Assessment

A recently published U.S. News and World report article entitled “Schools Cut Other Subjects to Teach Reading and Math” addresses the issue of schools focusing more on Reading and Math at the expense of other subjects in an effort to meet the demands of NCLB and high-stakes testing.  In speaking with various colleagues across my local school district, as well as, neighboring school districts, I find that many teachers and administrators are feeling pressured to promote an abridged curriculum.  Of course, test scores look amazing.  But, are we adequately preparing students to successfully compete in today’s society?    Is this "new" curriculum encouraged in your school?    Do you agree or disagree with this practice?  Why/Why not?

Paula

Hello everyone;

Our first ThinkLink results are in! The teachers at our school have been excitedly analyzing their students’ scores and comparing notes with previous teachers about individual student concerns and successes.  For the most part, the ThinkLink reports were more positive for the majority of my second graders than some other assessments in Language Arts and Math that I had been collecting!  Now, I feel I have rich support to guide my weekly lesson planning and instruction.

After meeting by grade level last week, teachers at our school began working collaboratively, compiling lists of students that scored novice or apprentice in specific subskills.  Since I work with younger students, I’d appreciate hearing how some of you are beginning to track your students’ growth as they progress during the year.

Marshia

Our first ThinkLink assessment of the 0708 school year is well under way.  This is our second year with ThinkLink Lanugage Arts and Math, and we look forward to giving our first Science assessment in the near future.

Our teachers use data notebooks as a way to keep all assessment information in one place.  This allows teachers to make instructional decisions based on multiple sources of student data.  This year we would like to have each student at grades 3-5 keep a personal data notebook as well in order to track individual progress.   Students will be responsible for charting such information such as ThinkLink proficiency levels and Oral Reading Fluency and for completing checklists of math skills.  I would love to hear suggestions or comments from those who have used student data notebooks.

Laurie

Yesterday I got a chance to see a new group of teachers see ThinkLink for the first time.  I forgot how much fun it is to see the excited faces as they realize how powerful and easy to use this product is.  Such a cool day!

Lynn

The teachers in my school, as well as, teachers across the local school system, have been using Think Link Learning for several years.  Many teachers agree that the assessments provide reliable and specific data that improve classroom instruction and student learning.  Recently, our system has developed monthly curriculum pacing guides and corresponding assessments.  Needless to say, the use of these documents is "strongly encouraged".  Teachers are held accountable for their students’ monthly results.  Here’s the question that many are asking:  Since both methods provide useful instructional data, how does one successfully balance the usage of monthly pacing guide AND Think Link Learning assessment results in order to help students master state and national standards?

Paula

We’re back in full swing at Paint Lick Elementary! The first ThinkLink tests have been given.  My new second graders did a great job bubbling in their answers on the answer sheet for the first time.  Only six out of the twenty-four chose to circle in the booklet first.  I noticed, too, that the choice to write in the booklet for this first test really made these students feel more comfortable with the testing process. I’m curious how many of you are using the paper and pencil version of the test compared to the computer version.  What has been your experience with this?

I’m looking forward to using these ThinkLink scores to support information I’ve already been gathering as the new school year begins.  Through the process of collecting a variety of initial assessments, I hope to target individual needs and watch my students grow throughout the year.  Are you ready?  Let’s go!  Marshia

Congratulations to Lora Hall the hard working folks at Glencliff High School in Nashville, TN!

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/NEWS04/708120352/1018/NEWS

Success stories like this one give us hope for true education reform by caring individuals who are open to real change agent ideas.

Here is a portion of the story that implies we at Discovery Education ThinkLink Assessment played a role in true academic improvement for high schoolers.

Glencliff had a very low passing rate — 42 percent — for the algebra Gateway test. We created an after-school teacher sharing group with our math teachers. We implemented ThinkLink, a diagnostic tool that identified the individual strengths and weakness of each student.

Teachers began to share best practices. Teachers, who were more successful teaching certain algebraic skills, shared their talents and ideas with their colleagues.

At the end of our first year with this format, our algebra Gateway scores increased to 62 percent passing. Three years later, our passing rate on the algebra Gateway is 80 percent.

A good day for teachers, parents, and students in Nashville. Donna

Hello!  My name is Paula, and I am very excited to serve as a guest author on this site!  I am entering my thirteenth year in elementary education.  Prior to becoming a curriculum coordinator for an elementary school, I was a Third Grade teacher.  As a classroom teacher, I administered the Think Link Learning assessments for several years.  The assessments and corresponding reports had a tremendous impact on my classroom instruction.  The timely reports allowed me to provide more focused instruction. In this day and age of accountability, it is extremely important to have up-to-date data reflective of state standards in order to provide appropriate whole-group and small-group instruction.     Please share your Think Link Learning success stories. I am eager to hear how the assessments have improved student learning and norm and/or criterion-reference results.

Okay…………

I was thinking that to make the best academic progress children should take periodic assessments that measure growth over the entire year, you know; show me where the children are now compared to where they need to be before high stakes tests, formative in nature.

It now appears that some prefer a summative type test, more like what we used to call a "6 weeks test" or a test that measures the pacing guide. I am concerned that having these without time to re-teach when needed will be another test just for the sake of testing.

What are your thoughts?

Donna

I have enjoyed reading the thought provoking postings over the past few weeks.  As we plan for the start of a new school year, I am working on ways to help teachers see data analysis as part of their everyday instructional planning and not just something that we do in team meetings.  We use data from the ThinkLink assessments to plan grade level instruction based on areas of need, and that has been a tremendous help for our teachers and students.  Some of the teams are using data from practice probes to design differentiated instruction for groups of students.  I am looking for ways to encourage all teachers to make better use of the available data on a regular basis, so any suggestions would be welcome.

Laurie