Question Making Competition (QMC): An annual competition for teachers at a national level to encourage good question-making habits, sharing of best practices and recognition of teachers and schools with good question-making skills. Teacher Sheet: Document made available 10 times a year per class/subject to teachers in schools who take ASSET, to highlight common misconceptions in Maths and Science and identify problems in reading comprehension in English – include reasons for asking the question, possible reasons for wrong answers, the gaps in student learning and some remedialmeasures. Student Misconception videos: Research documents in video-recorded format based on interviews with 2,500 students nationally on some basic concepts in Maths, Science and English – providing insights into "how do our children think?", jointly produced by EI and Wipro. TEEP Teacher Evaluation Program BHUTAN P R O J E C T TM WORKING PAPER SERIES Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Program (TEEP): A teacher observation based assessment program that involves a team of experts from EI observing and analysing the teaching process in a school. The objective is to offer actionable feedback to teacher to enhance teacher effectiveness in planning and execution. Bhutan Project: The Royal Education Council has engaged EI for three different projects - the Child Tracking System, the Annual Status of Student Learning and Teacher Needs Assessments. EI has also been given a 5-year project to help Bhutan set up an Assessment Institute. Google Project: A first-of-its-kind project embarked upon by EI with Google Org., to measure learning levels of government school children across 21 Indian states. It is an ambitious and complex exercise involving assessment of student achievement in classes 4, 6 and 8 in about 15 languages. Working paper series: We believe that significantly improved student learning can happen only through systematic research into learning which includes assessment, as well as areas like misconception research. The working paper series shares learnings from various past and present EI projects as well as path-breaking work in theseareaselsewhereintheworld.