Assessments give me the opportunity to check your children's understanding, differentiate my instruction, address what academic concepts I need to revisit and / or reteach in a different manner. Assessing your children tells me what works and what doesn't, sheds light on your children's individual pace of learning and learning style.
I believe that assessments are critical to students' academic success. For me, assessments are a tool that I use in my daily instructional choices. I don't want my students to move on to more difficult academic concepts and skills without having mastered the ones previously taught. I want my students to have a solid understanding of what I teach and feel confident as they tackle new problems and practice new academic skills.
Each of the three tabs below contains important information on how your child will be assessed. Please take a few minutes to read through each to gain a better understanding of the assessment criteria.
- REPORT CARDSReport CardsIn Kindergarten, your child will receive quarterly report cards. The grading system uses assigned numbers instead of letter grades, as follows:
3 - The child consistently demonstrates the skill assessed.
2 - The child's learning is in process. The child sometimes shows understanding of skill / concept taught, but not consistently.
1 - The child experiences difficulty. We need to really work hard and provide many additional opportunities for daily practice.
NM - not marked / not assessed at this time. Gray areas are also not assessed for the given Quarter.
As you look at the sample report card (by clicking the button lower on this page) you will see all the areas evaluated and some gray areas. Please revisit the report card often in order to see what the academic expectations are and what specific skills will be assessed in the near future.
ATTENDANCE is critical and has a huge impact on your child's academic performance. Please bring / send your child to school each day (on time) unless your child is really sick. If you have a planned vacation, please let me know ASAP as I will send materials with you so that your child doesn't fall behind academically, while out of the classroom.
The majority of your child's daily learning does NOT take place through "paper and pencil" type of activities.
We use cooperative learning, workshop, hands-on activities, whole class, small group, one-on-one instruction, a perfect balance of direct instruction and authentic learning experiences, etc.
ALL these cannot be duplicated outside the classroom! Thank you for your cooperation with this matter!
You can view a blank copy of the Master Report Card format by clicking the button below which will take you to a new page. After viewing it, remember to return here to finish reading about more Assessment topics. - TESTINGTESTINGIt offers a reliable tool to guide instruction for all students from K to 3rd grade. Kindergartners have the test three times a year. This test is not timed and students have plenty of time to complete it. It is a computerized test that customizes questions based on your child's previous answers and that gradually increases in difficulty. Students wear headphones throughout the test and the directions for each skill assessed/problem are read to them.
Reading tests, which cover phonological awareness, phonics, concepts of print and vocabulary, word structure, comprehension, and writing.
Mathematics tests, which cover problem solving, number sense, computation, measurement and geometry, statistics, probability, and algebra. - AIMSwebAIMSwebIn Kindergarten, AIMSweb assessments include Early Literacy and Early Numeracy.
The National Reading Panel (Panel 2000) has identified some critical pre-reading skills that should be assessed in Kindergarten and early 1st Grade, including Phonemic Awareness, and elements of Phonics, including letter names and sounds and the ability to read non-real (nonsense) words.
In Kindergarten, students are officially tested, by highly trained, District appointed assessors, three times a year. The benchmark expectation (level where students should be academically at a specific time of the year based on curricula taught and skills mastered) and cutoff scores increase each time (August / December / May). The three timed (one minute per test) tests we take in Kindergarten are:
Letter Naming Fluency - identified frequently as the best single indicator of risk for reading failure. This test ask the student to name as many letters as he /she can within a minute. Letters are displayed horizontally and are both upper and lower case.
Letter Sound Fluency - with equal or better predictive ability to later general reading skills. This test asks the student to name as many letter sounds as he /she can within a minute. Letters are displayed horizontally and are only lower case. Vowels are short like in "cat", "pen", "fix", "dot", "bun".
Nonsense Word Fluency - the ability to link the written code with the most common sounds. This test asks the student to read CV (consonant - vowel) and CVC (consonant-vowel - consonant) nonsense words such as "oj", "bix", "zuz, etc.(source: http://aimsweb-qa.ratchet.com/test-of-early-literacy-cbm)
