Student Assessments

Student Assessments at Brookville Elementary

Kindergarten

April screening, before entering:

As part of our registration process we do kindergarten screening. A team of adults (psychologists, PK or K teacher, speech therapist, nurse, Pupil Services secretary, and a volunteer) screens each student with the following assessments:

Stephens Oral Language Screening Test – This test is used to screen children for potential problems in syntax and/or articulation associated with their production of standard American English dialects.

The school nurse screens for distance acuity and muscle balance. Audiometry and tympanometry are used for hearing checks. She takes students height and weight.

Students are also observed participating in fine motor and gross motor skills and they are asked questions such as their name, address, parents’ names, etc.

August Screening

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment – Literacy (KRA-L) - The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has developed a brief assessment tool, the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment – Literacy (KRA-L) that will help teachers identify early reading skills. The KRA-L is required of all children entering kindergarten in public schools for the first time. It is not required for children being retained in kindergarten. The assessment measures skill areas important to becoming a successful reader. It also helps teachers plan for experiences and lessons that encourage reading.

Star Early Literacy software assessment provides diagnostic date to make instructional decisions and to help identify gaps in knowledge for students experiencing reading difficulties. This is given in September, January and again in May to assess student progress.

First Grade

All first grade students are assessed using Star Reading software at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Students who score low on Star Literacy are “progress monitored”, or tested every two weeks, in their deficient areas throughout the year. These students are to be receiving individualized instruction from the teacher to impact these weak areas.

The lowest 30% of the class, based on Star Reading screening will also be assessed with the Observation Survey. This is to select the lowest 12 students who will receive Reading Recovery instruction the first semester. Reading Recovery is a 20-week specialized, one-on-one reading intervention. At the end of 20 weeks, assessments will occur again to determine the 12 new students who will qualify to be in the program.

First grade teachers also use “running records” to assess students throughout the year. Running records are a quick assessment tool used by teachers to evaluate students' reading and comprehension. They are used to help find students' reading levels, check their fluency, and find weaknesses in comprehension. Another assessment used in the first grade is the Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA). The Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) is a set of individually administered criterion-referenced reading assessments for students in kindergarten through Grade 8. First grade teachers use this assessment once or twice a quarter.

Spring Testing – The Ohio First Grade Diagnostic Writing test is given to all students. Teachers do team scoring on this assessment. Two teachers other than their classroom teacher score each paper.

Students are also assessed using Star Math software in the fall, winter and spring. This assessment is used to determine the math level of each student, measure individual and class growth, and forecast results on standardized tests

Second Grade

All second grade students are assessed with at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Students who score low on Star Reading are “progress monitored”, or tested every two weeks, in their deficient areas throughout the year. These students are to be receiving individualized instruction from the teacher to impact these weak areas. Some students will be selected to have some small group, pull out instruction by a teacher, paraprofessional or the resource room teacher.

Spring Testing – The Ohio Second Grade Diagnostic Writing test is given to all students. Teachers do team scoring on this assessment. Two teachers other than their classroom teacher score each paper.

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills compares our students nationally and is given in April. This test has vocabulary, word analysis, reading comprehension, listening, language, and math components to the test. Along with the Iowa, the second grade students take the CogAT . The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) measures students’ learned reasoning abilities in the three areas most linked to academic success in school: Verbal, Quantitative and Nonverbal. Although its primary goal is to assess students’ reasoning abilities, CogAT can also provide predicted achievement scores when administered with The Iowa Tests. This test is used to screen our students for very high (gifted) or very low (cognitively delayed) scores.

Second grade teachers use the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) quarterly to assess student-reading levels using the Lexile scale. With this tool, a teacher would use a child’s Lexile measure to select books and other reading materials that are challenging without being too difficult.

Third Grade

All third grade students are assessed with Star Reading at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Students who score low on Star Reading are “progress monitored”, or tested every two weeks, in their deficient areas throughout the year. These students are to be receiving individualized instruction from the teacher to impact these weak areas. Some students will be selected to have some small group, pull out instruction by a paraprofessional or the resource room teacher one or two days a week.

Spring Testing – The Ohio Third Grade Diagnostic Writing test is given to all students. Teachers do team scoring on this assessment. Two teachers other than their classroom teacher score each paper.

In October third grade student take the Ohio Achievement Test in Reading for the first time. This fall 67% of our third grade students scored proficient or better. Teachers use the information from these test results to guide their instruction during the year to support students in being ready to retake the test in last April.

Third grade students will take the 2005 OAT in math in February. Teachers collaborately score the short answer responses. The Muskingum Valley ESC will process the tests with the weighted scores and cut off scores for all of the content areas of the test. This information will be used to guide math instruction to best prepare students to be ready for the math OAT in late April.

In late April the Ohio Achievement Test is given to third graders in reading and math.

Third grade teachers also use the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) quarterly to assess student-reading levels using the Lexile scale. With this tool, a teacher would use a child’s Lexile measure to select books and other reading materials that are challenging without being too difficult.