Why is assessment important?

2. Why is assessment important? • Reading is a complex activity • Teachers must know: • where skills break down • how to address problems

3. Value of daily observations • Informal observations are useful, but should not be a teacher’s only form of assessment • Observations can supplement assessment, but not substitute for it — too unsystematic

4. Process of assessment across school year • Screening assessments identify kids who may have problems with language • Diagnostic tools give specific information to plan instruction • Progress monitoring gives teacher feedback on whether lessons and interventions are working • Outcome measures at the end of the year help us accumulate information across classrooms and schools

5. Assessing motivation • Raises teacher awareness about what motivates certain kids • Allows teacher to: • identify areas of interest • connect frustrated readers with books that help them overcome a reluctance to read

6. Finding time for assessment • Myths: • Assessment is very complicated • Assessment is the job of special educators or clinicians • Facts: • Assessment can be quick and effective with the right toolkit • Assessment information is useful when collected systematically

7. What makes a good assessment? • Goes beyond identifying the problem and gives specific information about what to do next • Can be informal and quick, as long as it is systematic • Gives teacher feedback about whether teaching practices are working

8. It’s not a race! Tester’s job to make sure timing aspect is de-emphasized Timing keeps assessments efficient — high quality information in a short amount of time Measures student’s level of confidence with particular skill Student may have knowledge of skill but lack mastery, need additional practice All measured skills are steppingstones to higher level skills, so fluency and mastery are important Timed assessments

9. Assessing students with learning disabilities • Distinguish between measures of time and power • Are we looking at what the child knows, or how quickly they can complete a task? • Minimize impact of the disability • Have a clear sense of the purpose of the assessment • When measuring comprehension, offer multiple types of comprehension exercises. Don’t confuse poor decoding with poor comprehension skills! • Targeted error analysis • Find strengths and identify how to support learning

10. Video Metzger Elementary School,Portland, OR Tiered instruction approach • Students with greater needs get higher levels of intensity • Monitor progress to track improvement rate

11. The child is always right • Metzger school district basic belief: we must teach all children to read • Weekly monitoring helps them ensure that progress is adequate to reach literacy goals • Inadequate progress means more support is needed • If we want all children to reach the same goals, we have to provide more support to some children than we do to others.

12. Good assessment can lead to better readers • Evidence shows: Waiting doesn’t work! • Children do not generally mature into good readers • When a child is not making adequate progress, action is needed to change trajectory

13. Assessment-driven instruction • To be workable, it must be: • Efficient • Get maximum information in smallest amount of time • Purposeful • Assess in order to make a decision — don’t spend six weeks assessing! • Tie assessment to a decision-making model • Reliable and valid measures can lead to improved outcomes

14. Challenges for teachers • Student has been assessed — now what? • Linking assessment results to appropriate intervention • Student is receiving intervention but still not improving • Knowing how to change intervention if it’s not working • Professional development and coaching are essential to provide answers to these challenges

15. Assessing struggling readers • Identifying students at risk is easier than judging a student’s progress • We tend to think if we are teaching our hardest, progress is being made • Assessments tell us when students are not making progress and we have to do something different • Research shows that regular progress monitoring and adjusted teaching methods can improve outcomes dramatically • Bonus: Tracking progress regularly can be a motivating factor for struggling readers!

16. Assessing stronger students • Check in on these students regularly, but less often • Make sure advanced readers are not missing a foundational skill • Students missing essential skills can become at risk later

17. Role of technology • Technology plays a role in testing and in interventions • Hand-held computers can: • Help perform assessments • Record progress for individual students • Synchronize to a database • Provide reports to teacher, principal, superintendent • Analysis software can: • Show itemized student responses • Suggest appropriate targets for instruction • Suggest appropriate interventions

18. High stakes testing Pro: • Legitimate need of stakeholders (parents, policymakers, etc.) to see how effective teaching efforts are Con: • Tail wags the dog: To avoid being penalized, schools spend class time preparing for high stakes tests • Lost instructional time • Test results are not useful for planning instruction, meeting individual student needs

