Tests and Dashboard

Free World U recognizes the importance of accountability and transparency in education. Our users (students), parents and facilitators, and school officials are always able to quickly and easily see the overall student progress as well as the level of short-term activity of the student in real time. One of the many ways that we are meeting accountability needs is through the integration of retention tests and a Dashboard for easy tracking of student progress. For a school to be truly successful in educating its students, it is critical that all of the information taught be incorporated into the long-term memory of the student and that this process be entirely verifiable. Free World U meets both of these needs with efficiency.

At Free World U, students begin the learning process by cycling through the virtual flashcards of a subtopic until the information presented has been incorporated into short-term memory, as determined by the subjective judgment of the student. After self-reporting successful completion of a subtopic, or content area standard strand, the student is presented with the option of additional flashcard review or proceeding to an objective assessment of the material presented in the given subtopic. Students electing to review the subtopic flashcards will be able to randomize the flashcard order which more closely mirrors the format of the tests and which reduces the likelihood of a student using information presented on a recently shown card to help answer a question correctly. After accurately responding to the flashcards during the review, students must proceed to the short-term test. These end-of-subtopic tests serve as a measure of content comprehension.

As shown in Figure 1, the student must complete a multiple-choice short-term learning test before moving to a new subtopic in the tested subject area. Performance on the short term assessment determines whether the student is returned to the subtopic flashcards for further review or may progress to the next subtopic. Even a single missed question on the short-term learning test requires the student to return to the subtopic. This is not viewed as failure on the part of the student; rather it is a means to prevent future failure. Small gaps in learning can be very easily corrected if caught early, and only become a problem if they become ingrained.

If a student correctly answers all questions on the short-term learning test, the student will then be invited to move to the next subtopic. However, Free World U students are carefully advised on the importance of long term mastery of all information taught. Students are encouraged to review subtopics if they felt unsure of any test answers, even if the correct answers were ultimately chosen.

The process of completing subtopics, taking subsequent short-term learning tests, reviewing when necessary, and participating in ongoing learning continues exclusively for the first four weeks of learning with Free World U. At this time, long-term multiple-choice tests are then added to the process. These new tests, referred to as Long-Term Retention Tests, serve to ensure that course content is fully incorporated into the student’s long-term memory. Much like our flashcards, the long-term test questions are tracked by the database.

New retention tests are added to each student’s queue on an ongoing basis. The system custom-designs retention tests to prioritize questions, targeting content that has been most frequently missed on previous exposures. Retention test questions are presented to the student at intervals of no less than two weeks. When the student correctly answers retention test questions on two consecutive occasions, the fact unit tested is considered to be mastered (Figure 2). Students may still opt to return to previously mastered flashcards at any time, though such action is rarely needed. This cyclical model of learning, with opportunity for immediate remediation of any and all skill gaps, elevates Free World U above other systems of education. Further, the automaticity ensures that tests can be effectively customized and tracked for thousands of students simultaneously.

Both Short-Term Learning Tests and Long-Term Retention Tests utilize the same test questions. However, test questions used in the Short-Term Learning Tests exclusively represent content from the subtopic previously studied, while the Long-Term Retention Tests are a summative grouping of random questions weighted toward questions that have been previously answered incorrectly. The randomization of Long-Term Retention Test questions is critical in ensuring that a student answers each question based on knowledge of the fact being tested and does not draw upon information previously presented in the test. The basic unit of a Long-Term Retention Test is thus the test question rather than the entire test.

All test questions are developed for Free World U using the rigorous process initially designed for flashcard creation. Each question is able to stand-alone, and tests only one discrete fact unit. Test questions are multiple-choice, containing four possible responses (Figure 3).

Immediately upon answering a test question, an explanation regarding the accuracy or inaccuracy of each answer will be displayed to the student (Figure 4). This instant feedback about the student’s performance on tests increases the educational value of the assessment, encouraging each student to assimilate the additional information about the missed test question(s) at a time that the student is mostly likely to recall why the selected each answer was chosen. The student can then incorporate the feedback into his/her understanding of the subject matter, ultimately adding the corrected cognition to long-term memory.

