USATestprep Green Dot Challenge™ Gets Students Excited for Learning

“Challenge accepted.”

That was Spartanburg Prep’s Assistant Principal Hannah Keever’s response after learning about our Green Dot Challenge™ at the Greenville, SC In It to Win It Fall 2019 workshop.

What is "The Green Dot Challenge™?"

Broken down by standard, the Green Dot Challenge is a way for teachers to individualize a student's learning. Through progress monitoring and one-on-one conferences, teachers and students are able to identify areas a student should focus on. Personalized goals are developed and the student becomes accountable for their own learning. Students can access the practice (even at home) without the teacher having to create an assignment. Through questions, vocabulary terms, videos, and even puzzles, students work at their own pace to increase their number of correct answers and green dots.

Standards-Aligned Content

Last year was the first year USATestprep was implemented at Spartanburg Prep. Keever discloses that the school primarily used the platform for benchmarks and test prep. After the workshop, however, the educators and Keever have a much firmer grasp on the individualization and data pieces offered within the platform, including how to successfully utilize the Green Dot Challenge.

Keever places a strong emphasis on student performance on state and national tests. “What I love is how much USATestprep emphasizes standards-aligned content and I wanted to learn more about what it could do for my school,” she explains.

More Than Just Test Prep: Data-driven Learning

With the second full year of using USATestprep in play, Spartanburg Prep’s utilization has ramped up in the best way possible.

We asked Keever what the best take away from the workshop was aside from the Green Dot Challenge.

“We were unaware of USATestprep’s full capabilities, including how data-oriented it is for teachers. Three other teachers and I were excited to take back the knowledge we learned about instant remediation, how to analyze each student’s strengths and weaknesses, and how easy it is for each teacher to get an overall score of how each of his or her grades are performing.”

Even before the workshop, Keever reveals that they were able to visibly see growth from pretest to posttest.

“It’s crazy to see,” exclaims Keever. “They start taking a test and get 30% and then after completing vocab practice, playing games, and watching the videos they end up with a 90-100%!”

How The Green Dot Challenge™ Is Making a Difference

Returning to school after the workshop, Keever was excited to start implementing the Green Dot Challenge™. She expects the challenge to be a game-changer for Spartanburg Prep. Keever’s plan: “Each grade has a huge data wall in the hallway with a list of each standard they have learned throughout the year. Once each student receives a green dot or star on a specific standard, they put a sticker under each standard. At the end of the school year, each winning grade level will be rewarded with a pizza and a movie party for the students. The teachers win two extra hours of planning during the party. Displaying the data wall and making it a competition is a win-win!”

But perhaps the best part about the Green Dot Challenge implementation in Spartanburg Prep is the students' enthusiasm.

“After presenting the challenge to the kids, they started cheering and clapping,” confirms Keever. “They love it! Every time they see me in the hall they get excited and run up to tell me about the green dots and stars they have already earned. It’s awesome!”

As for that “Challenge accepted,” Spartanburg Prep is about to blow their SC READY and SCPASS scores out of the water with the advanced individualized learning, enrichment, and custom remediation strategies Hannah Keever and her fellow teachers are bringing into the classrooms.

Keever’s final word on the subject: “I fully believe in USATestprep! It is a great tool to use as an administrator and as a teacher. It has had a positive impact on our school for sure!”

Thanks, Assistant Principal Keever! Good luck to you and all your students and (hint-hint!) we’d love a picture of all those data walls at the end of the semester!