Aptitude refers to “the ability of a person to learn a new cognitive area or acquire a new skill. The central word in that definition is ability” (Wright, page 345). An individual’s aptitude is made up of two components. One of these components is often referred to as “fluid” ability. This is “the neurophysiologic capacity of the individual to learn new things” (Wright, page 345). The second component of aptitude is a “crystallized” form of ability “that represents what the individual has already learned and is available to facilitate further new learning” (Wright, page 345). Crystalized abilities are what a child has acquired from the world around them. It includes what was “learned during all conscious hours, including while watching television, …show more content…
An example of such a test is the third edition of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement. This test provides an excellent measure of reading. This reading measure is appropriate for all children and adolescents over the age of two years. The reading related subtests include “(a) Letter-Word Identification, (b) Reading Fluency, (c) Passage Comprehension, (d) Story Recall, (e) Story Recall Delayed, (f) Oral Language, (g) Reading Vocabulary, (h) Oral Comprehension, (i) Sound Awareness, (j) Reading Comprehension, (k) Oral Expression, (l) Phoneme-Grapheme Knowledge and (m) Verbal Comprehension” (Wright, page 403). The total set of this achievement exam takes almost two hours to administer. The various subtests require a minimum of five minutes to complete, making it possible to receive a reading score in a little over an hour. The Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement is “well-standardized, highly reliable, and has been shown to be valid measure of learning problems in reading. (Wright, page …show more content…
Once the software license is purchased, children ages three through nine, can be given reading literacy assessments. These tests can take as little as ten minutes to administer. The score areas from the STAR Early Literacy tests include “graphophonemic knowledge, general readiness, phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, structural analysis, and vocabulary” (Wright, page 405). A major benefit of this computer based system is that groups of children can take the assessments at the same time. The license agreement is sold in units of 40, making it easier for teachers to track and monitor the developing level of reading skills in students. The “system remembers each child and creates a test at the child’s last reading level” (Wright, page 405). Lastly, it provides each student with a baseline at the start of the school year and through regular retesting can track individual progress toward the learning goals of the grade
Differentiated instruction caters to differences among students, how students learn, different learning styles, and the interest of each learner. Running records support differentiating lessons for each learner during guided reading. Running records are diagnostic tools designed to identify a student’s reading deficiencies and monitor progress. The implementation of running records allows the teacher to differentiate each child’s reading lesson and hone in on the child’s needs and abilities. It is the educator’s responsibility to fine-tune instructional needs so that classroom, small group, and one-to-one teaching occur when and for whom they are needed in a timely way and with the high quality every child deserves (Fountas & Pinnell, 2009). Each child enters a classroom with varying needs; differentiating guided reading lessons based on the results of running records will help meet the individual needs of each child. Kelly M. Anderson (2007) states, teachers who differentiate believe each child is unique, with differing learning styles and preferences. Teachers can differentiate based on students’ readiness by varying the level of difficulty of the material covered in class. Guided reading offers the opportunity to vary the children’s reading based on their reading level. Differentiating instruction is not lowering expectations for some students. Differentiating instruction is establishing high expectations for all students while varying the process to which each child learns the same concept. Differentiating involves addressing the individual needs of diverse learners. Watts-Taffe, et al. (2012) notes although differentiating instruction is not new; it has become increasingly i...
Jarrod will work with a peer who is reading at 650L or higher on a text that is Jarrod’s frustration level. Jarrod and his partner will begin work on lesson 1 on the red LLI kit. The red LLI kit is designed for students reading in between 300L and 600L. Jarrod Jarrod will read the first 100 words on the passage by himself and running record will be completed to assess his correct words per minute. Then, Jarrod will begin working with the peer using choral reading or echo reading. Jarrod and his partner will read the text aloud at the same time, for at least two readings. On the second day Jarrod will read one time with partner using choral reading, then Jarrod and his partner will take turns reading a page to each other. Jarrod will continue this pattern for two days, then Jarrod will be assessed using a running record and 5 basic comprehension questions, with the target score of 80 percent
RtI was designed to provide early intervention to students that are experiencing difficulties in developing literacy skills. Throughout RtI, assessment data is collected to monitor student progress, and is used to determine if the intervention should be continued or modified (Smetana 2010). A common consensus is that the RtI framework consists of three tiers: Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III. In Tier I, primary interventions are used that differentiate instruction, routines, and accommodations to the students that need little to no interventions. The students in this tier are often times classified with the color green.
Assessments should guide instruction and material selection. Any likely manner, assessments should measure student progress, as well as help, identify deficiencies in reading (Afflerback, 2012). One important indicator of reading deficiencies is spelling. Morris (2014), advocated the importance of administering a spelling assessment in order to have a better understanding of a student’s reading abilities. My school uses the Words Their Way spelling inventory to assess students’ reading abilities at the beginning of the year and throughout the reading year.
Presumably, the most widely known of these measures has been the Scholastic Aptitude Test (now the SAT Reasoning Test, or SAT). Developed by the Educational Testing Service after World War II, the test in many ways was the big idea of James Bryant Conant. Adhering to democratic, classless society, Conant thought that such tests could identify the ability of individuals and ultimately help to equalize educational opportunities (Frontline, 1999). Unfortunately, many have argued that instead of fostering equality, the SATs have become an instrument to separate the social classes, and many in the testing movement were not as magnanimous as James Bryant Conant.
