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West Side Academy Swag Challenge

West Side Academy Swag Challenge. Lenora Crawford Johns Hopkins University Graduate Student. What will you see?. A review of standardized test preparation/mentoring program using technology at an urban alternative high school. Alignment. ISTE Program Theme and Strand

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West Side Academy Swag Challenge

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  1. West Side Academy Swag Challenge Lenora Crawford Johns Hopkins University Graduate Student

  2. What will you see? • A review of standardized test preparation/mentoring program using technology at an urban alternative high school.

  3. Alignment • ISTE Program Theme and Strand • Digital Age Teaching and Learning • ISTE Strategic Objective: Leverage expert resources and established networks to foster engaging, rigorous, and relevant education • NETS-A Standard 2: Digital Age Learning

  4. Background Information • West Side Academy • Alternative high school • Detroit, Michigan • Low standardized test scores • Transient student population

  5. The Bright Idea • The principal encouraged the testing team co-chairpersons, Kesha Reeves and I, to develop a program that targets students who would be sitting for the state standardized test, the Michigan Merit Exam (MME), and provide test preparation assistance for this group of students outside of the classroom. Thus, the WSA Swag Challenge was created.

  6. Why “Swag Challenge”? • According to many of our students the definition of swag, or swagger, is a person’s style: the way they walk, talk, and dress. • They tend to look at entertainers, specifically rappers, as people who embody ultimate swagger.

  7. Make it Relevant to Students Lives • We figured we could motivate students if we could somehow integrate the amount of swagger one has to how well they could prepare themselves for the upcoming MME testing session in March.

  8. Mentoring Teams • Students were asked to select an instructional staff member as a mentor. • Each staff member and their mentees make up a team. • Three to ten students per team.

  9. Meet and Greet • We then held a meet and greet where teams got a chance to converse, exchange contact information and select a team name. • At this meeting we also introduced the Study Island web-based program that students would be using to earn points towards winning individual and group prizes.

  10. Study Island • Study Island is state standards based learning program that allows students to enhance their knowledge of content that will be included on the MME. • Teams were told that new lessons would be introduced every week and points would be given for lesson mastery (scoring 70% or better on a lesson). • Extra points would be given if all team members completed the lesson assigned for a given week.

  11. Study Island • Students are able to study at their leisure at any location where web access is available. • All information presented to students is aligned with state standards and is presented in multiple formats as a means to actively engage students in learning.

  12. How do they compete? • Each mentoring teams had the opportunity to earn points based on proposed challenges (for example, sitting for practice ACT sessions, attending after school or Friday tutoring, completing Study Island lessons, etc.).

  13. Structure of the Swag Challenge • We decided to correlate the number of points earned each week with a particular rapper. • Ten rappers were selected, from coolest to lamest, and their pictures were posted in the main hallway. • Students’ names were posted underneath the name of the rapper whose point range they fell under.

  14. Structure of the Swag Challenge • Points would be tallied every week and posted for the entire school population to view. • Participating students strived to be listed under the rappers name with the most swagger, hence the name WSA Swag Challenge.

  15. Outcomes • Student participation on the Study Island program increased as the Swag Challenge went on.

  16. Study Island • On average, students who completed Study Island lesson online scored higher on the ACT and MME exams than their peers who did not.

  17. Outcome We were able to successfully utilize the online tutorial program Study Island as a strategy to assist students in building upon their knowledge of core curriculum content in efforts to increase student achievement on standardized tests

  18. More Information • Check out Study Island’s Website: www.studyisland.com

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