Diagnostic Assessment Shoreline School District April 2, 2010

Purpose of Workshop To clarify the role of diagnostic assessments in the RtI model; To review our current use of diagnostic assessments in the district; To discuss our next steps in using diagnostic assessments.

The multi-tiered model of assessment Universal Screening (all students) Who is at-risk? Diagnostic Assessment (only at-risk students) Why are they at-risk? Intervention Design Progress Monitoring (only at-risk students) Is what we are doing working? If not, either modify or change intervention If yes, either continue intervention as is or discontinue

Universal Screening Administered to ALL students Quick, low cost, repeatable, and test age appropriate skills Flags students in need of additional diagnostic assessment Screeners themselves are NOT diagnostic

Examples of Universal Screeners DIBELS easyCBM These serve to flag students but do not alone tell you what the instructional deficits or needs are of your individual students

Diagnostic Assessment Diagnostic assessments are focused and provide direction. This type of assessment must tell us what exactly should be worked on to achieve progress. A student is flagged through DIBELS, what then? Need more data to identify what the issue/problem area is and how to support that student.

Purpose of Diagnostic Assessment A skill specific assessment designed to assist in matching the correct intervention with the individual need of the student Turn and Talk: What skills are embedded in reading and math?

What questions do diagnostics help us answer? In what area(s) does this student need targeted intervention? What exactly is preventing this student from adequately progressing in a specific area?

Imagine… Taking your car into a mechanic and telling them it isn’t running right. They start to change things that typically contribute to a car not running right -- spark plugs, carburator, even generator -- but without performing any diagnostics to hone in on the problem.

The hospital… The place for diagnostic assessment in our ER model What if you are still ill after leaving ER, going home, taking aspirin, resting and drinking fluids? –Tier 1 intervention didn’t apparently work and you feel worse with fever continuing –What’s next?

Reading Diagnostics Administer follow-up testing: –QRI –DRA –CORE –Have student read to teacher with book off shelf (look/listen for specific reading difficulties) –Purpose is to: Validate or counter findings from screening Clearer picture of student’s reading strengths/weaknesses Evaluation of the five essential reading components –Phonemic awareness; phonological processing; fluency, vocabulary comprehension

Purpose of Math Diagnostics Deeper analysis of why the student is having problems with math: –Adequacy of math concept vocabulary –Adequacy of prerequisite computation skills –Ability of a student to decipher and solve a math word (application) problem What other math skills did you discuss earlier?

Math Diagnostic Activity: Playing Sherlock Holmes You be Sherlock Holmes and find the miscue trends. I. 14 II. 23 III x When this student adds, (s) he….. When this student subtracts, (s) he…. When this student multiplies (s) he… During diagnostic assessment, we focus on the miscues, not the number correct.

Written Language Diagnostics Focus on identifying source of writing difficulty –Handwriting/letter formation –Writing fluency –Proper use of conventions –Syntactic maturity (e.g. use of more complex words or varied sentence starters) –Semantic maturity (sentence sophistication- length) –Flow (transitions) –Organization/planning

How are you using diagnostics? 1.What tools are you using? 2.How do you share the information?

Role of RtI Leadership Team Create and evaluate building systems Identify: –Diagnostic tools you will use. –Who will administer tools? –Who will track the data? –How the data will be shared and used to make instructional decisions. –The role of SSTs/A Teams/Kid Councils, PLC/Grade Level teams in process

What is our plan for the future in Shoreline? Our Math Screener is easyCBM and our progress monitoring tool is easyCBM We are exploring math diagnostics attached to curriculum adoption as well as something more general (MAP?)

What is our plan for the future in Shoreline? Reading Diagnostics: –Use of DRA and QRI Title/LAP teachers are a key resource Share tools and strategies across the district (Title/LAP teachers, principals, Instruction Staff)

Resource

Exit Slips What are the benefits of using diagnostic assessments? What are the barriers/challenges in using diagnostic assessments?