How Bear River High School Transformed Math Assessment with Atomic Assessments

Overview

Bear River High School's math department adopted Atomic Assessments to replace paper-based tests and homework. By integrating directly into Canvas, the department streamlined grading, improved student confidence through immediate feedback, and shifted assessment practices away from point-chasing toward deeper mathematical understanding and precision.

Key Facts

Institution Type: K–12
Grade Levels / Courses: Grades 10–12; SEC 2, SEC 3, and 1050 College Math
LMS: Canvas
Teachers Using Atomic Assessments:

• 5 teachers in the math department
• 3–4 additional teachers in the science department

Students Assessed: Approximately 1,300 students within the math department

Featured Voice

Andrew Cobabe, Math Teacher
Bear River High School, Box Elder School District

Andrew teaches upper-level high school math and plays a key role in shaping assessment practices across Bear River's math department. He led the transition from paper-based exams to Atomic Assessments, focusing on precision, feedback-driven learning, and reducing point-chasing behaviors.

The Challenge

Before Atomic Assessments, Bear River’s math assessments were paper-based. Math teacher Andrew Cobabe was anxious to get started with Atomic Assessments, after using paper exams for so long. 

Andrew also described a larger instructional issue:

“Other than grading, students would be point chasing with partial credit exams, ‘How can I get an A’. If you can get them to want the right answer, vs point chasing, you help them develop critical thinking skills. This is where AA came in.”

Instructional Priorities for Bear River High School

• Increasing student engagement
• Moving beyond rote algorithms
• Encouraging creative thinking and problem-solving
• Developing critical thinking skills

The Solution: Atomic Assessments in Canvas 

Atomic Assessments was first introduced for exams. Very quickly, its role expanded.

“Homework wasn’t working in our previous assessment tool (paper). With Atomic Assessments, we started with tests, and also began to include homework with Atomic Assessments. Now most of our homework is Atomic Assessments-based.”

Key Implementation Practices

Two-attempt assessments with immediate feedback

• Students complete an attempt.
• They review mistakes using the check-answer feature.
• They apply what they’ve learned on a second attempt.

Precision-focused grading

• Eliminates unnecessary partial credit when appropriate.
• Encourages accuracy and complete understanding.

“AA forces precision. If you have a right or wrong response, they can’t do partial credit. It forces them to not chase points, but really get the right answer.”

Professional learning and training
While there was an initial learning curve, training accelerated adoption:

“It took a while to spool up, but once we did we reaped the benefits. We had a one-time training a few years ago, which really padded out our understanding of Atomic Assessments.”

Strong fit for higher-level coursework

“In the college class 1050, Atomic Assessments really fit into our workflow. I worked hard to understand all the features. It's working really well for us.”

Atomic Assessments in Action at Bear River

To illustrate how this looks in practice, Box Elder shared two real assessments used in their department.

Logarithms Test Example

Graphing Trigonometry Functions Test Example

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Impact

1. Immediate Feedback Drives Learning

Students overwhelmingly prefer digital assessments with immediate feedback.

“If I give them a paper assignment, the students really prefer Atomic Assessments. Students said, ‘I hate it when we have paper exams — we don’t have that check answer button to get it right the second time around.’”

The check-answer feature transformed homework from a guessing exercise into an active learning loop:

“Immediate feedback gives the students an opportunity to find their mistake and move forward toward the correct answer. Before, they would do the homework and students would have no idea if they were doing it right.”

2. Reduced Grading Time

• Automatic scoring dramatically reduced grading workload.
• Teachers reallocated time toward instruction and feedback.
• Department-wide efficiency improved.

3. Greater Precision, Less Point-Chasing

By minimizing partial credit where appropriate:

• Students focus on correctness and reasoning
• Precision becomes the expectation
• Critical thinking increases

4. Smaller, More Optimistic Assessments

Atomic Assessments also changed how Andrew structures learning:

“It used to be with paperwork, I would have 30 problems, and it would overwhelm the students. Now with Atomic Assessments I give them a 10-problem assessment. They see this and feel more optimistic.”

With tag-based sampling pulling from a larger question bank:

• Students receive slightly different versions
• Memorization decreases
• Understanding increases
• Assessments feel manageable

5. Tag-Based Variation

The department is expanding usage through:

• Video feedback within Atomic Assessments
• Tag-based problem variation
• Auto-generated assessment versions

This allows each student to receive a slightly different version while maintaining consistent learning objectives.

Results at a Glance

• Reduced grading time through automatic scoring
• Increased student optimism through shorter, manageable assessments
• Immediate feedback that supports learning from mistakes
• Greater precision and less point-chasing
• Tag-based variation to reduce memorization and encourage understanding
• Department-wide adoption across core math courses

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