Connecticut Mastery Test (getting ready for third grade)

CMT Primer

What are the CMT’s used for anyway?

Since 1985, Connecticut public schools have been administering a test to nearly every 4th, 6th, and 8th grader (this year it expanded to 3rd – 8th). The test is an assessment of reading, writing and mathematics. Each student will be compared to an objective standard that the state has set for that grade level. This is actually an important distinction: most of the other standardized tests that you and I may have taken in grade school were designed to compare one student to another. The reports come back telling you that you are “smarter” than 52% of students nation-wide. Questions in those tests are designed to discriminate between students and get progressively harder.

The CMT is also rigorous, but everything on the test is based on what we have decided as a state are the most important learning objectives for 3rd through 8th graders. It is also not all multiple choice. Students are asked to demonstrate how they are getting the answers they are, write the reasons why they have chosen a particular answer, and create charts and graphs. They are also asked to write on a particular topic, which is then scored as a first draft of a piece of prose. The student’s answers are then compared to what we expect students to know. The questions are chosen based on what will best demonstrate that knowledge. Your student’s report will say in both general and specific terms how well your child was able to demonstrate his or her knowledge of many of our grade level objectives.

That is not to say that I am completely satisfied with the CMT. It takes 7-9 hours of our instructional time and still relies too heavily on multiple-choice answers. It is still only a snap-shot of what that particular student was able to demonstrate on that particular day. The writing section does not take into account many of the attributes of good writing that we also want our students to pay attention to: spelling, punctuation, legibility. And there is always a danger in our zeal to make sure students are well prepared that we, as teachers, make choices in instruction that do not call for creativity and deep-thinking. (Though most research says that the more creativity and opportunities for students to think that we use in our classroom, the better students will do on mastery tests.)

With the amount of effort, energy and money put into the CMT, we are left with the question: What should we do with the information we get? Our results come back in the summer, so we can’t use the information to make instructional decisions for individual children. However, we can use it to take a look at where our instruction is compared to our district goal for at least 80% of our students at the state goal. We then can set school goals for improvement, change our curriculum materials if necessary and plan professional development opportunities for our teachers. We can track our school’s trends over time to see how the changes we make are affecting the school and look at an individual’s progress toward meeting state curriculum objectives.

The Connecticut Mastery Test is a blunt instrument. Our best practices for improvement with individual students will always be a caring teacher working with students and using her or his own assessments to monitor and adjust for each child. Yet, the CMT is also a powerful agent for pointing us in the right direction so that we ensure that our students are ready for the next level of instruction. Authored by Shawn Parkhurst August 2011

Visit TestPrepFun for games to build your child's skills in preparing for the CMT

MATH RESOURCES

CMT Math Blueprint including test items and vocabulary
Grade 3 Math CMT RESOURCES
Grade 3 Math Practice
View CMT Math Strands
View CMT Math Standards

CMT Math Review Practice

LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES
CMT Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) Practice
CMT Writing Scoring Workshop
CMT Reading Strands - Specific Questions
CMT Reading Strands

Reading Concepts from the state of Connecticut's on-line resource the Language Arts Handbook:

1. Determine the main idea (nonfiction) or theme (fiction) within the text.

What is this article mainly about?

Which sentence best states the main idea of the article?

What important lesson does __________ (insert character's name) learn in this story? Use examples from the story to support your answer.

What is the section of the article called "___________" mainly about? Use information from the article to support your answer.

What is the main idea presented in the article? Use information from the article to support your answer.

2. Identify or infer important characters, problems, settings, events, and details.

What is ________ (insert character's name) main problem in the story?

Where does this story probably take place?

Which word best describes ________ (insert character's name)?

The first paragraph is mostly a description of ________.

3. Select and use relevant information from the text in order to summarize events and/or ideas in the text.

What important facts about _________ have you learned from this article? Use details from the article to explain why those facts are important.

Explain why ______________ (include a situation from the passage). Use information from the story to support your answer.

How does ___________ (insert character's name) change in the story? Use details from the story to explain your answer.

Briefly summarize the main events of the poem/story in the order that they occur.

Explain how _____ (insert character's name) life has changed. Use information from the article to support your answer.

4. Use information from the text to make a prediction based on what is read.

If the author added another paragraph to the end of the story, it would most likely have described the _________.

What will _________ (insert character's name) probably do next?

According to the article, "_______________" (insert title), which of these is most likely to happen?

If the author added a section on _____ (insert topic) to the passage, it would most likely describe ________.

5. Use information from the text to make a prediction based on what is read.

Based on information in the article, which of these is mostly likely to happen?

6. Use context clues to determine meanings of unknown or multiple-meaning words.

Read this sentence from the story. ______ (insert sentence). Which word means about the same as ______ in the sentence above?

(Insert vocabulary word) _______is probably another way of saying______.

7. Identify or infer the author's use of structure/organizational patterns.

Paragraph _________ contains

A. a definition.

B. a comparison.

C. a description.

D. an opinion.

In paragraph_______ the author

A. states his or her main idea and gives examples of it.

B. asks a question and answers it.

C. states the opposite of what the author believes.

D. gives details and states the main idea later.

8. Identify or infer the author's use of structure/organizational patterns.

The chart below shows some facts about sharks and whales. What is another difference between sharks and whales?

9. Identify or infer the author's use of structure/organizational patterns.

1. Where or when does this story take place?

2. Which of these events belongs in box 2?

3. Based on what you've read, which of these belongs in box 4?

4. Name the most important characters that appear in the passage.

10. Use stated or implied evidence from the text to draw and/or support a conclusion.

Which sentence can be supported with information in the story?

With which statement would the author probably agree?

What type of person do you think ____was? Use details from the passage to support your answer.

Do you think ____ can be described as ____? Use details from the story to explain why you do or do not think so.

11. Make connections between the text and outside experiences and knowledge.

Think about someone who did something courageous.

Tell how that experience was like the experience of _________ in the story.

Think about what this story says about people in general. In what ways does it remind you of people you have read about? Support your answer with evidence from the story.

If _____________ (insert character's name) were alive today, what would you most like to ask him/her? Use information from the article to support your answer.

12. Select and/or use relevant information within the text to write a personal response to the text.

Which part of the story do you think was most important? Use information from the story and your own life to explain why you chose that part.

Using information from the passage, write a brief paragraph telling why you would or would not have enjoyed __________. Use information from the story to support your answer.

Which part of the story was most interesting or surprising? Use information from the story to support your answer.

13. Select and/or use relevant information within the text(s) to extend or evaluate the text(s).

If you wanted to describe how the main character changed in the story, which event would you write about?

Imagine that you were going to give a talk to your class about ____. Using information from the passage, write two important ideas that you would use in your speech.

Choose the part of the story that you think was most important. Use details from the story to explain why you chose that part.

If the author had added another paragraph to the end of the story, it would most likely have described ______________. (Informational passages only)

14. Demonstrate an awareness of an author's or character's values and beliefs included in the text.

How did ______________'s beliefs guide his/her actions?

How does the author show that ___ is important to him/her?

Using information from the passage, explain how the author showed that the ____ was important to ____.

Why do you think the author chose to write about ____?