Daily Quizzes

Tests, quizzes, and homework assignments are well-aligned with each other. Low-value quizzes warn both the teacher and the student of any issues before the highly-weighted unit test arrives. However, as a department, we found that one additional layer in this stack could give students more time to improve weaknesses and give teachers real-time data to address class-wide issues right away. We call this extra layer a daily quiz and give one to students once or twice in a period. Students take these short assessments using handheld responders (our school uses the SMART XE device which allows for a variety of question types -- multiple choice, numeric, or algebraic response). When all students finish their assessment, the answers are immediately graded and returned to the students so they know what to focus on next. As a teacher, I look at the overall results and use this to tailor how I go over the solutions with the class. Below, to the left, is an example of a conceptual daily quiz I used with my Accelerated Algebra 2 class. I asked students to answer "true" or "false" for each problem and how confident they were in their answer (very, somewhat, or not). Overall, students did very poorly, but after a class discussion and partner activity, no students repeated these common errors on the unit test. Also below, on the right, is an image of the SMART responders we use.

Linked below are examples of daily quizzes. I created a unit of Algebra 1 and a unit of Geometry daily quizzes. I also created a full course of Statistics daily quizzes.