Sally: you make a lot of sense. One more point I would like to make .... I like quick assessments, but realize the need for more indepth assessments like a DRA. The DRA gives great info, but it takes a bit of time. The approach that my colleague Nancy Padak and I take is that a quick assessment such as our Three Minute one or any other that may be devised can be given to all children 2-4 times a year very quickly. Those children who perform poorly or for whom we need more information are good candidates for the more indepth assessment like the DRA. We feel that not every child needs a full blown DRA or IRI - such assessments take time that might otherwise be used for teaching. Rather, we think that we should rely on teachers' good judgment sustained by a quick objective assessment, and save the more thorough assessments for the children for whom we really need more thorough and detailed diagnostic and formative assessment.
Timothy Rasinski, Ph.D. Reading and Writing Center 404 White Hall Kent State University Kent, OH 44242 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 330-672-0649 Cell: 330-962-6251 Fax: 330-672-2025 Informational website: www.timrasinski.com Professional Development DVD: http://www.roadtocomprehension.com/ -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of thomas Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 10:19 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Corrections/assessment Hi Tim, I see now. You are saying the purpose of your assessment is to be that "several times a year" calibration and you've worked to make it short and still authentic and valid and reliable. Sounds good to me. I guess the only remaining concern I would have is for the teacher to be knowledgeable enough and know her/his students well enough to be able to judge the difference using a particular passage might have on an individual student. So if the "test" and the classroom performance overall disagree, the teacher would know to try a different passage? A lot depends on the schema and interest a student brings to a particular text. Does this make sense? Triangulation is my motto. In the end I need to have a wide range of information to reflect and ponder on, preferably with my peers if possible. I'll take a look at the assessment at Scholastic! Sally On 6/28/07 5:09 AM, "RASINSKI, TIMOTHY" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sally -- I agree that teachers' judgements of student progress is essential > and most important. However, I think you answered your own query (very > elegantly I might add) in your note below. I think we all need calibrate our > judgements against some norms from time to time (say 3 times a year or so) to > ensure that our own judgements are on track. That is why I think it is > important to keep assessments as quick and focused as possible. > > Timothy Rasinski > 404 White Hall > Kent State University > Kent, OH 44242 > 330-672-0649 > Cell -- 330-962-6251 > FAX 330-672-2025 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > informational website: www.timrasinski.com > professional development DVD: http://www.roadtocomprehension.com/ > <https://exchange.kent.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.roadtoco mprehe > nsion.com/> > > ________________________________ > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of thomas > Sent: Thu 6/28/2007 12:47 AM > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Corrections/assessment > > > > Here's what I don't quite understand. Why do I need an assessment approach > separate from my teaching? As a teacher I need to be reading with, > interacting with every student often! I don't need a "separate" assessment. > It might be valuable to every once in awhile double check with some outside > benchmarks if you will (say several times a year to "calibrate" my judgment > with that of others) but mostly I need to be able to read with every student > individually REGULARLY and I need to be conferencing with and negotiating > writing goals and progress with every student regularly. I need to have > internalized how to listen to and see student work knowledgeably. So WHY > the big concern with assessments that are separate from my being able to > reflect on what students are doing with the actual real work of my classroom > as we are DOING IT? > > Honestly, why aren't we trusting our own internalized understandings of how > to see studentlearning and progress through the actual work of the > classroom. I'm not trying to be difficult. I just don't get why this would > not be our ultimate goal. > > Sally > > > On 6/27/07 5:42 PM, "RASINSKI, TIMOTHY" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Nancy Padak and myself developed an assessment system we call Three-Minute >> Reading Assessments, Grades 1-4, and 5-8 (Scholastic). It is quick >> assessment that is a cross between running records, informal reading >> inventories, and DIBELS. From a few minutes of reading teachers can get a >> sense for their students' word recognition, automaticity in word decoding, >> expression/prosody, and comprehension. We purposefully made it a quick >> assessment because we know that time is precious in classrooms and that time >> given to assessment is time taken away from instruction. >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
