How USATestprep Supports Higher Level Learners

Students fall into a wide range of learning styles. While schools nationwide continue to fight back against learning loss due to COVID, there are students who continue to operate at high learning levels. Schools and districts need ways to support these students and help bolster their progress.

The state standards-aligned Progress platform by USATestprep is effective at helping both low and high-performing students. Below, we focus on strategies you can use to keep your high-achieving students motivated and engaged--and always making forward progress.

Strategy #1: Independent Student Practice

Students can go to their page and make their own choices on what to work on.

• Students can follow their own individual learning path working from their subject area practice page.
  • Example: Variation of the Green Dot Challenge: Suggest having students work on one standard a day that did not receive a green dot.
• Students can work through a variety of scaffolded activities to practice and review standards.
• USATestprep also has built-in accommodations including audio-read aloud and Spanish translation if needed.

Strategy #2: Enrichment

If your school uses USATestprep across grades, you can pull in upper-grade resources to assign to your students.

• All teachers have full access to any USATestprep course purchased by their school.
• Students can also work up or down a grade if they would like. If your school has access to other grade levels or content areas. (For example: a 4th-grade student wants to practice 5th-grade content.)
• Assign the work as part of their curriculum, or as extra credit.

Strategy #3: Star Challenge

Teachers can set goals based on the lowest-scoring standards to earn the star instead of just a green dot, which signifies mastery of a standard.

• This is a variation of independent practice.
• Look at your progress reports for the year and locate the lowest areas for the class and then look at the skills they will need to have for next year.
• Encourage students to work through the entire standard until they get a star in order to demonstrate full mastery of the standard.

Strategy #4: 2+ Assignment Grouping

Build a course of activities for students to work on at their own pace, which is located in the assignment builder.

• Incorporate a variety of activities and assignments in the order you want them completed.
• Add some fun by adding a game in the middle or at the end.

Strategy #5: Author Your Own Questions

Within your Favorites tab, develop specific questions that offer more rigor for higher-level learners.

• Create multiple-choice and free-response questions.
• Customize questions by domain, standard, and DOK level.
• Add images, passages, and prompts.
• Easily add your questions to any assessment.

More Blogs to Check Out:

5 Things Every Parent/Guardian Needs to Know About USATestprep

How Will You Measure Learning Gaps When Kids Return to School?

USATestprep Summer Housekeeping Checklist