Notes from a Conversation on Assessment with a Mentor
Description of why chosen: I am placed in a sixth grade ELA & Reading Intervention Classroom at Kennelly School in Hartford, CT. I decided to have a conversation with Kennelly's reading specialist, Sharon Long, after she visited my Assessment Class to give a presentation on ELA Assessment. During our conversation I took extensive notes which will help me during my time student teaching and in my future classroom. These notes touch upon different aspects of assessment related to reading in the district that I am placed in. It is important that I am aware of all aspects of such assessment because of the extreme pressures put upon the faculty of the school to achieve higher standardized test scores, due to the fact that the school is in a priority district. Below are the notes I took from the conversation, including links to various resources mentioned.
Priority District |
Kennelly School is in a priority district. This means that there is a notable gap between their achievement and that of suburban school districts in the state of Connecticut. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure placed upon lower achieving school districts to constantly test their students in order to gather data. This data is used to track the effects certain changes to the school, such as a newly adopted curriculum or professional development program, has on student achievement. Also, because of NCLB, this data is used to hold teachers, administrators and districts accountable for their students achievement. However, there are many downsides because of this, which include but are not limited to teaching to the test, reduced instruction time for testing, changes in school budget, and replacing formative testing with summative.
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English Language Assessment |
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DIBLES |
This summative assessment is timed for fluency. It gives the student a score that places them below, at, or above grade level. This is the required assessment in CT that replaced the DRA.
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Lexile |
Everything in ELA instruction is Lexile based. For example, books and vocabulary words can be leveled with the Lexile system. A student is assessed for their Lexile level with a specific test that is made up of one passage. The student must choose three words to fill in the blanks of the passage, their ability to do so reflects on understanding of the English Language, grade level vocabulary, and ability to fluently read for comprehension.
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Running Records |
This is a one-on-one formative assessment that requires students to complete a cold reading of a book while the teacher observes and codes their behaviors and assesses for fluency and comprehension of the text. This helps teachers plan their instruction.
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Informal Reading Assessments |
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Grouping Students in the Beginning of the Year |
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Reporting Scores |
Do not report scores that you believe are inaccurate.
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Free Online Resources |