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Students placed in the class have either had a difficult time passing the math TAKS test in
previous years, or (primarily) are 12th graders who have not yet passed the Exit Math TAKS
Test.

Once enrolled in the class the teacher should gather the following data and assemble it in
one large spreadsheet (in RRISD it can all be pulled from the Teacher Portal from the Online
Cumulative Folder Report)
- Full Student Name
- Student ID
- Current Grade
- Previous Grade
- Previous School
- Ethnicity and other codes (LEP, BIL, ESL, SpEd, 504, EOD, AR)
- Current interventions in place for student
- Previous interventions in place for student
- All previous TAKS scores (come from Online Cumulative Folder)
- Current and Previous Math courses, overall grades, and Pass/Fail on yearly
Benchmarks and MMA
- Most recent and previous TAKS scores by objective as a percent

At the first most possible opportunity the students should reflect on their own personal
previous TAKS scores using the m

   page (attached). By the students
completing this form themselves they become aware of their own personal strengths and
weaknesses that they need to work on. The m

  page allows the
students to determine their 3 lowest scoring objectives and thus helps the student identify the
three objectives they need to focus on first in their individual practice.

As the students are working through the necessary material to review and practice with their
lowest scoring objectives (material should be provided and easily accessible to the students)
the students need to be able to record their progress on the 


. It is highly
advised to have the students keep a folder and spiral in the classroom in a designated spot,
the 


m
  m and the students    
 
 should all be prominent in the folder. As the students progress through their work
they should be marking on their 


 for Mastered, for Not Mastered
and
for Mastered on Assessment in each cell themselves.

Since knowledge and understanding of math is not always what keeps the students from
passing the TAKS test adequate time should be spent in class going over how to take control
of the TAKS Test and how to overcome test anxiety.

Before setting up mock testing scenarios students should be taught how to take the TAKS
test in chunks. See the attached [m

 for a brief explanation of the
process as well as   m

 m for a more in depth explanation
and reasoning for the particular process.
To teach the students how to sort the TAKS test and which questions are which you will need
to do the following.
1) Copy the 3 previously released TAKS tests on different colored paper. You will
only need a class set.
2) Give the students the explanation of each category one at a time. For example the
Graphs and Tables section.
3) Have the students individually go through one released TAKS test, for example the
pink copy, and pick out the questions that have to do with Graphs and Tables.
4) Once the students have identified the questions they believe fall in the Graphs and
Tables group compare as a class and come to a unified decision.
5) Next to reinforce the questions that should be done in this ³chunk´ have the
students go through the next test, say the green one, and pick out the questions
that fall into the Graphs and Tables chunk.
6) Continue this pattern for the remainder of the ³chunks´.
7) The third test should be used in class the next day to practice and reinforce which
questions fall into each category.

To ensure the students remember the suggested ³chunks´ and what exactly would fall into
each ³chunk´ the students need daily practice. By simply printing a few random pages from
the released TAKS tests and having the students sort four to five pages of questions each
day the students should be able to maintain the necessary information.

i



When the students¶ results come in after they have been informed by their counselor if they
passed or failed I give the students their results by objective and have them complete the
m

    
  . This helps the students see where their growth
was and where they may still need to work and to see if anything else needs to be address
such as test anxiety.
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 1. Process trumps Content.
a. We have been improving the content part of TAKS preparation for the past
several years. So, now the bigger issue is process. Keep doing everything we
are currently doing with the content, and add a process that will stop fatigue and
overwhelm.

2. Cause is greater than effect.

a. The student takes control of the TAKS Test instead of the Test controlling
them.

3. Law of Requisite Variety

a. Whoever is the most flexible controls the system. So the students learn
flexibility with HOW they take their TAKS Test, and their Teachers learn
flexibility with how we teach them the process.

4. Chunk and Sequence

a. Chunk the material at a gradient where it is impossible to not succeed. Master
one category at a time.

5. Pattern Interrupt
a. To stop defeatism and lack of excellence that the student may have encoded,
we interrupt their pattern of not success, changing it to success. Use the 3
times rule. Let them practice flipping through the Test. 3 Released TAKS
Tests, 8 categories, they will take control of the Test and actually like it. (Will
even practice the breaks. Light off and heads on their desks for 5 minutes.)

6. Fractionation
a. Working 20 to 30 minutes and then taking a 10 minute break, drives the
concentration level deeper, each and every time they go back to work on the
next category. Fractionation is used by sports psychologists, as in this partial
definition.
Fractionation
The second Performance Hypnosis principle is fractionation.
Fractionation is the hypnotic principle which states: if a person is in a
heightened state of trance (absorption) and is interrupted, when allowed
to return to the trance state then the depth of the trance will be even
more powerful. This is a great principle to understand in athletic
performance because there will be many challenges in the game which
could pull the athlete out of ³the zone.´

7. Keys to An Achievable Outcome (attached)

a. If the questions on number 9 are processed by a student, it tends to drive the
goal unconscious, and increases the chances for success.
 
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