Secondary Assessments:
Don’t Let the Results Sit on the
Shelf
Just Read, Florida! Leadership Conference
June 30-July 2, 2008
Presented by
Randee Winterbottom
Florida Center for Reading Research
Objectives
Participants will:
– Know of legislation related to assessment
– Know general types of assessments and their
purposes
– Become familiar with the new Florida
Assessments
– Become familiar with the use of informal
(formative) classroom assessment
– Know how to access information about intensive
intervention programs
Assessment without the
capability and will to respond to
the information it generates is
essentially a waste of time.
Joseph Torgesen, Ph.D
Purposes for Assessment
Compare students to national norms
Yield new information
Guide instruction
Placement
Promotion/retention
Inform parents
Statute 1008.25
(4) ASSESSMENT AND REMEDIATION.-(a) Each student must participate in the statewide assessment
tests required by s. 1008.22. Each student who does not meet
specific levels of performance as determined by the district school
board in reading… for each grade level, or who scores below Level
3 in reading …, must be provided with additional diagnostic
assessments to determine the nature of the student's difficulty, the
areas of academic need, and strategies for appropriate intervention
and instruction as described in paragraph (b).
(b) The school in which the student is enrolled must develop, …
and must implement a progress monitoring plan. A progress
monitoring plan is intended to provide the school district and the
school flexibility in meeting the academic needs of the student and
to reduce paperwork. A student who is not meeting the school
district or state requirements for proficiency in reading and math
shall be covered by one of the following plans to target instruction
and identify ways to improve his or her academic achievement:
1. A federally required student plan such as an individual education
plan;
2. A school wide system of progress monitoring for all students; or
3. An individualized progress monitoring plan.
What’s in law 6A-6.054 K-12?
Middle and High Schools:
Districts must establish criteria other
than FCAT for placing students into
levels of intensity for intervention
Districts must determine fluency
assessments and benchmark criteria for
placement of students in intervention.
Examples may include- screening,
diagnostic and progress monitoring
assessments already in use
Law - continued
Schools must diagnose specific
reading deficiencies of students
scoring level 1 or 2 on FCAT
Schools must progress monitor
students scoring level 1 or 2 on FCAT,
at least 3X/year – BOY, MOY, EOY
Let’s summarize assessments
referred to in the law
Screening – first alert
Progress Monitoring – formative - growth
rates (classroom assessments for learning)
Diagnostic – in depth (specific deficiencies)
Should be used very sparingly
Outcome – summative – end of year, end
of unit (assessments of learning) FCAT
Screening
What may already be in place?
Program specific placement tests
FCAT from prior year
Grades
Informal classroom assessments
FORF/Mazes (BOY)
Published Assessments
TOWRE
Quick Phonics Screener (QPS)
Others
Progress Monitoring
What may already be in place?
Program specific progress monitoring measures
FORF/Mazes
Published Assessments
Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic
Evaluation (GRADE)
Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE)
Lexia CRT
Spellography Spelling Inventory
Test of Written Spelling TWS-4
Others
Diagnostic
Published assessments
Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR)
Gates MacGinitie
Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI)
Quick Phonics Screener (QPS)
Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic
Evaluation (GRADE)
Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT)
Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT)
Others
Diagnostic Assessment to Guide
Instruction
Comprehension
Vocabulary
Fluency
Phonics/Decoding
Phonemic Awareness
Diagnostic Assessment to Guide
Instruction
Comprehension
FCAT, QRI, GRADE
Vocabulary
PPVT (oral), EVT (oral), Gates MacGinitie (Reading)
Fluency
QRI, TOSWRF, GORT
Phonics/Decoding
QPS, TOWRE (Non Word), Lexia CRT, Test of Written Spelling
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing CTOPP
Trends and Issues
Using progress monitoring measures to
make high stakes decisions
Purpose of PM is to “take a student’s
temperature” along the way to inform instruction
(formative)
FORF Passage Readabilities – best way to
make sure there are no passage effects is
to conduct equating studies
JRF Office suggests that schools continue
to assess students in reading all the way
through 12th grade to meet needs of
college bound and other students.
Trends and Issues, continued
Equating is a process which allows
scores on two or more forms of a test
to say the same thing. When
passages vary in difficulty, they are
equated to make the score on the
hard passage mean the same thing
as the score on the easy passage.
E.g., a difficult passage score of 15
would be the same thing as an easy
passage of 40.
