Northside ISD Framework for Math Grades 1 to 5

Approximately 1640 math questions are now available to NISD elementary teachers in a fully-customized database, also known as a “framework”.  This document tells you how to access the questions and provides a few ideas for using them to create benchmark assessments.

How to access the questions in Problem-Attic

Assuming you are already included in your school’s Problem-Attic account, you can log in normally.  If you are not included, please contact the math specialist or administrator in charge of the account.  Here are steps to follow after logging in:

1. Go to the Create page if you’re not already there.

2. Give your “untitled” document a name, re-open a document you’ve already worked on, or start a new document.

3. If necessary, click the Select tab once or twice until you see the nine main panels.



4. On the bottom-middle panel, click Shared Frameworks.

5. Click the District tab.



6. Click the plus (+) button next to one of the grades to expand it.



7. Click a link for one of the TEKS/SEs.  You’ll see the questions aligned to it.



8. Select questions normally by double-clicking on them, or by using the Add button on a “thumbnail”.

9. To select from other TEKS/SEs, click to go back up a level, then repeat the previous two steps.

After selecting questions, you can:

• see what’s in your document and remove, re-arrange and edit questions (Arrange tab)

• change the layout of your document (Format tab)

• create a PDF for download or sharing (Make PDF tab).

• deliver and score the questions electronically (Export and Score tabs).

More Details

If you would like to pick questions at random, you can use the Add button at the top of a selection page.  If you add a few more questions than are needed, you can click the Arrange tab, see which ones you like best, and delete the others.

If you would like to select questions from different TEKS/SEs, a nice shortcut is to use the Navigation panel (shown above).  This saves you the trouble of going up a level and back down.  Click and for the previous and next TEKS/SE.  This works within a single grade.

Throughout the framework, there’s a pairing of questions to help you create pre- and post-tests, forms A and B, etc.  An example of the pairing is shown in the screenshot above.  Generally speaking there’s no reason to pick both an ‘odd’ and ‘even’ question for a single document—that will make them look repetitive.

Problem-Attic has a very nice option for creating parallel forms.  This takes advantage of the pairing described above.  Step-by-step instructions are here.

The framework is intended for benchmark assessments.  It has a relatively small number of questions which were carefully vetted for that purpose.  For everyday instruction, you can use the TEKS Math database that comes with Problem-Attic (center panel on the main Select page).  It has about 8000 questions, a wide range of styles, and some easier ones for remediation and extra practice.  You may also want to explore the database called “Meta Framework”.  It has the same questions as for Texas (all grades), plus 7000 more, re-organized into very discrete topics.

Currently, there is no automatic switching between English and Spanish for the questions in the NISD framework.  The translating is still being done.  You can choose math questions in Spanish using the link on main Select page, bottom-right panel, or do automatic switching with the TEKS math database that comes with Problem-Attic.  More information is here.

Error reporting, etc.

The NISD framework is being maintained by a few math specialists in the district.  To report an error, you can use use the red flag icon in Problem-Attic.  Look for it on the Select and Arrange pages.  Any errors that you report will get passed on to the appropriate person.

The error-reporting feature is intended for mistakes in questions, wrong answers, misalignment, and other such things which are specific to a question.  For more general comments, suggestions for new question types, and so on, it’s better to contact the specialists who are maintaining the database or the new elementary math coordinator for NISD.

If you have trouble using Problem-Attic, you can send an email to support@problem-attic.com.  EducAide Software, which makes the program, will provide technical support but won’t be able to help you find questions in the NISD database or address any concerns you may have about alignment, number of questions, etc.

Please recognize that the database is version 1.0.  It was developed over a three-month period and will likely be expanded in the months ahead.  From everyone who worked on it, we hope you like the questions we’ve made available—about 420 are brand-new—and it’s a big help with benchmarking.  Thanks for using Problem-Attic and the new NISD math framework!