1. Response to Intervention
1.1. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-teared approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs.
1.2. High quality scientifically based classroom instruction, ongoing student assessment, tiered instructions, and parent involvement are important components to the RTI process.
1.3. The RTI process has both academic and behavioral aspects.
1.4. Tier 1 instruction is the core teaching program provided to all students in regular content area classrooms.
1.4.1. Critical questions of Tier 1 instruction are: is the instruction well delivered, is it effective, and is the support for fidelity of implementation?
1.5. Tier 2 intervention is targeted intervention typically provided to a small group (3-5) of students.
1.5.1. It is supplemental instruction in addition to regular instruction provided in Tier 1.
1.6. Tier 3 is intensive intervention designed for 1-5% of students who will need intensive instruction in addition to the other tiers of instruction.
2. Assessing Materials
2.1. Selecting materials for students is a vital decision for every classroom teacher.
2.2. Readability formulas are objective ways to determine grade-level difficulty. They are designed as mathematical equations that use a number of personal pronouns, the average number of syllables in words, or number of words in sentences to estimate the difficulty of a text.
2.3. The Fry Readability Graph
2.3.1. The formula is designed to measure the grade level of a text from Grade 1 through college.
2.3.2. Depends only on sentence length and number of syllables in words in 100-word passages.
2.4. Lexile
2.4.1. Lexile measures are expressed as numeric values followed by an "L"
2.4.2. They measure text complexity ranging from 200L for beginning readers to over 1700L for advanced readers.
3. Assessing Students' Understanding of Texts
3.1. The Cloze Procedure
3.1.1. The cloze procedure does not use a formula to estimate text difficulty.
3.1.2. As readers interact with a text that has missing words, they will have to think of words that will fill in, or complete, the meaning of that text.
3.1.3. A student's competency with filling in the blanks reflects his or her potential for comprehending that text.
3.1.4. Provides an alternative to a readability formula and provides information about how students will perform in comprehending course materials.
4. Assessing Student Learning in the Era of New Educational Standards
4.1. The move from NCLB to the CCSS is bringing about shifts in instructions, curriculum, and assessments.
4.2. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (PARCC)
4.2.1. A common set of k-12 assessments in English and Math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers.
4.2.2. PARCCS is designed to reward quality instruction aligned to the Standards, so the assessment is worthy of preparation rather than distraction from good work.
4.3. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)
4.3.1. A state-led consortium working to develop next-generation assessments that accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness.
4.3.2. THE SBAC promises to provide flexible, valid, reliable, and fair assessment of the types of understanding and thinking skills needed for college and career readiness in today's world.
5. Assessment and Instruction
5.1. Assessment refers to the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information from multiple sources to measure student achievements and understanding.
5.2. "Assessment should drive instruction."
5.3. No one assessment can provide all the needed information needed for teaching and learning.
6. Types of Assessment
6.1. Formative Assessment and the CCSS
6.1.1. Formative assessment is used during instruction to provide feedback to students about their progress. It makes ongoing instructional adjustments to improve student learning.
6.1.2. For assessment to be effective it needs to provide effective feedback to students, students need to be actively involved in learning, teachers need to make adjustments based on assessments, it needs to be considered on how it can impact student motivation and self-esteem, and teachers need to engage students in self-assessment to help them understand how they can improve.
6.1.3. Formative assessment is about teaching, not about testing.
6.2. International Assessments
6.2.1. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests are not directly linked to school curricula.
6.2.2. PISA tests are designed to assess broad skills.
6.2.3. PISA data informs and shapes policy-making.
6.3. National Assessments
6.3.1. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative, state-comparable assessment of what America's students know and can do in different content areas.
6.3.2. NAEP results serve as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts.
6.3.3. NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools.
6.4. Standardized Tests
6.4.1. A standardized, formal, or statewide test is a test that is administered and scores in a "standard" manner.
6.4.2. Provides a general picture about a student's performance. They also show how well school districts, and/or particular grade levels, are meeting state/district-wide standards.
6.4.3. Standardized scores are based on the Normal Curve.
6.4.4. They provide valid, reliable, and quantifiable information that can be used for placement purposes and accountability purposes.
6.5. Authentic Assessment
6.5.1. The teacher plays a key role.
6.5.2. It refers to evaluation of student content knowledge, take place in naturalistic settings and situations, within specific content areas.
6.5.3. Authentic assessments can be formal or informal.
6.6. How to Implement an Effective Informal/Classroom-Based Assessment System
6.6.1. What do you need to assess? When, or how often and why?
6.6.2. Make the learning goals and instructional process cleat to students.
6.6.3. Use assessment data to place students in different groups, and provide different instructional supports and differentiation.
6.6.4. Set clear performance standards.
6.6.5. Teachers do not need to grade or collect everything a student produces in class.
6.6.6. Classroom observation is another form of informal and ongoing assessment.
6.6.7. Checklists are useful tools for collecting information on specific objectives in the classroom.
6.6.8. Questionnaires and surveys can help the teacher assess students' attitudes toward a skill or activity.
6.6.9. Interviews can be used with portfolio assessments, teacher-student conferences, or they can be used at different times to address specific student needs.
6.6.10. Portfolios are a great tool for authentic assessment.
6.6.10.1. A portfolio is a representative sampling of any student work that demonstrates students' strengths and what they've accomplished.
7. Policy, High-Stakes Testing, and Accountability
7.1. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 aimed to improve the performance of US primary and secondary schools by requiring states to adopt comprehensive assessment and accountability systems for identifying and improving under-performing schools.
7.2. NCLB supporters attribute the increased student performance in reading and mathematics reflected in the NAEP results to NCLB.
7.2.1. Critics on NCLB have been vocal about how the pressure and school implications of standardized testing promoted a culture of narrow curriculum and "teaching to the test."
7.3. Issues and Concerns about High-Stakes Testing
7.3.1. High stakes testing means that one test is used to make decisions about students, teachers, and schools.
7.3.2. The American Psychological Association (APA) warns us against the negative impact of high-stakes testing and suggests that decisions should not be made solely on one test that may not accurately reflect the progress and achievement a student made in a year.
7.3.3. No single test can meet the needs of students, teachers, schools, policy-makers, and the community.