A Harvard educator named Howard Gardner wrote this essay arguing his side of abolishing timed tested overall. He bases his claim off of the fact that SAT scores come along with their time accomplished and are being viewed by universities. He felt it was unfair for people with the need for time to be below people that finished on time. The didactic and subjective tone in Howard Garden’s article ‘Test for Aptitude, not for Speed’ exemplifies the inadequate strategies that were used to convey Howards bias and rational argument. The structure and strategy used in his article are clearly not the most effective for his target audience. As a result, Howard Gardner ineffectively uses personal evidence, organization, and tone to reach his intended audience (Gardner 795).
The district is now making all teachers use an assessment tool called iReady. It is a website that assesses students in math and reading. They are first tested on a kindergarten through fifth grade range to find out what they know. Then the program takes that score and determines the right level for the child and they are tested again on the level. Once all students have been assessed the program orders the students from highest to lowest and by average grade level skill they are on: early second grade, middle second grade, late second grade or any other grade. The teacher uses those scores to create her reading groups, math groups and the students she will give extra assistance to. They haven’t officially established how many times and when they will do this iReady assessment but for now they are doing it once a week for forty five minutes. The test also flags if they spent too long or too little time on a question. The ones that spent less than 15 seconds per problem are to go back and do the assessment again.
The Gifted program exists to provide more academic opportunities for those who qualify as “gifted.” “’Gifted means performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience, and environment’” (Quoted in “Gifted”). In order to make it into the program the student must show higher intellectual ability than the average student at his or her age, but what determines that factor? The student must take a multidimensional test and score in the 98th percentile. However, the most weighted part of the test remains an average IQ test. Intelligence test scores should not be the primary qualification for admittance into the gifted program. They should not remain the primary qualification because it allows the minorities and the economically disadvantaged to be underrepresented, it proves insufficient when compared to other means of testing, and it fails to accurately reflect a student’s intelligence.
In this time, it has become highly regarded by many teachers and administrators. The program uses a site word approach to teach emergent reading skills. The program uses a carefully sequenced, highly repetitive word recognition method combined with errorless learning. This approach eliminates incorrect responses and helps students view themselves as readers. The Edmark Reading Program ensures success to students of all ages who have not yet mastered beginning reading. This program is recommended for students with developmental disabilities or Autism, students with learning disabilities, Title 1 students, ESL students, preschool and kindergarten students who lack vocabulary development and non-readers who struggle with phonics. The programs
The program works with more than 100 schools in seven states. The program is geared toward students from low-income families. The statistics for children’s literacy in the United States are astonishing. “In 2011, just thirty-four percent of the nation’s fourth graders in public school could read proficiently” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). The program itself has had exponential success.
Several people have developed the idea that as a person gets older their intelligence will decrease, this assumption has been developed through the idea that as an individual’s age increases, their fluid intelligence skills deteriorates. However there is more to intelligence than just fluid intelligence, crystallised intelligence works in much the same way except in reverse, with the older generation having more crystallised intelligence than younger people in their teenage years. Crystallized intelligence consists of acquired skills and knowledge which comes from ...
Learning refers to the relative permanent changes in an individual’s behavior that takes place due to an experience (Class Notes, Chapter 2). In my personal life, ability and learning are applicable through being able to appreciate the power that I have to perform a task and what I am able to get from the experience which will take place through learning. For instance, I could be assigned a task that will require me to apply my abilities and at the same time, it can act as a learning platform. In the work place, ability and learning can be a team’s experience where people with varying abilities will come together, teach and at the same time learn from others. It is one way that the workplace can grow, especially when people exchange ideas and learn from each
Assessment, in the context of education, was defined by Lambert, D (2000, pag 4) as the processs of gathering, recording and using information about pupils' responses to educational tasks. Despite some can consider that assessment is separated from the learning process, assessment is, in fact, an essential part of the learning proccess. Maguire, M. and Dillon, J. (2007, pag 213) pointed out that assessment is intrincately bound-up in the teaching-learning cycle.
Teachers gather information everyday form student’s through classroom activities to get a picture of where a student’s progress and abilities are. There are many different ways to collect a child’s artifacts such as using a checklist, anecdotal notes, teacher reflections, video and audio recordings, and work samples. Each student has their own folder where all their notes, videos, recordings, and artifacts are kept. As stated in the text (Enz, 2014, p. 207, “They must systematically collect, store, organize, and analyze the samples in order to understand the children’s growth and to plan their next teaching” (Ackerman & Coley, 2012). I learned that an on-demand assessment is more like an annual physical checkup. On demand assessments happen at specific times during the course of the year. One day children will be asked to do something specific such as circle the numbers the teacher says out loud, or having to take a test with a pencil and paper. Some label on -demand assessments as tests. This is because children are asked to perform the same action at the same time and in the same manner during an on-demand assessment. “Standardized tests are administered, scored, and interpreted in the same way for all test takers” (Enz, 2014, p. 208). Some examples of an on-going assessment that could be used in a comprehensive approach to literacy
The teacher will also make norm-referenced and criterion referenced interpretations of assessment through this website. They have graph and color-coded bands that show widely held expectations for children’s development and learning. The teacher will use this website and graph to communicate twice a year with the parents about the child’s strength, weakness or any area of