Imagine building an entire building and then finding that on the ground level a number of blocks to support the building had never been put in.
That could be a problem of catastrophic consequences.
Now imagine a student that misses important parts of their education, parts that are needed so later in their educational experience they can build upon those parts.
That too could be catastrophic for the student.
Over the years there have been many ways to assess students in public schools. Quizzes, classroom tests, state tests and of course the dreaded college exams many take in their final years of high school.
But often testing may not show all the holes in a students knowledge, particularly when they are few and far between. The fact is that assessment of students knowledge really needs to take place every educational day.
Daily progress
“We need to teach for the day and assess for the day,” said Carbon County School Superintendent Steve Carlsen on Wednesday morning.”We need to know if students really got what we are trying to teach.”
The dreaded word, students hate to hear, is quiz. Yet daily quizzes on things taught could be a way to see if kids are falling through the cracks.
“In the No-Child-Left-Behind era we were trying to get the kids up to proficiency,” he said. “That meant a lot of work with kids who were behind. During that time we just about forgot about the kids who were doing well. With our new intervention program we should be able to take the time to take care of everyone.”
Carlsen said the district is setting up a program called a True Collaborative Educational Organization. With the program there are four questions educators must ask themselves.
• What is it we want our students to learn?
• How will we know if each student has learned it?
• How will we respond when some students don’t learn?
• How can we extend and enrich the learning of those students who have already shown proficiency?
It begins with the regular teaching model. This is considered tier one. In most cases 70-80 percent of the student will learn what a teacher teaches each day. Some of that depends on the teacher and how they teach. This is where Professional Learning Communities come in. PLCs are a way for teachers to meet with other teachers and learn the best methods of imparting learning to students.
Under this plan teachers ask five or six key questions of students and then can assess who got it and who didn’t. The quizzes given are not for grading purposes, but for information on where students sit with what is being taught. By using Mastery Connect it allows the teacher to shift the emphasis from the grade to the learning process. Students get almost instant feedback and that helps them to learn.
Tier two involves reteaching. This usually is used to educate the students who didn’t get it the first time. That means in some way reteaching the whole class without boring those who already know the materials. In elementary schools this is easier handled with kids who knew the materials going off with aides while the teacher concentrates on those who did not learn. In secondary school this is tougher, so the teacher must be creative in how they present the material again.
Tier three is for students who have real holes in their learning background. These are the students who still don’t get it even after efforts in the first two tiers of the program and have Universal Indicators that cause at least some of the problem. Generally these students have difficulty with at least two basic skills including reading and or writing. They often have attendance problems, behavioral problems and are ELL students (English-language learners), are students who are unable to communicate fluently or learn effectively in English, who often come from non-English-speaking homes and backgrounds, and who typically require specialized or modified instruction in both the English language and in their academic courses.) A low sense of numbers and socioeconomic factors can also affect learning.
These students need access to Direct Intervention Services and by using the assessments the school district can provide those.
“We have already been using this in the past year,” said Carlsen. “It actually gives us a chance to provide services to students that need it at the time.”
Carlsen mentioned the Dino Academy at Carbon High School. This is a good example of using intervention to help students who have problems with certain subjects.
The Mastery Connect program is being used in many places in Utah and around the nation.
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