In our school we currently use DIBELS as a huge part of our assessment piece to quickly assess students growth. We have created a data wall that quickly allows us to view students progress. There is a post-it for every child in grades k-3. After progress monitoring, we move the students to either green (meeting benchmark), yellow (close to benchmark), red (far below benchmark). This gives a clear picture of the students we really need to work with during interventions.
We also use DRA, ISTEP, Instructional Focus Assessments, and other assessments that vary across grade levels. What types of assessments are you using in your schools? Do you feel they are effective? Why/ why not? How do you use the information that is gathered from these assessments?
10 comments:
I am a Title I Reading Teacher. This is my frist year in Title I, and we use the DRA test. We use this at the beginning of the year to see what students are most in need of one-on-one reading instruction. We test at the end of each nine weeks to see students' reading progress. I do feel that the DRA is effective, because there is now a comprehension and fluency component to them. We have benchmarks that we want students to meet, so we also use these scores to see which students are ready to be released from Title I, and which are not.
Our school also gives the MAP test, but to be honest, I have no clue what they do with the information from it (I guess maybe I should find out). Not having my own classroom, though, MAP testing does not affect me.
Mandy,
Thank you for sharing. The MAP test is a valuable tool that can give teachers insight on ability levels of early learners. It is meant to be a tool for guiding instruction that is appropriate for each learner. Newer tests also provide information that will help teachers be able to better differentiate instruction. For those of you who may be new to MAP tests, a great site to visit is https://reports.nwea.org/login.asp. If information from these tests are as valuable as they are meant to be, it may be worth asking to see the results!
Cori
My school uses the following assessments for kindergarten three times a year:
DRA
IRA
Writing Prompt
Math exemplar
Brigance - only administered in the fall and spring
I think the DRA and the IRA are both very helpful in driving my struction. They both allow me to see where the students are and how they are progressing. We use writer's workshop in kindergarten, so I conference with each student at least once a week. This gives me insight on how the students are performing, and it allows me to meet their individual needs. The writing prompt doesn't give me as much insight because the students don't seem to do as well on the prompt as they do in their individual writing. The kindergarten team is working together to try to resolve that issue. We are also currently changing the math assessment because it consists of one story problem composed of several parts. We do not feel this gives an accurate picture of what each child is capable of doing. The Brigance is helpful in showing growth and it is helpful in the beginning of the school year to give teachers a base idea of what the students know.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you need more clarification or questions!
Our assessments are:
We have a locally created writing and math prompt. We give the writing prompt each quarter. The first and third quarters are the same mode (as well as the 2nd and 4th). The hope would be that we would see growth in the second writing within that same mode. (So we would see improved scores in the 3rd and 4th quarters). We double blind score the prompts. We worked with a writing consultant (Susan Page) to develop this.
We worked with a math consultant (Bob Trammel) to break down the standards and put them together in a logical sequence per quarter. At the end of the quarter we have an assessment to see if the kids mastered, partially mastered, or did not master the concepts for that quarter.
We also do NWEA twice a year. This was our first year so we didn't know what to do with the results. We understood it better at the end of the year but then it was almost too late to do any modifications to the curriculum.
Do I think these assessments are beneficial? Only if we have time to intepret the data correctly and create a plan for instruction do I feel these assessments are beneficial. Otherwise it is just another test for the kids. It's the time factor that is a big hindrance for the staff at our school. We just need to figure out what to do with these results.
All of assessments are fairly new for us so we are still in the "learning phase" on the continuum!
Hope this helps! Please contact me if you need any more info!
Hello! I am akindergarten and preschool special education teacher. In preschool we use the following assessments to screen our children and use it for placement......BRIGANCE, ISTAR, and classroom observations and work samples.
In Kindergarten: We use: Literacy Screening with an observation survey that tests Letter Identification, Concepts About Print, Ohio Word Test, Dictation Test, Text Reading (DRA) or P.M. BenchMark, and the PPVT at least 2-3 times a year for parts of these assessments. We also give a writing prompt after reading a story at the beginning and ending of the year. WE also next year will give a pre and post test of the kindergarten standards test. Jennifer LaMar EDEL 676 ....Let me know if I can answer any other questions!
We use NWEA three times a year in grades 1-4 (our building only goes to fourth grade). This is our largest assessment that is done school (and district) wide. We use this to gage growth and we have the kids set goals and be involved in the reading of their scores.
We use the Rigby leveled assessments to test reading achievement. I also do running records monthly with my students.
I use the ReadingAtoZ.com fluency test, also. These two assessments help me see growth in my students' reading abilities. We adopted a new reading series this year that has a separate planning tool for guided reading and running records, so I am anxious to get this and begin figuring out how this will shape my assessing for literacy.
Every trimester we give our students a district-wide writing prompt and math prompt. We use a grade level specific rubric to score these and make comments. These go with the kids from year to year. I do not see this as helpful, really it's more busy work and I don't see it helping the kids on ISTEP. Instead, regular classroom writing and strong Writer's Workshop instruction makes more of a difference.
If I had to choose the most effective form of assessment that we do as a building, I'd say NWEA. The families and children are involved and it give very valid information (right away)! We use the Des Cartes on the NWEA website to get more information. I think their website is very helpful!!!
We also use DIBELS at our school. I do like the quick snapshot it gives. Since I teach kindergarten, this is valuable information at the beginning of the year since we have no previous academic information on them. However, I do not rely solely on DIBELS, I also use my own personal assessments. I do like seeing the data because it is very easy to see how the children progress throughout the year with progress monitoring done 3 times per year, more for struggling students. We share the info with parents and they like to see the data too although we are sure to mention that this is just one assessment and is not the be all, end all of how we test them. We are going to start using DRAs next year so I am anxious to see how those work, although I am worreid about the time factor. We used IRIs in the past which I was not a fan of. We also do writing prompts three times a year. I have a wide variety of my own assessments that I do as well.
I teach 4th grade. My school does DIBLES for the younger grades but stops at third grade. We do a reading connected text and oral retelling. This is a one minute reading assessment. We do it three times a year.
We also have writing prompts to give to the students each nine weeks.
I feel a real need for an assessment that is more detailed for the intermediate grades. We need to hafe a set of expectations to test.
Prior to kindergarten, we administer the KDI test, which measures readiness in many areas.
In K-1, we use DiBELS to assess children's readiness to read.
In 2-5, we use NWEA (Map or Level) testing in language arts, math and reading. We give it twice a year, with an option to give it mid-year to monitor growth. Many grade levels use the information provided and differentiate groups based on RIT bands and use DesCartes to help focus on skills needed for an individual child.
This past spring, we administered the Primary MAP (NWEA) to our first graders to give us a baseline before second grade. It is different than the regular NWEA in that much is read to the kids and many answer choices can be read to them as well just by them clicking on an icon.
We also monitor writing using prompts based and scored on the 6+1 Writing Traits.
We use DRA's to help place children in proper reading groups.
There is another assessment that I neglected to tell you about. It's called an RSI (Reading Styles Inventory) and it gives a snapshot of how the learner learns best. It's more of a global assessment about the student, rather than an academic assessment. You have to pay for them, but they are really inexpensive for the information you get about your students. There are three reports you can print off after they've finished, one being a parent letter to explain what the RSI means to them. I use this at conference time. For primary grades the students can take the RSI using audio. You can learn more about it at http://www.nrsi.com/rsi.html .
Post a Comment