Questions to Consider: Turn to p. 559
in Ormrod’s text. Now, imagine that you
are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent
standardized achievement test pictured at the bottom of p. 559. What will you tell her about Ingrid’s
performance? her strengths? her weaknesses?
If grandmother
asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills,
what will you suggest?
I would start off by explaining that she did well in some areas, but not as well in other areas. I would then take her through each score and explain where she had fallen, what that meant, and what my plan of action would be, as her teacher, to help her improve. Obviously her strengths are in reading comprehension, science, social studies, and math concepts. She is doing average/below average in speling and math computation. I would also be sure to address whether I thought these scores were an accurate representation of how she was doing in the class. She may have just had a poor test day through some of the sections, etc. Various occurrences could have arisen to affect her scores.
As for what she could do to help her at home, I would provide certain individualized activities and worksheets that they could work on together to give her some extra practice.
This week really reinforced how important testing/scoring can be in the classroom. Even if you don't give formal, summative assessments, you must keep track of your students achievements and progress throughout the year. If they are affected by RTI, you may even have to do these every week.
We also watched this video below, which was definitely an interesting take on the education system. I think that parts of it are good points, but I don't really think it gave any great solutions...more of an intellectual complaint.
As for what she could do to help her at home, I would provide certain individualized activities and worksheets that they could work on together to give her some extra practice.
This week really reinforced how important testing/scoring can be in the classroom. Even if you don't give formal, summative assessments, you must keep track of your students achievements and progress throughout the year. If they are affected by RTI, you may even have to do these every week.
We also watched this video below, which was definitely an interesting take on the education system. I think that parts of it are good points, but I don't really think it gave any great solutions...more of an intellectual complaint.
I also found a couple of outside resources about testing that bring up some good points:
http://www.fairtest.org/k-12
http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/brochures/testing.aspx (this one was especially interesting to me, since it is from a psychological standpoint)
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Test_Problems_Seven/
Then, thanks to a fellow student, this Scholastic link was brought to my attention, which provides some great tips on how to help your students prepare for these mandated tests. There are a few articles available to skim over for information.
I like that you're using your posts as a mix of answering questions and reflecting on the class. I think it will be handy. I recommend that you follow a few other people's blogs in order to hear some other ideas about both the QtCs and other resources.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you emphasized Ingrid's strengths. I think it is important to recognize the positives and not just focus on the negatives. I think it is so important for gaurdians to know what is happening in their student's academic lives so that they can help their child improve.
ReplyDeleteI agree that testing is important for teachers to know where their students stand so that they can help them.
That was a great response to include if you thought her scores reflected how she was doing in your class. We know that standardized tests like that are not always an accurate picture of ability.
ReplyDelete