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Amber L. Kelly
DIFF 503
Professor Diana Lawrence-Brown
Educational Evaluation: Part 1
A. Student Data
1. Megan Vogel (This is the student’s actual name)
2. Date of Birth: 7/19/1998, Age 14
3. Megan is being observed in a 9th grade English classroom. This class is a
general education classroom which is studying at Regents level. Students
range from ages 14-15 and only 1 student in Megan’s class has an IEP.
There are a total of 14 students in the class being observed. There is one
teacher available for support in the classroom, no additional support is
provided to these students.
4. The student will be informally observed from 10:10am-10:50am from
Monday-Friday. The Woodcock Reading Mastery Assessment will be
completed on Thursday February 6, 2013. Informal Assessments will be
conducted as homework during the week of January 31, 2013. In-depth
informal assessments will be conducted on Friday February 1, 2013.
B. Referral Information1. Megan’s reading comprehension skills will be evaluated through a series of
assessments as it is presumed that she is gifted in this area. By completing
this evaluation, it will be easier to identify whether or not Megan should be
placed in an Honors English program her sophomore year. This could benefit
her because she will be challenged rather than complacent and bored in the
ELA classroom.
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2. Megan has not been identified formally as being gifted/talented as the
catholic school she attends does not offer programs for students with
exceptionalities.
3. Referral form attached
C. Background information1. Family History- Megan’s birth parents are separated. However, her
biological father has full custody of her and she lives primarily with her
father and stepmother who is listed on Megan’s catholic school application as
her mother. Her father works currently as a master plumber and her
stepmother works as a clerical worker for the town of West Seneca.
2. Cultural Background-Megan’s primary language is English and this is the only
language she speaks. Her aunt speaks Spanish as her main language but
Megan does not come into contact with her very often as she resides on the
west coast.
3. Family History of Exceptionalities-Megan has no known history of
exceptionalities in her family.
4. Medical History-Megan has no known health issues that would effect her
learning ability in any way.
5. Peer Relationships-Megan is very social and comfortable with her
classmates. She is known by her classmates as an “overachiever” and a
“perfectionist” because she outwardly expresses her concern about getting
perfect grades and when she doesn’t achieve high grades (90 or above) she is
visably displeased. She recently tried out for the basketball team but did not
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make it. She still has maintained solid friendships with the other females
that made the team.
6. Testing Needs- After observation, It has been decided that Megan would benfit
from an evaluation of reading comprehension skills. This is the same need that was
identified in the referral form.
E. Assessment Plan1. Standardized Assessment- Woodcock Reading Mastery Test
2. In depth Informal Assessment- ELA examination (Parts 1 and 2-Multiple
Choice) as well as an In depth quiz about the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”
3. Brief Informal assessment-Note Taking Comprehension Worksheet, TKAM
quote worksheet
D. Educational History:
1. Attendence-Megan attended the catholic institution “Fourteen Holy Helpers” from
kindergarten to 8th grade. She had no issues with attendance. The most amount of
times Megan was ever absent in one school year was 6 times and this occurred in
fourth grade. During this current year, she has only missed school two times. .
2. Achievement-Megan tries her best in all of her classes. In the month of October of
this year, she was names all-around student of the month, due to her high level of
achievement academically and her positive attitude. This past year she took the
EXPLORE exam which prepares students for the SAT and evaluates their current
academic progress. On this megan achieved extremely high marks in math and
language.
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3. Disciplinary Record- Megan does not have any serious problems with discipline
or behavior. At one point in December of this year, Megan forgot her homework and
was copying a friends assignment in the hall. She was caught and received
detention for this action. This is the only time Megan has been reprimanded thus far
during her educational career and it was formally documented.
1. Standardized Assessment:
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Woodcock Reading Mastery test: This test Provides thorough coverage of
reading readiness,basic skills, and comprehension.
“The validity of this assessment is drawn from four sources: content validity, a
multimethod-muItitrait matrix analysis, further intercorrelation data, and a
predictive study using the Mastery Scale. The multimethod-multitrait matrix
found the correlation coefficients rather high. For each part of the test the
coefficients ranged from positive .84-.94, which verifies adequate to very good
validity. The reliability was confirmed with respect to three kinds of
information: split-half reliabilities, test-retest, and alternate-form. The
coefficient found using test-retest reliability was found to be .97, which
suggests very good reliability. The SEM was found to be three mastery score
units. “
A. WRMT™-R/NU (Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests - Revised-Normative
Update)
B. This test is a comprehensive individual assessment of reading ability.
Each cluster of tests in this evaluation takes 10-30 minutes. The grade
range for this assessment is K-16. It is divided into 3 categories: Readiness,
Comprehension and Basic Skills
C. This assessment was chosen because as at the end of every school year,
students are recommended for placement in honors level classes This test
will assist educators at St. Marys in seeing if Megan is above grade-level
ability in terms of reading comprehension. If she is, she will be placed in a
more suitable environment for her academic abilities.
