Professional Development Course on Catering for Diversity
in English Language Teaching
ENG5316
Assessing Diversity in English Language Learning
Session 6
Assessing progress, learning plans and
statements
Prepared by YANG, Chi Cheung Ruby,
Department of English, HKIEd
Assessment
 “Assessment is more than merely testing students. Rather,
it involves collecting data to form a holistic picture of a
student so that the teacher can plan instruction and
promote student progress” (Meese, 2001, p. 130).
 In combination, the various forms of assessment give
teachers the needed documentation by which to make
informed educational decisions to promote student
achievement.
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Steps in the Assessment Process
Identification and Referral
Program Planning
Program Implementation and
Evaluation
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Identification and Referral
 Identification of students with possible disabilities
 Involve the largest number of students
 Not necessarily result in referral
 When a disability is suspected, the assessment process
involves a multidimentional evaluation.
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Screening and Teacher Identification
 Complete checklists or rating forms to identify students
with potential problems
 Conferences with students and parents
 Review of school records
 Changes in instruction
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Checklists and Rating Scales
 Checklists are sequential lists of skills that the teacher
completes for a particular student.
 Rating scales are instruments by which the teacher
judges a student’s performance or behavior.
 The rating is often completed using a Likert scale
measure.
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Program Planning
 Design of the Individualized Education Program (IEP)
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Design of the IEP
 Developed before the student begins to receive special
services
 A meeting must be held to examine the appropriateness
of the IEP and revise it, if necessary
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Program Implementation and Evaluation
 To determine whether the educational program is
effective or not
 Modify the program, if necessary
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What should be included in the IEP?
 Student’s present levels of educational performance
 A statement of measurable annual goals & short-term
objectives
 Needed special education, supplementary aids, & program
modifications and supports
 The projected date for the beginning of the services and
modifications, and the anticipated frequency, location, and
duration of those services and modifications
 A statement of how the student’s progress toward the annual
goals will be measured
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Ongoing Monitoring of Progress
 Analysis of work samples
 Criterion-referenced test
 Observation
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Informal Assessment in the
Classroom
 Informal assessment procedures make use of any data the
teacher collects to monitor the progress of students and
make instructional decisions.
 Informal assessment methods often employ the specific
curricular materials used when teaching students.
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Curriculum-Based Assessment
 When assessment involves the actual curricular
materials that students are using, the procedure is called
curriculum-based assessment.
 Frequent and direct assessment, when used to evaluate
student objectives, helps teachers determine the
effectiveness of instruction.
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Curriculum-Based Assessment
 APPLY as a framework
A = ____________ the curriculum
Determine the foundational skills, important competencies and ultimate
outcomes for students.
P = __________ items to meet curriculum objectives
P = __________ frequently
Give the CBA several times across the days in order to make decisions
about student learning.
L = __________ data on a graph
Use a graph to plot daily performance data.
Y = __________ to results
Make decisions regarding student progress and revise instruction
accordingly.
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Authentic Assessment & PerformanceBased Assessment
 Authentic assessment and performance assessment are
two terms often used interchangeably to refer to testing
a student’s ability to produce an answer or product that
demonstrates his or her knowledge or skills.
 Results on students’ class assignments, anecdotal records,
writing samples, and observational data on behavior are
all examples of authentic assessments (Bryant, et al.,
2008).
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Portfolios
 Portfolios are a form of performance assessment.
 With teacher guidance, students select various items to place
in their portfolio to document their learning and progress
across curricular areas.
 A portfolio can serve as a vehicle for measuring a child’s
current level of functioning and his or her progress toward
annual goals and objectives on the IEP.
 It is an excellent tool to facilitate communication between
parents and teachers about student progress.
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Criterion-Referenced Assessment
 How will the teacher determine that a student has
mastered an objective?
 A criterion-referenced test compares a student’s
performance to a preset criterion.
 The criterion is often an objective that states that a
student can perform a particular task to a specified level.
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Observation
 Another common method used for informal assessment
of both academic and behavioral performance is direct
observation.
 Procedures: anecdotal recording, event recording,
duration recording, or time-sampling
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Review of the IEP
 Evaluate the student’s progress toward the IEP goals
 Evaluate the effectiveness of services or supports
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Task 1
 Form in groups of 3-4.
 Identify a student who is suspected to have learning
difficulties.
 Try to design an individualized education program (IEP)
for that student.
