subjective versus objective on IEP

It was interesting when my 9 year old daughter was assessed within the classroom the Educational Psychologist from the Local Education Authority (in England) spent at least 30 minutes with Amy as far as I know. This is not very acceptable….. We now do have help for her with literacy (English) but no help with Math, we are now awaiting assessment (yet again) for math help!!! She is now 9 years old and we had her privately assessed which cost us £140!!!

Good luck

janis

You’re absolutely right. THe IEP should have an objective measure of progress — especially for skills like reading and math. Now, if the kid’s in regular classes — *and* there aren’t goals to improve things like reading and math skills — then it gets a little tougher because there aren’t standardized tests for social studies. However, a key difference between an IEP and a wish list (“johnny will complete homework assignments 80% of the time” — OK, how are we going to get there?) is figuring out what objective skills you are going to teach — “Johnny will maintain a homework assignment book that his sped teacher will check daily (or after whatever classes are most likely to toss homework) and weekly calendar and record time spent on homework assignments; things like that.

If he’s in fourth grade and “just a year behind,” you may have a bright kid who’s almost keeping up … or he could do what lots of kids do who’ve memorized what the words looked like as far as they could… and be pretty much stuck there unless some good remediation takes place.

…was what you were reading the excellent article at http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/iep/iep_guidance.html ?
here

No, my kid isn’t in 4th grade. He is a first year high school student. He is 6 months behind in reading, but 2 1/2 years behind in math and writing skills. This is what was on his IEP last spring. The only way they tested him was by using the “teacher’s observations and tests”. Not by using any standardized test. (that I know of) Should I be requesting something on the IEP like ” At the end of the year, the student shall be administered _____test to determine his present level of performance.” If so, what tests should I ask to be used for evaluating reading, writing and math levels? What are the usual ones besides the tests that the teachers “make-up” for their own classes? Also, should I be asking for the testing to be done once at the end of the school year, or should I be asking that the testing be done every quarter? Would I request that the same test be used each time?

Thanks

Yes, that one and multiple other ones including the book by Bateman “Better IEPs”

One other thing, no he isn’t in regular ed classes. His high school seems to be of the thought that the kids in the “preparatory core level” classes for one subject like writing, will also be in the preparatory level for reading. He will also remain in that category for the whole high school time unless he makes some type of remarkable strides. The classes build upon each other each year, but don’t progress to the same general ed level at the same time. In other words, even if he worked his way up in reading, he wouldn’t be put into a general ed reading course, because the reading/writing skills are considered one. He may reach 10 grade writing skills in say 11 or 12th grade, but would not be put into the 12 grade class because he would still behind.

It truly depends upon the goal. If the goal is to complete double digit subtraction with regrouping at 80% or better, then work samples of skill sheets your child completed independently (10 or more problems) should keep you and the teacher happy.

If the goal pertains to written language, then work samples of your child’s writing should be adequate for you and the teacher.

I design some of my own assessments and they work well. I have created lists of nonsense words for assessing decoding. I assess to gather baseline date, note strengths and weaknesses, write goals, teach and use same lists to assess. There is nothing wrong with this, I can show these to parents and they do measure mastery of the child’s ability to sound out words of differing syllable types and combinations of syllables.

I also like informal reading inventories, these offer graded selections (at least 2 per level) and graded word lists, 20 words per graded list. The selections generally have 10 comprehension questions. I write reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension goals to be measured by these assessments.

I sometimes write an annual goal to show some amount of progress on a standardized subtest. However often my beef with standardized tests is that they have relatively few problems, questions, etc. at each difficulty level. I have students who test “higher” than I believe their level to be on such tests and sometimes “lower.” The latter happens particularly when there is a fluke, the child misses a word or two or makes a sloppy computation error that he or she rarely makes. There are not enough items to balance out atypical reponses. Some if the vocabulary words on the Woodcock Johnson are derived from French and my students cannot sound them out. If I have not had the occasion to teach “bouquet,” they get this word wrong every time. I have yet to find “bouquet” in any selection we have ever read. This year I have started teaching it, Period. I am sick of my students hitting a ceiling because they cannot decode words from French.

Behavior goals usually need to be charted.
>
> I have been doing a lot of research on IEP’s. The one thing
> that I need help with now is advice on what would be an
> objective way of measuring my son’s progress each year. So
> far, it has been measured by using “teacher observations and
> test results”. The tests are used are always just the
> classroom work. I believe from what I have read this is
> considered to be subjective measuring. No two teachers can
> observe a student in the exact same way. The tests prepared
> by the teachers will differ even for the same subjects. So
> what should be used to measure his progress objectively. (I
> understand this to mean that no matter who you give the test
> to, the test takers will always fall into a certain
> “category” with a certain “score”. Am I correct?)
>
> My son’s problems are mostly with writing, math, and
> organizational skills. He is just a little below grade level
> in reading.
>
> Thanks for any help.

Along the way maybe you signed a statement asking your child not be given standardized test, but you should send a certified letter stating you want your chld to receive standardized test with the appropriate accomodations. this is the only way you can see what progress is being made and hold someone accountable. I’m also just a Mom, but as I understand IDEA now, this has to be part of student assessment and if not, the reason must be stated in the IEP.
Best Wishes, Sharon G.

I never signed any papers nor asked that my kid not to be given standardized testing. What I am looking for is “What tests should I be asking for?”

For reading level the Woodcock JOhnson Reading Mastery test (it’s possible there is a more recent version with a slightly different name?), I believe, goes high enough, as would the Gray Oral Reading Test (though that in my opinion is a wonderful diagnostic tool in the right hands but things like the “comprehension” scores aren’t that meaningful). Most states have their favorite silent reading test given in group settings — and at his level, he should be taking them. THe 1:1 tests like the Woodcock JOhnson would give subtest scores that can help ferret out whether a kiddo has been smart enough to compensate for lousy reading accuracy with good overal vocabulary and comprehension skills. (If the kid’s “word recognition” score where he has to read single words is a whole lot lower than the “passage comprehension” score, that’s a real flag.)

I believe there’s an article in the Reading section or in the Assessment section by Swerling that describes different tests and their strengths and weaknesses.

Different school districts use different tests for measurements of progress from year to year. My children have been in several different schools. some used the Stanford, others used Iowa and I believe now one school is using ERB(?)- not sure about these initials. They are all measuring the standards of each grade level and are required to be taken by the federal government.

A couple of years ago, Wrights Law Web Site had a geat article on Testing. they probably still have it in their archives. Best Wishes, Sharon G.