Testing, Testing
Click here for information on the CWRA, a test that 9th graders will be taking next week. I will post information on Final Exams (scheduled on May 20-22) next week.
Dear Parents,
I wanted to let all of you know about an assessment we are planning to give to the freshmen next week during a study hall block. It is called the College and Work Readiness Assessment, and it is a test that our students are taking annually in their 9th and 12th grade years. (Seniors took the test in March.) The purpose of the CWRA is to measure students’ abilities as problem solvers. Developed by the Council for Aid to Education, the CWRA is designed to “help your school learn how well your students are learning how to think critically, reason analytically, solve problems, and write well. You will also be participating in an ongoing national project building a database of information about teaching higher order skills to prepare students for college, and for life.” Every student is given a complex scenario that needs to be solved creatively, accounting for a number of variables as they write their responses.
Below please find a sample question from a previous version of the test.
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You are the assistant to Pat Williams, the president of DynaTech, a company that makes precision electronic instruments and navigational equipment. Sally Evans, a member of DynaTech's sales force, recommended that DynaTech buy a small private plane (a SwiftAir 235) that she and other members of the sales force could use to visit customers. Pat was about to approve the purchase when there was an accident involving a SwiftAir 235. You are provided with the following documentation:
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1: Newspaper articles about the accident
2: Federal Accident Report on in-flight breakups in single engine planes 3: Pat's e-mail to you & Sally's e-mail to Pat 4: Charts on SwiftAir's performance characteristics 5: Amateur Pilot article comparing SwiftAir 235 to similar planes 6: Pictures and description of SwiftAir Models 180 and 235 |
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Please prepare a memo that addresses several questions, including what data support or refute the claim that the type of wing on the SwiftAir 235 leads to more in-flight breakups, what other factors might have contributed to the accident and should be taken into account, and your overall recommendation about whether or not DynaTech should purchase the plane.
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The entire test is done on-line and takes about 100 minutes (including registration). The CWRA doesn’t “count” the way an SAT or ACT does in terms of the college admission process; it is for our internal use as a high school. As you have no doubt heard by now, we are emphasizing problem solving and critical thinking even more than ever this year and will continue to do so. So the CWRA will become an effective tool for us to measure our effectiveness in this area.
We have been asking all of our freshman class to take this assessment in the fall as well. Their performance helps provide a baseline for us to use in future years. Presumably our 9th grade students will do better (even accounting for natural maturity and development) on this assessment when they are seniors, especially after having been asked to take this sort of approach to issues and problems in their academic courses at CA.
This test has been recommended as an important 21st century teaching tool by both Tony Wagner in his book The Global Achievement Gap and by Pat Bassett, the President of the National Association of Independent Schools. Colorado Academy is one of only three high schools in the state to offer this assessment.
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