Why did Cypress-Fairbanks change from SQ-RQ-CQ to “The Big Q”?
A Reason #1 is to increase the depth of students’ thinking. Analysis of student work revealed that many students were not using SQ-RQ-CQ as it was intended. Instead of carefully figuring out the important parts needed to solve the problem, students merely underlined, circled, and crossed out numbers and words in problems in an unthinking, mechanical fashion. Often, the only evaluation was an answer from a multiple-choice list. (During grading, teachers could just look for the answer without making sure the students used sound logic to think through the process.) By evaluating students’ work beyond an A-B-C-D answer choice, teachers are able to find incorrect patterns of thinking. Improving students’ true understanding of math would call for beefing up the three-step process by requiring a fourth step: students must describe and justify their thinking and their result. Reason #2 is to elevate success in learning the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Data analysis of both dist
