My school is wanting to establish a”picture” of our student community. This will be used to set new school goals, allocation of resources-human and material, reflection of present practices and monitor student progress.
As the special education teacher I have been asked to do some whole class assessment at different stages of the year to help make up profiles.
What are the thoughts and ideas of the audience? Any suggestions for assessment tools etc.
Ellie
Re: class mapping
Gee, it was great to hear of you enthusiasm and vote of confidence in what I am about to do. The initial interest and focus will be in the literacy area and moving into other areas later. This is one of the dilemas weare facing and it is to use the appropriate tools to gather relevant data thet can be used to drive future development. This dat will be usedlater to check progress.
We have in the past gathered information to form a social context for our school. The students mostly come from fairly affluent backgrounds and the school is well resourced. Expectations of parents on staff and students is high. What we also learned from this previous exercise was that we cannot make any assumptions about their previous experiences, or assume that all are students are coming in with similar experiences.
Ellie
What a remarkable opportunity. Is it just in regard to reading that this “picture” is sought?
Assessment tools - of which I know none- might make the job easier but I’d seen another remarkable opportunity in making up your own. Look for the critical indicators for school success - such as we currently understand them to be.
I’d consider first - what percentage of your school (or each class) lives in poverty - as we sadly know that poverty is the greatest barrier to school success? That one answer alone would paint more than half the ‘picture’. If your school has many children living in poverty, there ideally should be programs in place, resources allocated, and school practices reflecting that crucial reality.
I’d consider next - how many of your students enter school with preschool experience?
These days I’d ideally also want to know - how many families have both parents working outside the home?
How many children have divorced parents? Single parents?
Depending on answers I got to all those questions (even the sensitive ones) I’d plan my school around those answers. I wouldn’t need more to start with than that.
If it’s just reading that this ‘picture’ is being taken for, in any school, poverty stricken families or not, I’d have each teacher reading out loud to each class every day. If there are students of poverty in the classes or in certain classes, I’d make those classes extra ‘language rich’. I’d consider the value or lack of value in assigning copious amounts of homework to children living in poverty or with single working parents. I’d consider the effectiveness of traditional school practices such as detention or failing grades to see if such things really ‘work’ ie produce student success.
I envy you tremendously! I wish my school were interested in taking a picture of itself.
Good luck.