Math problem-solving assessment

Students in 3rd – 5th graders will be taking a math problem solving assessment in the next few weeks if they haven’t already taken it. This is a district assessment that asks students to show their thinking about how they solved the math problem given. Even if they ultimately get the wrong answer they can get partial credit for showing that they had the right idea of “how” to figure out the problem. The students also need to “verify” their answer. It is a good assessment that helps us know what students are thinking. Please let the kids know that they need not be stressed about this assessment because at this time of year it just gives us as much information about what they don’t know as well as what they do know. Kids often have difficulty knowing which operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division) to use and it takes a great deal of practice and problem solving to figure it out. The following website should take you to the section of the ODE website that gives you information about the math expectations by grade level.