Rule of thumb…
High stakes decisions should be
based on more than one data point.
Best practice is to look at several data
points, e.g., classroom performance,
formative and summative
assessments, quizzes, progress
monitoring
Trends and Issues, continued
More emphasis is placed on teachers
administering the assessments vs.
assessment teams and others
Big push is to use the data from the
measures to inform instruction
Which measures can provide the teacher with
the best information when it comes to
instruction? Many assessments don’t assist
with instructional decision making at the
classroom level
When choosing assessments think
about the purpose for each
What decisions will be made as a result of
the assessment data?
Who will make the decisions?
What data is most crucial in making good
decisions?
Which ones will be the most useful for
planning instruction?
So… what should assessments do to meet
the goals for improvement in adolescent
literacy?
Determine if instructional programs are
successful in helping students meet end-ofyear goals
Assist teachers in making appropriate
adjustments to instruction
Provide information to identify the varying
levels of intervention needed to help
students meet goals
Assessment without the
capability and will to respond to
the information it generates is
essentially a waste of time.
Joseph Torgesen, Ph.D
Another way to say it…
Assessments result
in action!
Data Analysis
The assessment system must
allocate sufficient time for data
analysis and collaborative decision
making
Data-based decision making needs to
be supported and encouraged by
school leaders
Formative Assessments to Guide
Instruction
Formative – they help form instruction
An assessment is formative to the
extent that information from the
assessment is used, during the
instructional segment in which the
assessment occurred, to adjust
instruction with the intent of better
meeting the needs of the students
assessed. (Perie, Marion, Gong 2007)
Effective formative assessment
involves:
Establishing specific and well explained
learning goals
Setting up instructional contexts that
provide lots of opportunities for the teacher
to assess how well students are doing
Providing responsive correction and
support to build understanding
Engaging students in the establishment of
criteria for evaluation – so that they think
they are reasonable, and so they
understand them ~ Marshall (2007)
Another robust quote…
“The most powerful
single innovation that
enhances
achievement is
feedback.” ~
Marzano et al. 2001
Classroom / Alternative Assessments
Often involve process and not just
product
Provide specific feedback to assist
students’ learning
Should involve students in setting up
criteria for mastery or a rubric for
scoring
Enable students to self evaluate
Formative / Summative
Assessments
Fact Finding Through Fraternizing
This activity uses students as
instructors in small groups to teach
concepts using cards with information
on a selected topic
May use key passages from students’
texts to promote learning of difficult
concepts
Directions
Get in groups of 6
Each person take a different card
Study the card for 5 minutes
Each person in group shares
information on card with the group (7
minutes)
Complete response sheet
Jeopardy Style Testing
After completing a unit of study, give a
review quiz whereby the answer is
given and the students come up with
appropriate questions (should be
more than one right question)
The answer is …
What is the question?
Not in your handout… Great
resource
Classroom Assessment for Student
Learning
Doing It Right --- Using it Well
Rick Stiggins
Judith Arter
Jan Chappuis
Steve Chappuis
ETS www.ets.org
GRADE Group
Reading Assessment
and Diagnostic
Evaluation
•Provides data for
older students to
assist with
instructional decision
- making
Group Reading Assessment and
Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE)
Can be group administered
Out-of-level testing is available
Students who are in need of
intensive interventions may
need to be assessed below
their grade enrollments
Vocabulary – measures decoding
and vocabulary knowledge
GRADE cont.
Vocabulary – measures decoding
and vocabulary knowledge
Sentence Comprehension –
measures ability to comprehend a
sentence as a complete thought
Listening Comprehension –
measures understanding of spoken
language
GRADE cont.
Passage Comprehension –
measures ability to comprehend
extended text as a whole
Test is not timed but
recommendation is for two 30 –
minute sessions
Has 2 forms making progress
monitoring an option
GRADE cont.
Norm-referenced – with a variety of score
types: stanines, percentiles, normal curve
equivalencies, standard scores, grade
equivalents
Provides Diagnostic Analysis Summary for
each subtest
Passages include narrative and expository
and vary in length
Scores reported – percentiles, standard
scores, grade equivalency, normal curve
equivalency
Includes diagnostic analysis summary
Test of Word Reading Efficiency
(TOWRE)
Norm referenced- screening, progress
monitoring
Grades 1- 12
Individual administration
5-10 minutes
Word recognition, decoding
Questions/Comments
Contact Information:
Assessments@fcrr.org
850-644-9352