Assessment+Interview

**by Tamara Woodruff ** I interviewed Ms. Specks, who teaches grade levels K-5 in Evanston, IL.
 * Teacher Interview: Ms. Vicki Specks **

 The following is a synopsis of her answers to the interview questions. **//What can administration provide to assist teachers? //** The administration can make it mandatory to train all staff on how to administer school wide based assessments so that the responsibility does not fall primarily on Pupil Services staff (Special Education Staff). In my school the special education staff and the Intervention Specialists (School Psychologists) have to administer school-wide CBMS to about 400+ students in a matter of two days. If classroom teachers were trained and part of this process, classroom teachers would be more in tune to the progress of the students within their own rooms because they could do this monthly for students who are in PLT as well as generating a quicker data collection time frame. 

We use CBMS, IRI's, Harcourt curriculum assessments, MAP Testing, Math Probes/Writing Probes, and Vocabulary/Language Probes, BASK and other behavioral assessments.  CBM's  IRI's   Math Probes Vocab/Language probes **//How much time and effort goes into differentiation in the classroom? //** We have a co-teaching and RTI model, plus our reading and math series is already leveled. There is also pull-out for students who are falling two or more years below. There are centers set up around classrooms that are differentiated. Tests are also modified for students depending upon their needs. We also have adaptive technology programs that are used.  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The pros are that they can give you a range of knowledge of what the students are retaining as a whole group. The cons are that they do not assess in a differentiated way. Some students perform better by either speaking or demonstrating. The tests are not differentiated and therefore modalities of displaying knowledge are overlooked and they do not represent an accurate score for certain students. Also those students who are ESL or speak a native language other than English can interfere in accuracy of scores, plus cultural differences these tests do not take into consideration that this affects comprehension scores not being an accurate reflection on these tests. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The pros are that they can be more differentiated. The cons are that depending upon the teacher they can be the only way that they choose to assess a child and that does not give a well rounded view of students learning and does not always aid in RTI. It's just one part of data collection when problem solving a student. **//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">How are assessments administered? Who organizes the testing site, time management and data management? //** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">The Intervention Specialists and Pupil Services team organize the schedule for school wide assessment. They also administer and score them. Then they enter data into a program called AIMSWEB which tracks progress and provides graphs given to parents comparing student’s growth from year to year. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">In RTI the classroom teacher is given six weeks to collect assessments. The types of assessments that are used for data collection are agreed upon with their grade level team during the PLT (School Problem Solving Meeting). After six weeks the teacher(s) are to come back with the data to be shared to see if intervention in place has helped or failed. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">School wide takes about two days to administer and about 1-2 weeks to enter all scores and give data to classroom teachers/ administration. More individualized takes 4-6 weeks of application of intervention/data collection with use of assessment. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Workshops and CEC, plus reading about researched based testing on the web. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">CBM's  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">MAP <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Harcourt <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">IRI's  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Math/Writing probes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Spelling/classroom tests <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">MAP scores are sent home three times a year. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">CBM progress is shared with parents during conferences and they are given a graph of the progress to keep for their own records. Conferences are twice a year. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">RTI/ problem solving assessments are shared with them at a meeting. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">IEP meetings also are a time where assessment/progress is shared and a copy of progress graphs are given to them to keep for their records.
 * //What kinds of assessments do you use?//**
 * //Which assessments do you think give you the best information?//**
 * //What are some of the pros and cons of high stakes tests?//**
 * //What are some of the pros and cons of classroom assessments?//**
 * //How much time does assessment take?//**
 * //How do you keep your knowledge of and practices with assessment up-to-date?//**
 * //What kinds of ongoing assessments are taking place?//**
 * //How is information from data communicated to parents?//**