Oh the joys of assessments...
It's hard enough to fit in all the instruction, but then we have to use ample amounts of time to check in with kiddos one at a time in order to assure they are mastering the skills we are teaching. I actually really enjoy those 1:1 check-ins, yet of course working with one child at a time means finding something for the rest of the kiddos to do that they can do independently and quietly...
My team uses a Kindergarten Assessment to check in with kiddos with regards to what we are teaching and we also do assessments that go along with our phonics program.
Now, the state of OR is going to add a Kindergarten assessment to evaluate incoming Kindergarten students with the aim or improving Kindergarten readiness skills in pre-K programs. We received an email a few weeks ago about an information session that is going on this evening so Mrs. Bee and I are going to check it out. Apparently the assessment will be piloted next school year in 10 or 15 schools and then it will be state wide in 2013.
I am not really sure what info we'll get tonight, but I really like the idea of assessing the kids prior to placing them in classes as a way to ensure that there is a mixture of academic levels in each class. I am not sure if the intention is to assess prior to placement or not, so I am really interested to listen at this session tonight and find out the plan.
I'm curious...how do you assess your incoming Kindergarten students and when?
I can't imagine having to complete a required assessment in the fall as one of the first tasks in Kindergarten. That time should be spent teaching routines and procedures and getting into the groove with the class. I can't imagine having to pull kids one at a time and leave the others to work on something else when expectations and routines are not yet in place. I like the idea of somehow conducing the assessments prior to the start of the school year and it seems like that would be a great way to meet kids and their parents on a more individual basis. Our supply drop can be so crazy (especially with two classes) that I never feel like I get to have an actual conversation with anyone, yet that is the first time we get to meet each other.
I will be sure to fill you in on what I learn tonight!
6 comments:
Ah, very timely post- we are doing our assessing of incoming K kids tomorrow morning :)
I'd be really interested what you guys are actually going to do because I think ours has a lot of room for improvement. Last year was the first year we really did it like this and we got some good info but it's not perfect!
So basically what we do is, we have the kids come in 2 groups, we split each group into 2 classes (so each class has about 20 kids). We have 2 teachers per room. The kids come to visit our classroom and participate in some activities- all the while we are "assessing" them. We read a quick story and do a quick intro to see meeting area behavior and then we go to three tables. At one table the kids play with cubes and we do a quick assessment of counting with 1:1 correspondence. At another table the kids write their name (if they can) and draw a picture of themselves, so we can see fine motor skills. Then, at the third table we have a speech pathologist or reading specialist (so I guess actually 3 teachers per room) who works with the kids to see if they can identify their name, rhyming words and beginning sounds. They spend about 10 minutes at each station and while they think they are playing/drawing we are frantically writing things down haha. We also write down behavior that we notice.
We mainly do it for placement purposes, and then we are expected to do assessments again in Sept.
I teach middle school so my only experience about the kindergarten screening is through my three boys. When my oldest two boy (currently 7th and 4th grade) were in K they did screening in Sept and the kids missed three days of school. You would set up a 30 min appt on one of those three days for the screening. My youngest is in K this year and now they have all the K kids come the first day of school and then the next three days (I think) they only come one of the days and miss the other two, so these are the first days after the very first day. They are in school that whole day and that is when screening is done. As a parent I liked that approach much better than them having three days off, but then having to bring them to school one of the days.
I should also add that there is a day in May of the previous school year where the new K kids come in and there is a general prescreening at that time where the kids kind of go through stations. They do this to help get info on kids regarding speech and other things prior to starting the year. The actual K kids have the day off and the new K kids for the next year come either the morning or afternoon. The kids go off from the parents for the orientation and the parents get a separate orientation.
I love the way we do this. We call it "staggered entry". When the rest of our school has the "official first day of school" in August, each kindergarten teacher only has 5-6 students in their room that day. For the entire first week, it's the same way....but with a different group of kids each day. So...for example, Sally might come to school on August 22nd for the whole day, and then she wouldn't come back until her first real day of kindergarten a week later. We assign the kids to random teachers for staggered entry, by the way, so the teacher they have that day may not be their teacher for the rest of the year. Since there are only a few students, it's pretty easy to manage behavior and we get a LOT done. We do a basic tour of the room/bathrooms, and then the kiddos basically "play" all day while we assess one on one. They do puzzles, housekeeping, blocks, math manipulatives, read books, color, etc. Each room has a teacher, an assistant, and then a Title I teacher pops in when available to lend a helping hand. Usually by the middle of the day, I've finished assessing and I get some "beginning of school" work done (or organize my room, etc). It's so nice to ease back into working full time after a nice summer break, and it's GREAT to have all of those assessments done before they even have their first day. Each afternoon, the assistants watch the kids and the teachers meet to discuss their group of 5 kids they had that day. We go ahead and divide them into official class lists each day so it isn't such a huge task to do all at once. We can tell pretty easily who is high/average/low, and we try to divide up behavior issues when possible (although their true colors don't always shine on that day, since they're sometimes shy at first). Hope this helps!
We actually don't have any data on the kids before the enter. We are required to do an assessment the 1st week because our new evaluation process :) is based 50% on student growth, so they have to know how they started. We also have to have them split into 4 groups based on ability within the 1st 2 weeks.
It is really difficult to do that before they have any practice with working independently. I really try to grab them in the morning or when they are supposed to be going to their ancillary classes in order to get it done.
NotJustChild'sPlay
We don't get to assess kinders before the school year at all. We usually take 2 days with a sub the second week of school (which is kinds rough) but its great to get some 1:1 time with them up front.
Hope it works out good for you guys this year.
-Leslie @KindergartenWorks
Post a Comment