*For help with questions not addressed below, please call the Measurement Incorporated Grade 8 Math Helpline (877) 516-2403. The line is available weekdays May 13-29 from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

INTRODUCTION - After the live videotaping of the training sessions, the audience of Scoring Leaders participated in Question and Answer sessions. Staff from Measurement, Inc. and the State Education Department provided responses to participants' questions. The questions refer to particular student answer papers in the scoring materials. The following transcript places questions of a general nature first.

A: Videotapes have been provided to assist in training scoring leaders/scorers. The trainer discusses the contents of the Scoring Guide and the Practice Set. The Scoring Guide is presented first to demonstrate how the scoring rubric should be applied to student responses. We suggest that Training Leaders stop or pause the videotape before the videotaped trainer begins discussion of the Practice Set. This provides an opportunity for those being trained to read their Practice Sets and practice making scoring decisions.

We also suggest that scorers practice on only one or two student responses at a time, stopping and reviewing the correct score(s) before moving on to the next. The Scoring Leader may read and discuss the annotations in their copies of the Practice Sets, or may resume the videotape at appropriate intervals. Several short practice segments followed by review maximizes the opportunity to learn by doing and assists in building scorer skill and confidence.

A: Training procedures and the logistics of live scoring are covered in the Scoring Leader Handbook, which should be read thoroughly before training. You should also review your Scoring Guide and Practice Set while viewing the videotape.

• If the question does not specifically direct students to show their work, teachers may not score any work that the student writes.
• If the question requires students to show their work and a student shows appropriate work and identifies a correct answer but fails to write that answer in the answer blank provided, the student should receive full credit.
• If the question requires students to show their work and a student shows appropriate work and arrives at the correct answer, but writes an incorrect answer in the answer blank, the student should not receive full credit.

The explanation states that the trail was measured; it does not infer that an estimate was made and, because the student does not state the approximate number of sections, we do not know how the given estimate was determined.

The student has found that there are 40 hamburgers. This is not enough to tell that the student understands the problem.

No. This does not explain how the student arrived at the probability.

Full credit should be awarded for the response "21" with appropriate work shown.

Updates on mathematics education in NYS are posted on the Office of Curriculum and Instruction's mathematics web site at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/math.html. For further information, please contact Jacqueline Marcano; Associate in Mathematics Education, Office of State Assessment, 760EBA, State Education Department, Albany, NY 12234; (518) 474-5900 or email jmarcano@mail.nysed.gov.