| SAU #70 Quality of Education Committee | |||
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Glossary of Terms Used on the Assessment Grid - DRAFTAssessment includes all activities that teachers and students undertake to obtain information that can be used diagnostically to alter teaching and learning. Under this definition, assessment encompasses teacher observation, classroom discussion, analysis of student work, common assessments, and State and National tests. Benchmark Books are a reading-screening tool used by 1st and 2nd grade teachers. Leveled books are used to assess students’ reading progress. Common Assessments are tools developed by SAU # 70 K-12 Curriculum Committee members in math, science, language arts (writing) and social studies that check student understanding of the benchmark goals. The assessments are given at various times during the year. Computation Inventory measures student’s calculation ability in whole numbers, fractions, and an understanding of place value. Criterion Referenced assessment allows interpretation of a test-taker's score in relation to a specific standard or criterion. Criterion-referenced tests are designed to help evaluate whether a child has met a specific level of performance. The individual's score is based not on how he or she does in comparison to how others perform, but on how the individual does in relation to absolute expectations about what he or she is supposed to know. An example of a criterion-referenced test is a timed arithmetic test that is scored for the number of problems answered correctly. Criterion-referenced tests measure what information an individual has retained and they give teachers feedback on the effectiveness of their teaching particular concepts. Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) is the method for scientifically based monitoring student progress using time efficient, accurate, and frequent assessment of basic skills. CBM is used to assess skills such as general reading achievement, reading comprehension, spelling, mathematics, and written expression. Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) helps K-3 teachers pinpoint students' strengths and reading ability, analyze student reading performance within a literature-based reading program, and set instructional goals specific to each child. Teachers use the DRA to document student progress over time and match readers to appropriate reading levels and books. District Benchmarks are the main concepts/ “big ideas” in each curriculum area. The goal is for 80% of all students to meet or exceed each district benchmark in each core area of study. Educators use the benchmark as target skills to be taught in each unit. Formative assessment emphasizes the mastery of classroom content instead of the earning of grades or test scores. Formative assessment is conducted throughout the entire instructional process to gauge students' progress. Results are then used to adapt instruction to meet students' needs. These adaptations can include reviewing material, alternative approaches to instruction, and additional practice. The district common assessments are formative assessments. Grade Level Expectation (GLE) The New Hampshire Department of Education, Rhode Island Department of Education, and Vermont Department of Education have developed a common set of Grade-Level Expectations, known as the New England Common Assessment Program Grade-Level Expectations (NECAP GLEs), and test specifications in Mathematics, Reading, Writing. These expectations were developed in response to the requirements of the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 to test all students, beginning in the 2005-2006 academic year, in each of grades 3-8 in mathematics and reading/language arts. Investigations is a K-5 mathematics curriculum. It is designed to help all children understand the fundamental ideas of number and arithmetic, geometry, data, measurement and early algebra. Investigations is used by some teachers in SAU #70 and there are Investigations assessments included in the grade level common math assessments. Mosaics is the Ray School’s own name for a set of researched based reading comprehension strategies for children in grades K – 5. Children are asked to respond to a piece of literature by making connections, asking questions or using inference to assess their depth of understanding. Responses are then measured using a rubric. NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) are criterion reference common assessment tests taken by NH, VT, and RI school children in October and measure summative achievement in Reading (grades 3-8, 11), Math (grades 3 – 8, 11), Writing (grade 5 and 8) and Science (4, 8, 11). Norm-referenced assessments compare one person’s performance in relation to the performance of others. A norm-referenced test is designed to discriminate among individuals in the area being measured and to give each individual a rank or relative measure regarding how he or she performs compared to others of the same age, grade, or other subgroup. Often the mean, or average score is the reference point, and individuals are scored on how much above or below the average they fall. These tests are usually timed. Norm-referenced tests are often used to tell how a school or school district is doing in comparison to others in the state or nation. The Phonological Awareness Test screens Kindergarteners and 1st graders. The subtests are Rapid Object Naming, Rapid Color Naming, Rhyming Words, Sentence Segmentation, Segmenting words into Syllables, Isolating Onsets, Blending Phonemes, Deleting Onsets, Deleting final sounds, Segmenting Words into Phonemes, and recognizing capital and lower case letters. Problem Solving Pretest—A fifth grade common assessment designed by the publishers of the problem solving curriculum, Journey to the Other Side, which we use as part of the fifth grade math curriculum. Qualitative Assessments are guided by the goal to explore the nature of individuals' experiences with learning and teaching. One example is the HHS student survey. Quantitative Assessment The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships. Counting and measuring are common forms of quantitative methods. The result of the research is a number, or a series of numbers. These are often presented in tables, graphs or other forms of statistics. Rebecca Sitton Spelling Program is comprised of eight grade level sourcebooks. The program's objective is to help students become confident, strategic spellers in their everyday writing. Rubrics are scoring guides for evaluating student work made up of definitions of quality work, well-defined criteria for measuring quality work, and a scoring method (using numbers or descriptive language such as excellent, good, etc.) to indicate level of performance. Summative Assessments are administered at the conclusion of a unit of instruction to comprehensively assess student learning and the effectiveness of an instructional method or program. Examples of summative assessments include final exams, statewide tests, and the SAT. Tests are teacher created tools that assist in determining the level of mastery of specific skills/content for individual students. Examples of tests would include quizzes, end of unit tests, and spelling tests. Test of Written Spelling (TWS) is given in grades 3 – 5. This test measures student’s ability to spell rule based words as well as sight words. Ray School Tutorial Service (Previously known as Title One Services). Students are referred by teachers to the Tutorial Program and may qualify if they school below the 50th percentile on a set of nationally or regionally normed tests. These include the Stanford Diagnostic Math Test, the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test, and the Developing Writers Assessment.
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