What's all this "stuff" you write on the tests and quizzes Mrs. M?

In the months to come, the boys and girls will be bringing home all kinds of goodies to share with you. To assist parents in understanding how the different questions on tests, quizzes and other assignments are scored, I'll write things in the margins. Because sometimes the score itself doesn't tell you everything,  I like to write these notes to help everyone understand the test results.  It also helps us to track any patterns in a child's work and other test performance observations.   

Here's how my notes work: 

w/a means the child completed the question "with assistance". This type of assistance might mean a prompt to help move thing along or other minor support to help the child to be successful. It means that some level of support was required, but not to the extent to where I sat down with the child and we worked through it together. 

s/b/s  means the child and I completed the question "side-by-side" This means the child required significant support to complete the task. 

What do the minutes at the bottom of a page mean? 

I often like to record the amount of time it took a child to complete a task, especially when extra time is provided.  This helps us to monitor the child's use of class time and can be useful when citing any strategies that assist a child in being successful. 


Other anecdotal information might also be recorded on the test/assignment.  Information that is for you and I is typically in cursive writing. Note to the child are in printing.  

Because of all my notes and what-nots, the test may look a bit messy by the time it comes home, but it's very helpful for me in terms of getting to know my students as learners and identifying their strengths and needs.