Statewide science assessments are a crucial part of the US education system. Whether you are a teacher or a parent, your goal must be to ensure that your students or children have the best chance of success at these assessments. This is where our platform comes into play. Video Guru is a website that offers ad-free science videos for each grade of the elementary school, tied as closely as possible to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In this blog post, we will walk you through how you can use our platform to prepare your students for the state science assessments and help them succeed in their academic endeavors.
What are statewide science assessments?
All the states in the US conduct statewide science assessments at elementary-, middle-, and high-school level. Whether the assessments are paper based or online, all statewide assessments aim to measure students’ achievement of the NGSS or Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS). At elementary school level, this assessment is conducted in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade, depending on the state that’s carrying out the assessment. Education commission of the states has nicely presented comparison of the science assessments grades and/or end-of-course requirements of each state on their website.
Why are these assessments important?
In case you are wondering why these assessments are very important, here are five key benefits of state assessments:
- Teachers can assess students’ knowledge and skills, identify their strengths and weaknesses, as well as improve their test-taking techniques.
- Teachers and parents are provided with valuable information regarding their students’ or children’s academic progress. This allows them to tailor instructions and support accordingly.
- It can be checked whether students across different learning environments (online or remote learning) are meeting state learning standards.
- Addressing concerns and misconceptions about state assessments can be an opportunity for personal growth for students.
- Outcomes from these assessments can help students in identifying their personal interests and pursue them through their middle school and high school years.
How can video learning help in state assessments’ preparation?
Practice tests are the gold standard when it comes to preparing students for assessments. However, teachers and homeschoolers can also use videos to prepare their students for statewide science assessments. Videos are not only helpful in presenting complex course content, but also allow students to review content and revisit difficult topics. That said, studies have shown that short video clips are great for efficient memory recall. Moreover, videos convey information through both audio and visual channels, thereby allowing a multi-sensory learning environment.
How can Video Guru help?
Whether your students are taking the California Science Test (CAST), NY State Science Test, or any other state exam, Video Guru is here to help! Let us demonstrate with an example.
Video Guru’s fifth-grade life science videos section includes several videos that may help students’ in understanding the food chain; producers, consumers, and decomposers; and energy flow in an ecosystem. Students benefiting from our platform can solve these questions in a breeze.
Testimonial
Our spirits to serve the academic community were boosted by a recent review we received on Video Guru’s TPT store. Stacey Martin (TPT Seller) shared valuable feedback highlighting his experience using Video Guru for CAST preparation.
“Wonderful videos! Our 5th graders take the CAST science test each year. Before the test, the 5th grade teachers host SCIENCE DAYS where each teacher focuses on the most important standards to review in science stations. We used your videos as an intro or follow up. Thank you!!”
Do you have any feedback regarding our platform? Let us know at https://videoguru.com/about/!
References
Columbia Virtual Academy. (2022, November 16). Five Reasons State Assessments are Important – Columbia Virtual Academy. Columbia Virtual Academy. Retrieved May 8, 2023, from
