Develop an understanding of the different types of assessments in the StrongMind Curriculum

Notes: Depending on the grade level and content, you may see a variation in the type of assignments within the course.

Related Article: Exempt a Student from an Assignment, Manage an Assignment's Settings, Adding a Rubric to an Assignment

Inline Questions

• 1-3 Ungraded items embedded within direct instruction.
• Used for no stakes student practice. Students can review content before responding.
• Each distractor provides feedback to students to help guide them to why each answer is correct or incorrect and lead them to the correct answer.

Workbooks

• Included in courses for grades 6-12.
• 2-3 Graded Items.
• Activity level question assessment - multiple choice/answer, fill in the blank, matching, true/false
• Infinite number of attempts.
• Answer options are randomized with each attempt.
• Feedback is provided to provide clarification and help guide students to the correct response.
• Located in certain activities within each lesson; submitted only after last question is answered.

Guided Practice

• Included in courses for grades K-5.
• 2-3 Graded Items.
• Activity level question assessment - multiple choice/answer, fill in the blank, matching, true/false
• Infinite number of attempts.
• Students can check their answers and view the feedback provided to guide them to the correct response before submitting.
• Located in following direct instruction to check for understanding.

Checkpoints

• Included in courses for grades 3-12.
• Approximately 5-10 questions per checkpoint. 
• Graded assessment used as a quiz at the end of a lesson.
• Lesson level question assessment - multiple choice/answer, fill in the blank, matching, true/false, drag and drop, etc.
• 3 attempts by default - teacher can provide more at their discretion, and feedback is provided after the submission is scored and recorded.
• Questions are randomly selected from a questions pool with each attempt, and answers are randomized with each attempt.
• Located at the end of the first 4 lessons of each unit.

               

Exams

• Approximately 10-12 questions (Grades K-5), 20-30 Questions (Grades 6-12).
• Unit level question assessment - multiple choice/answer, fill in the blank, matching, true/false.
• 1 attempt by default - teachers can provide an additional attempt at their discretion.
• Questions and answers are randomized for each student, and with each attempt.
• Located at the end of the 5th lesson of each unit.
• No feedback is provided for students.

Discussions

• Offered in Courses for Grade 6-12.
• Teacher graded assignments and are worth 100 points by default.
• Students can submit multiple posts within one discussion board and comment on other student's responses. 
• The teacher can create their own rubric, if school policy allows.
• Teachers can indicate the requirement for students to submit their own response before responding to other student's posts by editing the assignment settings.

Projects

• Typically 1-2 Per Semester.
• Learning is "chunked" to help pace. 
• May have many entry points, but only one grade in the gradebook. Teachers have the option of adding submission assignments to check for understanding and accountability throughout. To learn how to create an assignment, go here. 
• The following are the various project types that students may encounter:
  • Simple essay
  • Writing project
  • File upload – audio file, video, PowerPoint, Word document, PDF etc.
  • Question assessment
• Some courses incorporate “Project Steps” which presents teachers an opportunity to monitor
  progress though a multi-unit process without detracting from the project percentage pool. For
  example: the research and rough draft components are tied to a gradebook category called
  “Project Steps” while the final project is tied to the regular “Project” category ensuring the final
  draft of the project is worth more than each individual step in the process. Therefore, the student receives a less significant grade for the work they complete without it having it negatively impact the final project’s grade. The “Project Steps” category might be worth 5% while the “Project” category could be worth 15%. This makes the project worth 20% of the student’s final grade with the majority of the grade coming from the final product.