19. Parent role in assessment process • Parents have unique knowledge of their child • Knowledge of home life, cultural background • Knowledge of child’s interests • Gut-level concerns about child’s skills • Treat parents as partners • Share concrete examples from class work and assessments • Invite parents to share observations • Share your plan for helping this child — lay out the roadmap! • Give parents ways to help at home • Invite parents to share concerns, ideas

20. Video Arlington Intake Center,Arlington, VA • Assesses English language learners before they enter school • Health • Family background • Past schooling • Literacy level and academic background • Background knowledge in native language • English language skills

21. Reading assessment for English language learners • Challenge: Assessing primary language skills in hundreds of different languages • Check for strong primary language platform to build English literacy skills • Rich language base? • Reading skills? • Print awareness? • Family literacy? • Bilingualism sometimes treated as a deficit rather than an advantage • Bring positive approach to language learning!

22. Assessment in primary language: Taps into child’s ability to gather information and express ideas Gives teacher a sense of child’s interests and experiences Helps teacher make learning relevant for that student Language of assessment

23. The earlier we identify a child’s needs, the better equipped we are to address them Waiting jeopardizes emerging literacy platform — problems don’t fix themselves Early failure eventually impacts child’s self image and self esteem May begin to see lack of motivation, behavior problems Goal of early assessment is to identify strengths, needs, and create environment for success Recognize and respond — not assign labels! Assessing preschoolers

24. Recognition and Response model Response-to-Intervention approach (originally designed for school age students) used with younger children Goal: Secure a high quality learning environment for all children • Tier 1: ‘High-Velcro environment’ — many places for kids to connect with meaningful ideas and information • Tier 2: For children who are not thriving, find out why — use diagnostic tools to identify strengths, gaps in knowledge, misconceptions • Tier 3: Strategic, individualized approach for student who is still not making progress — special education, speech language services

25. How would this approach look in schools? As it emerges, we will see: • More dynamic classrooms • Assessment embedded in daily activities • Data and observations linked to instruction • Assessment that forms a bridge between child and content • Bridge is explicit, systematic, and crossed frequently!

26. How are we doing now? • Dramatic improvement in the last five years • Approaching goal of every child being on track with three tiers of support • Becoming an expectation for schools • Successful schools: • Differentiate instruction based on systematic collection and interpretation of data • Utilize literacy coaches to help interpret data • Requires new way of thinking about teaching and learning

27. Talking to students about assessment Getting kids on board • It’s rewarding and empowering for students to see their progress • Self-assessment is important • Who am I as a learner? • What are my learning needs? • What are my learning goals? • Formative assessment gives students opportunity to track and share accomplishments • Make sure assessments are not punitive! — meant to provide recognition and support

28. Formal vs. informal assessments • Myth: “Real” assessments are norm-referenced, one-on-one tool that requires training • Fact: Quick, informal assessments can provide very useful information! • Key is to be systematic and purposeful • Involve kids — de-mystify the process • Explain why you’re giving assessment • Make them participants in the process of reaching their goals

29. Formal vs. informal assessments • Difference between formal and informal is beginning to blur • Variety of data sources • However you do it, make sure to use data to improve student outcomes

30. Isolating skills in reading assessment • Divide reading proficiency roughly into: • Language • Vocabulary and background knowledge • Verbal reasoning • Decoding • Beginning analysis: Can child go from text to language? • Offer variety of formats, so that weak decoding does not impact assessment of language skills • Select familiar topics so that insufficient background knowledge does not impact assessment of comprehension • Build prior knowledge before reading

31. Can the average teacher do all this? • Requires altered mindset and time to learn, but amount of assessment required is fairly limited • Be less assumptive about student progress • Implement with efficiency

32. Final thoughts: Dr. Michael McKenna • Dispel the following myths: • Reading assessment in the classroom is not necessary • Should be left to specialists whose materials will meet all students’ needs • Implement strategies in a three-tiered approach, allowing for differentiation

33. Final thoughts: Dr. Roland Good • Essential role of assessment: • Tells educators where student is and where they need to be • Helps chart a trajectory and rate of progress to get there • Lets us know when to adjust teaching strategies • Most important thing: Do something with assessment information!

34. Final thoughts: Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman • Remember diversity of students • Purpose of assessments: Help students grow, learn, and be successful

35. Thanks for watching! For more information, visit www.ReadingRockets.org