D. To find a basal level, the student should get the first 6 items correct. If
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this does not occur, you must return to the previous page and ask all of the
questions on said page. The ceiling of this assessment is found when the
student gets 6 consecutive items incorrect. A starting point for each subtest
is found using the student’s grade level. The exact question which the
student is to start at is listed on the bottom of the easel underneath the
Sample question at the beginning of each subtest.
Internal reliability
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Tests median = .91 (range .68 to .98)
•
Clusters median = .95 (range .87 to .98)
•
Total median = .97 (range .86 to .99)
(www.pearsonassessments.com)
Test/Retest-Yes
Alternate/Parallel Forms: yes
Validity: Content or Construct-See Attached Diagrams
Validity: Criterion: See Attached Diagrams
2. Informal Assessments:
a. In-depth:
1. Megan will be taking a New York State English Language Arts Exam. This is an
exam that is usually taken in a student’s junior year of high school to test their
reading skills, listening skills as well as their writing skills. Megan will be taking
parts 1 and 2 of this exam in order to test her comprehension skills in two ways,
through listening and reading. All of her responses will be multiple choice as
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Megan’s writing abilities are not being evaluated. If Megan does well on this as a
whole, it will be clear that she should be placed in a gifted setting such as honors
English. Allowing Megan to be observed using 2 reading comprehension styles
(listening comprehension and independent reading comprehension) It will be easier
for Megan’s academic teachers to hone in on what her specific strengths are in the
ELA classroom.
2. Megan will also be informally evaluated utilizing a comprehension test on the first
two chapters book her class is currently reading ( To Kill a Mockingbird). This quiz
will have more in-depth questions that require more in depth recall skills as well as
more critical thinking skills in comparison to the average 9th grade reading quiz.
This is a more advanced-level quiz in comparison to the quiz that would normally be
given due to the fact that it requires the student to recall more details. A quiz on the
first two chapters was given because at this point in the story, the students are not
familiar with the personalities and tendencies of the characters in the novel.
Therefore, this will strictly test Megan’s ability to recall detail and not to make
inferences.
b. Brief Informal Assessment:
1. Megan will be completing a worksheet which she is to fill out as she reads
chapters 1 and 2 of the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This sheet requires Megan to
make predictions about future events in the novel, make connections to her own life,
summarize the classic text in her own words and ask questions about the novel.
This assignment is above the average 9th grade level because it doesn’t only require
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a student to recite what happened in a specific chapter, but it requires the student to
think critically about what the author foreshadows. Also, this activity requires a
student to relate the text to their life. This is considered higher level thinking
because it displays a student’s genuine understanding and requires them to
translate the novel’s concepts to a different, more current setting. The average 9th
grader, would only be asked to recall details on a reading quiz.
2. Megan will also be given a brief assessment which requires her to refer back to
the text of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and find quotes which embody the atmosphere
and mood of the town of Maycomb, Alabama which is where the storyline takes
place. This displays Megan’s understanding of not only the storyline but of
advanced literary elements such as mood and setting. Said literary elements are
primarily studied in 10th grade, making this an advanced assessment for Megan.
Being able to utilize such elements as setting and mood and to apply them to specific
quotes signifies that a student understands the language in a story and also
understands the story’s plot in a more detailed manner. Megan’s classmates would
simply be asked to identify where and when the story takes place as opposed to the
atmospheric details and the mood of the setting.
5. Testing Sessions:
Formal: The Woodcock Reading Mastery Test will be the last item administered and
will be given on Thursday February 7th. This test will take approximately 40
minutes and will be conducted when Megan has a free period during the day for a
study hall. 3 subtests will be given during this time. They include: Word
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comprehension-antonyms, word comprehension-synonyms as well as passage
comprehension. The subtests will be given in that order in one sitting as Megan has
been observed to have a minimum of 40 minutes of focus. This was observed during
Megan’s daily class period.
Informal1. The New York State ELA examination (parts 1&2) will be given on Friday
February 1st during Megan’s free period. Because there are no written
responses to the questions and Megan is simply required to circle the
appropriate answer to a multiple choice question, this assessment should
take roughly 30 minutes. The majority of this testing session will be
absorbed with reading the listening passage and asking Megan to read 2one page passages on her own. There are only 20 questions total for this.
If Megan needs more than 30 minutes to complete this assessment, the
time will be given as speed is not a tested factor in this case.
2. The In-depth reading comprehension quiz will be given to Megan during
class as a substitute for the quiz that the rest of her class will be taken.
This will be given on January 18th and allows Megan 39 minutes to
complete the activity. This is the length of an entire class period. Megan
will not be given extra time to complete this assessment because her
classmates do not receive extra time to complete their quiz. This will
allow Megan’s performance to be compared to that of her peers. If she
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does not complete the assessment in the allotted time, it will signify that
Megan did not fully comprehend the chapter’s details.
Brief Informal:
1. Both Brief Informal assessments which include the quote worksheet as
well as the note connections worksheet will be given for Megan to complete as
homework. She will be given 1 whole week to turn in both completed worksheets.
It is important to note that answer keys are not included for these worksheets due
to the fact that these assignments require Megan to make connections from the plot
to her life and she is also required to make predictions based on her opinions and
understanding of the novel.