Responses that meet the mastery criteria of two consecutive correct answers are automatically removed from the future assessments. Each incorrect answer on an assessment is not only immediately explained, but the student is also offered the opportunity to review the content material at that time. In conventional education, students are routinely promoted from one grade to the next even when known to possess significant skill gaps. The process of ensuring that each and every fact unit presented in the Free World U curriculum is mastered before a student may complete the program makes Free World U a most rigorous educational organization. The efficient use of review makes the program extraordinarily effective.



Student Progress Reporting via Dashboard Student responses to retention test questions will be itemized and presented as part of the Dashboard (Figure 5), facilitating tracking of student performance. The first page, or home page, of the Dashboard will list each of the students affiliated with the parent or teacher.

The first two columns beside each student’s name display basic usage statistics for the prior seven days. Included in this “Week at a Glance” table is the amount of time each user spent learning on the Free World U site in the past week, and the number of cards that each student viewed in that time. Information about the tests, both Short Term Learning Tests and Long-Term Retention Tests, completed by the student in the prior seven days is also included on the Dashboard home page. Test data on the Dashboard home page is displayed as the total number of short- and long-term tests taken in the past week and the average of the percentage scores earned on those tests.

When a parent or teacher desires additional information about a student’s performance for the week, a detailed progress inventory (Figure 6) may be viewed via a single click on the student’s name.

The Dashboard Detail page provides a comprehensive inventory of current student progress. At the top of the Dashboard Detail page is a display showing the total number of subtopics completed for any open subject. Those subtopics completed in the past seven days are differentiated with maroon highlighting. Using the example in Figure 6, the Dashboard Detail shows that fictitious student Todd Johnson is currently working in both 6th and 7th grade Science. When a Free World U student has difficulty at one grade level, he has been instructed how to navigate to prior knowledge subtopics to remedy existing skill gaps. Thus it is not unexpected for a student to be simultaneously working in multiple grade levels within a subject. Moving one’s cursor over the Subtopics Mastered bar graph on the Dashboard will produce a text box identifying how many subtopics are represented at that point in the graph, helping the parent or teacher judge the student’s pacing. For example, the arrow at the end of the 6th grade Social Studies bar graph in Figure 6 shows that there are 48 total subtopics in 6th grade Social Studies: Ancient Civilizations.

The Dashboard example illustrated in Figure 6 also shows that Todd has an incomplete Short-Term Learning Test in his queue for 6th grade science, but no long-term tests. This is consistent for a student who has recently opened a subject; by their definition, Long-Term Retention Tests will not be administered until at least two weeks has passed from the date the short-term assessment was successfully completed. Once a student has been working in a subject for some time, the ratio of short-term to long-term tests generally reverses.

Short-Term Learning Tests are designed to be completed as soon as a subtopic is finished. There will not be more than one Short-Term Retention Test per subject and grade level in a student’s queue, as a student may not progress to a subsequent subtopic until the completed subtopic’s short-term test is answered with 100% accuracy. In the Figure 6 example, the bottom portion of the Dashboard shows that student Todd Johnson has completed two Short-Term Learning Tests “Today” and that he may need additional practice with Number Sense (shown by maroon highlighting of 95% score).

Long-Term Retention Tests are not added to a student’s queue until substantial time has passed from the time of instruction. Like short-term tests, Long-Term Retention Tests are also intended to be taken soon after being assigned. If a student does not complete retention tests in the days immediately following assignment, the queue will become over-full with tests. The student will then need to suspend flashcard learning in order to complete the tests. In the Figure 6 example, the number of Grade 7 Language Arts Long-Term Retention Tests, 5, is highlighted in maroon. This highlighting alerts the parent or teacher viewing the Dashboard that the student is not keeping up with his retention tests. Consistent use of the Dashboard will give the adult responsible for facilitating the student’s learning ample opportunity to intercede if a student is not completing retention tests as required to avoid a backlog that could threaten to interrupt learning.

