end of year assessment tool

[bobcat]

I know it's early but I'm thinking ahead to the end of the year assessment for my Title I students. I'm on my own with this and I'm doing things way different than they were done in the past. Prior to this year, there was no formal assessment at the end of the year to place the kids for the next year. The Title I teacher just assessed in the beginning of the school year and then sent letters home. Doing so took so long that the whole first month of school was lost as far as instruction was concerned. This was okay with the last teacher, but I want to get ahead of the game so that in September, I'll just do a benchmark fluency and comprehension test using DIBELS but my Title groups will already be in place for instruction. I want to assess the kids in May and send letters home to the parents asking their permission to begin Title I services at the start of the next school year. This way, I can begin teaching them sooner and will only have to do the complete assessment for new students.

Two questions:

1. Does this sound like it makes sense or am I missing something?
2. What kinds of things should I include in the assessment? My prinicipal has told me to create one but I'm not quite sure what should be included. I was thinking of an oral fluency passage, a silent reading passage with a retelling, a writing prompt and sight words at their grade level. (I teach grades 3-5)

Thanks for any input you can give me.

 

[MrsM]

Where I am (Missouri), grades from 2nd on down can use a locally developed assessment, but 3rd on up has to use standardized. We use the DRA for reading level, and I used the TORC-3 (2 of the subtests) but I didn't like it much.

I'm a weirdo. The other grades in my district all test in the spring for fall grouping. The notebooks are all set over the summer and they do like you mentioned, a little current testing and jump in. I teach 3rd, and too many times I was teaching kids who were at or above grade level because of growth over the summer. There are also kids who score well in the spring, but lose it over the summer, and could get a jump start in Title for the next year but don't qualify if we use spring scores. I do the testing in the fall. The teachers all give the DRA (there are 260 kids this year in 3rd grade) and I collect the scores. Then, as I said, I gave the TORC-3 in classroom groups so it went faster. I could have been seeing groups in the 4th week of school, but teachers held me up being slow to get the DRA results to me.

So, yes it makes sense, if you reserve the right to change the list after fall screening, if you show what I mentioned above. Secondly, I didn't see decoding in your second question, can you have a DRA or running record done on the kids on levelled books?

We have a new Title I director, from a different district, and I heard she is looking at our assessments and taking over the decisions there. I'm glad! I spent $800 of my principal's budget to get a test I didn't know I wasn't going to respect the results from. I hope she'll find us something better.

 

[bobcat]

Thanks

Mrs. M,

Thank you so much for sharing your good advice whenever I have a question. You respond to so many people and I always look forward to your words of wisdom. I know I don't know you, but from what I read on these boards, I can tell that you are a great person. I sure wish I taught with you!! Thanks again for always being there to help everyone!

Cathy