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Assessment of SEN in Hong Kong
Special Educational Needs
Specific Learning Difficulties
(dyslexia)
Intellectual Disability
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorders
To be confirmed by educational psychologists (EP) or clinical
psychologists (CP)
To be confirmed by EPs, CPs, or Child Assessment Service of the
Department of Health/Hospital Authority
To be confirmed by psychiatrists or Child Assessment Service of the
Department of Health/Hospital Authority
To be confirmed by psychiatrists
Physical Disability
To be confirmed by medical doctors as having significant disability
Visual Impairment
To be confirmed by ophthalmologists, or General Eye and Low Vision
Centre of the Hong Kong Society for the Blind
Hearing Impairment
Speech and Language Impairment
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Professional Assessment
To be confirmed by audiologists
To be confirmed by speech therapist as having moderate to severe
speech and language difficulty or having fluency disorder of any severity
Principles and Strategies for
Assessment
 Flexible assessment arrangements can be made according
to students’ special learning needs (Education and
Manpower Bureau, 2004).
 special design for the format of examination papers and
answer sheets,
 arrangement for appropriate examination venues,
 adaptation of examination time, etc.
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Principles and Strategies for
Assessment
 Taking into account students’ learning difficulties, they
should be assessed according to their situations
(Education and Manpower Bureau, 2004). For instance,
 Students with serious and profound hearing impairment
can be exempted from listening examinations
 Dictation marks of the students with dyslexia are not
counted in the calculation of the total scores in language
subject examinations
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Some Special Arrangements for
SEN Students
 Large print examination papers
 Extra 5-15 minutes can be given to mildly visually impaired
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students for each hour of examination time
A 5-10 minutes break can be arranged halfway during the
examination when necessary
Assessment instructions must be simple, direct and clear
with concrete examples
Leave enough space for answers
Avoid the use of separate answer sheets
Some Special Arrangements for
SEN Students
 Flexibly reduce the use of copying for answering questions, e.g.,
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circle or underline the correct answers in the passage for
reading comprehension
An additional time allowance of up to 25% for finishing test or
examination papers
Allow using computers as a tool for writing for students who
demonstrate extreme writing difficulties
Reduce the amount required for dictation
Teachers may consider using “fill in the blanks” instead of
dictating the whole paragraph
Schools may adopt the system of giving marks for the right
answers instead of deducting marks for errors
Case Study: Support for SEN Students in
XXX Secondary School
 Whole-school Approach to Catering for Student Diversity
 Write up an Individual Education Profile (IEPro) for each
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student with special educational needs (SEN).
Conduct diagnostic tests of Chinese, English and Mathematics.
Conduct Chinese and English handwriting tests to assess students’
writing speed.
Set up Chinese, English and Mathematics resource classes for
SEN students and have an Individual Education Plan (IEP)
written for each student in the classes by the subject teachers.
Implement Differentiated Instruction.
Implement the One Student One Mentor Scheme.
Differentiated Instruction
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 Graded teaching materials and exam papers
 Low level / SEN students
Copying sentences
Answering factual questions
Main points are highlighted
Keywords are bolded / represented with pictures
Greater line spacing
Simpler and clearer layout
 Middle level
Copying and constructing sentences
Answering factual and inferential questions
 High level
Constructing sentences
Answering inferential and reflective questions
Task 2
 Based on the short story provided, see if you can set
some factual, inferential, and reflective questions for
students of low, middle, and high levels.
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Prepared by YANG, Chi Cheung Ruby,
Department of English, HKIEd
Support for SEN Students
 Is there any special support for SEN students at your
teaching school? If yes, share with other participants.
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Evaluation
 To conduct self-evaluation on SEN support.
 To develop an annual plan for the following school year.
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Self-Evaluation Process
 Planning
SWOT analysis
 Implementation
 Evaluation
Year-end Evaluation Form for Individual Student
Year-end Evaluation Form at School Level
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Whole School Approach
 Think about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats at your teaching school that may affect its
implementation of the Whole School Approach to
Integrated Education.
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References
 Bryant, D. P., Smith, D. D., & Bryant, B. R. (2009). Teaching students with special
needs in inclusive classrooms. Boston, Mass.: Allyn & Bacon.
 Education and Manpower Bureau. (2004). Whole school approach: Principles and
strategies for assessment. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from Education Bureau Website:
http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_3296/assessment_e1.pdf
 Meese, R. L. (2001). Teaching learners with mild disabilities: Integrating research and
practice (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
 Spinelli, C. G. (2006). Classroom assessment for students in special and general
education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.
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