Caleb Ricks
ITL 604
18 May 2019
Dr. Koeller
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1. Initial Thoughts:
A. Having her students’ IEPs would help Ms. Begay evaluate her students’ learning. I
find it interesting that she is unsure if José had an IEP. This type of information is
vital. How would Ms. Begay be able to asses her students’ learning if she does not
know if they have an IEP? If they do, then she cannot assume the general education
curriculum will reach her students. As Mrs. Hernandez states, having a student’s past
test scores will help the teacher asses the student’s learning. Mrs. Hernandez claims
that she would not expect Luke to have an IEP because he has an average score on
the previous year’s tests. In terms of Louisa, Mrs. Hernandez explains that she has
low test scores and will probably need additional help. Though the test scores are
helpful, I believe that they are too general to establish goals for student learning. If
Ms. Begay was able to access and score these tests and see where each student
succeeds and fails, she would be more equipped to establish learning goals for each
student. Furthermore, it would not make sense to assume that each student is
struggling with the same material. The test scores may indicate areas needing
improvement, but they do not indicate why the student is struggling. One student may
have an IEP while another student may have dyslexia. Overall, the actual test
questions and the ares/subjects tested would help Ms. Begay to establish realistic
B. Ms. Begay should be aware of her students’ progress in order to ensure that that her
teaching methods are reaching her students and to ensure that she is continuously
striving for improvement. Assessing student learning is a key strategy to assess and
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improve one’s own teaching. If Ms. Begay is not sure why her students are
struggling, assessing her students will provide the reason why. One student may be
struggling with reading and spelling because he/she is an English learner while
another student may be struggling because he/she has an IEP and needs tests to be
presented in different a format than for other students. Assessing student learning will
allow Ms. Begay to see if her teaching methods are successful. If she assesses her
students weekly, she can analyze their scores to determine if her teaching methods
are successful. If not, then Ms. Begay can adjust her teaching methods as needed.
C. Ms. Begay can asses her students’ learning to see if her students have mastered the
assessment of the degree to which students have mastered the objectives that were set
for the lesson.” Slavin (2018) further elaborates that “assessment can involve
traditional quiz.” After each lesson or at the end of each weekly topic, Ms. Begay can
quiz her students using one of the methods Slavin (2018) suggests in order to
determine the successfulness of each lesson and the successfulness of her teaching
methods. If the scores of the assessment are low, then Ms. Begay will need to change
the lesson or mode of the lesson or even show that Ms. Begay should reteach the
lesson. If the assessment scores are high, then Ms. Begay will be confident that her
2. Assessment:
A. While annual achievement tests reveal a student’s overall academic progress for
the year, progress monitoring provides current student academic progress through
tests, progress monitoring provides the teacher with feedback on the lesson
currently being taught in the classroom. This will allow the teacher to tackle any
students who have a weak grasp on a subject to not be tested regularly throughout
the year and will not alert the teacher of any immediate shortcomings in the
lesson. Furthermore, rather than one large testing session, progress monitoring
continually assess student understanding in real time rather than moving on to the
basis and provides the teacher with immediate results and frequent feedback.
achievement tests and occur less frequently and test students on a greater wealth
before moving onto the next. While mastery measurements focus on a specific
period of time and therefore provides less specific feedback for the teacher. Also,
students’ academic progress on all skills within a given subject across the year.
success over time and provides graphical data (with the x-axis being time or the
independent variable), teachers are able to identify those students who will not be
able to meet the academic goals at the end of the year. Teachers can access this
data during any time of the year to track student progress. At-risk students will be
evidently below the average line of students who are mastering the material. Also,
CBM allows students to track their own progress and be more aware of their
opportunity to take responsibility for their own academic progress and track it
throughout the year. Lastly, CBM provides students’ parents with their academic
D. Step 1 of CBM involves the teacher creating the appropriate tests for the students.
Ideally, throughout the year, students will get more and more questions correct on
the tests. Step 2 requires the teacher to administer the tests/assessments at regular
intervals. To ensure reliability and validity, the tests are scored the same way each
time. Step 3 involves the teacher graphing the scores so that students can track
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their own progress and so that teachers can track the progress of individuals
students and adjust instruction as needed. Step 4 requires the teacher to set goals
which are essential for teachers to indicate expected levels of mastery (mastery
both weekly and annually). Step 5 involves the teacher making instructional
decisions based on the graphical data gained from the assessments. The teacher
meet students’ needs. Finally, step 6 involves the teacher communicating progress
E. For step 1, I would create the appropriate test for the subject (times tables) . The
initial probes will consist of times tables that the students will not have learned,
but the idea is that they will master these times tables as the year progresses. For
step 2, I will administer these tests at regular intervals (such as every Thursday)
so that I can ensure reliability and validity regarding my students’ scores and
format so that students and their parents can track their progress. The graph will
always illustrate the number of problems correct out of 25 (to maintain validity
and reliability). I can also use the statistical data to adapt my lesson/teaching
method and determine which students require additional instruction. For step 4, I
will set goals for the assessment, such as all students will master their 7 times
tables by March. This way, I can realistically track students progress and
determine their level of mastery at a given time. For step 5, I will use the
statistical data from each assessment to adjust my instruction. If, for example, my
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students were not mastering their 7 times tables towards the end of February, then
I will know to adapt my instruction so that my students can achieve the academic
goal. For step 6, I will communicate the results of each assessment online through
Google classroom so that my students can tack their own progress and so that the
parents can communicate with me regarding their children’s scores with the
statistical data.
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References
Slavin, Robert E. (2018). Educational psychology (12th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.