Texas Mathematics Teacher Spring/Summer 2020 - 31

Cumulative Exam Review in Upper Secondary Mathematics Classrooms:
Observations on Best Practices

Part of the reason for offering sessions in varied
locations was to introduce students to different study
environments. I hoped to provide my students with
equity of access to educational opportunities. According
the American Psychological Association (2018), students
from low socioeconomic status households, like my
students, have fewer academic opportunities and
experience slower academic growth than their more
affluent peers. By providing students with access to
different study environments, I hoped to help give them
more ideas about ways to succeed academically.
In order to implement Saturday study sessions,
considerations must be made in terms of permissions,
costs, and school and district support. When my students
travel to study sessions organized by the district, the
district math department provides a bus to transport
students to other campuses. This requires the standard
parental permission that would be in place for any
school trip. When I alone organize a Saturday session,
I host the session either on my campus or in a public
location within walking distance of campus. For sessions
on campus, I choose days when the building is already
opened and students are allowed to be on campus, which
results in no additional cost or permissions required other
than my time. For sessions off campus, since they are in a
public location, students are free to join me to study at any
time during the session. Students are free to bring parents
to these sessions or to attend on their own. The session is
not school sponsored.
In addition to Saturday sessions, I offered targeted daily
tutoring at lunch and after school during the review unit.
The tutoring topic of the day was printed on the students'
review calendar. Choosing a specific tutoring topic gave
students more of a reason to attend tutoring. Students
knew that there was a specific aim for each tutoring
session that was more defined than simply being able
to ask questions (though questions about any topic are
welcome). Another goal of this tutoring structure was to
attract multiple students who had the same questions to
come to the same tutoring session. This goal succeeded
in providing students with the opportunity to collaborate
with one another to get their questions answered.

Part 3: Goals for Student Outcomes
The elements of cumulative review described in this
article all come together to serve the centralized purpose
of crafting a review unit centered around desirable
student outcomes on high-stakes end-of-year tests,
including AP and IB exams, STAAR EOC exams, as well
as semester exams. The goals for student outcomes from
such a review relate to both academic and behavioral
progress. My review unit was also designed to give
students choice and agency in the process of reviewing
for a high-stakes, cumulative exam, be that an AP test,
an EOC, or a semester exam. During such a review unit,
the teacher serves as a facilitator while the students take
center stage. At this point in a course, students would
have seen all of the material previously, so activating
their prior knowledge with high impact activities and
questioning is the primary responsibility of the teacher.
The ultimate motivation during this portion of the course
should come from the students themselves. The teacher
needs to help keep students focused, but students need to
be the ones who want to perform to their best ability on
the high-stakes assessment.
Finally, cumulative review is the best time for students
to make broad connections between multiple course
concepts. Making connections allows students to achieve
higher levels of cognition. Connecting an entire year's
worth of content cannot be achieved until the end of the
year because not all course topics have been covered
until that time. This means that cumulative review time
is the best and perhaps the only time to allow students
to practice questions that truly require them to access
information from the entire course.
Overall, a successful cumulative review has the potential
to be impactful for students on many levels. Students have
the opportunity to set goals and be self-determinative
in their learning. The teacher can set students up to
make informed choices about reviewing the topics most
important to them individually. In addition, lessons can
be tailored to meet the needs of individual students. A
valid, viable, and invigorative cumulative review unit
is the best way to set students up for success on a high
stakes test, and review best practices are a means to
achieve that end.

The teacher needs to help keep students focused, but
"students
need to be the ones who want to perform to
their best ability on the high-stakes assessment."

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