Last Updated on June 25, 2021
How did we decide which listening comprehension skills to assess in our quizzes? We identified key comprehension skills included in research-based reading assessments, given the correlation between listening comprehension and reading comprehension.
Speaking and Listening is now an anchor standard in the Common Core ELA standards, and the Smarter Balanced consortium has already included listening questions in their assessments.
In fact, listening now comprises up to 20% of the SBAC ELA test.
Despite this newly assessed skill, there are few resources that specifically address listening in middle and high school. This has led to disparities in student performance and placed teachers in a challenging position.
Benton Lewis, who teaches 11th grade ELA in Clovis, CA, has used Listenwise and seen his students’ listening scores rise by 12 percentage points from 2015 to 2016. Lewis states, “I think, just logically speaking, at least part of that is due to Listenwise.”
With listening skills tested in 22 states, Listenwise podcast lessons and quizzes provide practice and instructional support in helping students master the Evidence Statements of Claim #3 on the SBAC along with meeting the CCSS Listening and Speaking Standards. An alignment of these components with Listenwise assessment components is outlined in the chart below.
Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Claims
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is comprised of claims and targets that together can be used to make statements about student achievement. The claim is a broad statement that will outline the outcomes achieved with mastery of the standards within it. Listenwise helps students master Claim #3, and helps teachers measure progress toward student mastery.
Claim #3: Speaking and Listening
Students can employ effective speaking and listening skills for a range of purposes and audiences.
Common Core Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
The Common Core Anchor Standards define the skills and understandings that all students must demonstrate at the end of each grade. To meet the Speaking and Listening Anchor standards, students must have opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations which requires that students contribute information, respond to what others have said, and analyze and synthesize ideas in various subject areas. Listenwise helps students meet these standards and helps teachers provide rich resources to practice and track progress in these skills.
SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
SL.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
Listenwise Alignment
