Adventures in Math

Let's play a game. It's called "What math does this assess, and is that the math the standard calls for?" Wordy, I know, but it's a game worth playing as we consider how to make assessments actually assess what we need them to. The item below comes from a 1st grade benchmark exam, and is tagged as an assessment of standard 1.G.3, with no other items assessing this standard. Before I give you the text of the standard, we're going to play the first part of the game: what does this assess? English translation: Color a quarter of the square. Color half of the square. Color half of the rectangle. Color a quarter of the circle.  Some teachers' answers to "What math does this assess?": Understanding of the phrases "half of" and "quarter of" Ability to color "one part" of a shape Low level assessment of identifying a part of a shape (not necessarily understanding of equal parts) And now