Pacing of learning and testing is especially important for students participating in the Free World U Charter School, as these students must have all grade level flashcards completed six weeks prior to the end of the school year. The charter school students will spend the final weeks of their year finalizing retention tests and correcting any skill gaps that are present. Students who have mastered all grade level material will use the time to engage in learning of elective subjects or by moving into the next grade level material.

Home schooled students and those who are using Free World U to supplement other formal schooling may be less concerned with pacing than their charter school counterparts. Regardless, all parents and teachers will have the option of activating a pacing guide, found under the user account settings. The pacing guide will outline targets for subtopic completion dates in order to reach a predetermined goal, such as completion of core grade level material by a given date. The pacing guide will be of great assistance to students with significant skill gaps. Such students will begin instruction far below grade level, and are expected to move rapidly through the early material. As the students reach grade level material, the rate of subtopic mastery typically decreases. This is customary, and not of concern. Student mastery of subtopics is also more rapid when students first begin learning with Free World U, because there are no Long-Term Retention Tests to be taken. The lack of long term tests frees additional time for flashcard learning, and the pace of subtopic mastery is rapid until long-term tests are assigned. If a parent sets a mastery goal based upon the initial rate of subtopic completion, the student may have difficulty reaching that goal; the pacing guide helps to establish a realistic rate at which a student should work to meet the end-of-year goals.

The Dashboard allows Free World U students to maintain autonomy in selecting subtopic pacing, determining when review is needed, and in deciding when to complete assessments. Such independence is important for character development. Through monitoring of the Dashboard, parents and teachers are able to determine when students are making sound decisions regarding their educational progress, and when adult guidance may be required. As such, students grow in their confidence and their independence without ever being “left behind” in their education.

The innovative cyclic approach to learning developed by Free World U, in which students are constantly eliminating any skill gaps present and engaged in active learning, makes the organization uniquely qualified to correct educational deficits and lead all learners to true acad Learning with Free World U starts with flashcarery.  Students are responsible for their own pacing, allowing them to move quickly through content that is easy for them while taking the extra time necessary to fully comprehend more challenging material.  Each separate fact unit is tested using objective measures, eliminating the possibility of students progressing through grade levels while gaps in mastery persist. Thus, Free World's curriculum addresses a phenomenon that has become commonplace in traditional education.  The objective design of tests at Free World U, combined with a 100% accuracy requirement for mastery, guarantees that students truly understand the material before progressing to subsequent skills within a subject. Randomizing the order of test questions and prohibiting access to previously viewed questions eliminates any chance that students will use test questions already answered to help determine subsequent answers in tests.  Minimizing the use of strategy and instead focusing on content mastery elevates Free World U above its peers in authenticity of assessments.

Consistent review requirements following any missed test questions and immediate access to previously covered material give students tutoring at their fingertips, day or night.  No longer will students be pushed onward before comprehension is achieved just because the class is moving forward.  When Free World U students have demonstrated comprehension on Short Term Learning Tests, active learning continues with subsequent subtopic instruction.  Students use the content recently learned as they progress through a grade level.  Long-Term Retention Tests, administered at established intervals, make certain that students have incorporated the learned material into their long-term memory.  Any gaps discovered through testing are corrected through immediate review of the relevant material.  Two consecutive correct responses are required before a fact unit is considered mastered.  As such, all learning becomes quantifiable and verifiable. As illustrated in Figure 7, students at Free World U are constantly involved in active learning and authentic assessment, and fluidly pass from one phase of the learning continuum to another.  Review is instantaneously possible during all phases and mastery requires success at every phase.  As such, Free World U has developed the ultimate system of learning, one that will level the playing field and elevate standards for all students, and bring possibilities previously unimaginable to the youths of today.