My 12 year old son is in 6th grade in public school in a “high achieving” suburban school district. My son has problems with his reading comprehension and is in a small reading class which is supposed to teach him strategies to improve his comprehension. His grade took the ERB’s in February in reading comprehension. After the test, his reading teacher called and said he only completed 27 of the 45 questions, preparing us for a dismal score. He seemed to have a great difficulty filling in the dots. When the results came in, the teacher went through the test and advised me that of the 27 he answered, he got 19 correct (70%) and she even broke down for me how many he got correct of the questions he answered in each category. He did really well in some categories. QUESTION: We want him to continue taking the tests timed, but do you have any ideas for accomodations to help on the filling in the dots? I know he has substantive reading issues we are trying to deal with, but I would like to make it easier for him to physically take the test so he can answer more questions next time. Thanks.
Re: Test Taking Skills and the ERB's
If you are in the states check out you state education site and search the special education and testing areas for accommodations. CA has a document for the yearly state testing that states what accommodations are allowed and what accommodations are considered non-standard accommodations. Unfortunately this document does not seem to get to a lot of the school districts. This it what it says in our document about answers marked in test booklets. “The accommodationss may be provided only for students whose IEPs specify them: enlarged answer documents; enlarged bubbles; answers marked in test bookllets and transcribed later to regular ansert documents; assistive devices such as computer marking of answer documents (voice activated); taped response for later transcription; or verbatim dictation, with spelling and punctuarion, to tape or computer for later transription.” These are considered standard accommodations and the student will receive test scores the same as regular students. If a non-standard accommodation is given then the student is given a raw score (how many he got correct) instead of a regular score.
Helen
Re: Test Taking Skills and the ERB's
NOTE: This is how we found our 3rd grade dd needed glasses! She “failed” one of those standardized tests — actually got correct answers, but wasn’t able to mark the related “dots”. Her teacher quickly recommended an eye check, and we were SHOCKED to find that she required bi-focals (her eyes had been checked yearly!) Her teacher also did extra work with her in filling out this type test.
Might not be related, but worth noting.
Re: Test Taking Skills and the ERB's
Thanks for the suggestions. I thought it may be his eyesight too, but a full eye exam ruled that out. My son has trouble with fine motor skills in general. The idea of having him circle the answer on the test, or getting a blow up of the answer sheet, are great. Interestingly, when I asked my son if filling in the dots was a problem, he said no, but his teacher said she observed him spending an awful lot of time working on the dots. Thanks again.
Re: Test Taking Skills and the ERB's
Could be a visual/motor integration problem that would show up on a developmental vision exam (which includes about 20 more tests than a regular vision exam). You can find developmental optometrists at http://www.covd.org.
I assume you already had an OT eval for the fine motor skills — hopefully, one that included assessment of sensory integration.
Mary
Re: Test Taking Skills and the ERB's
In my school, students are given extra time at the end of the test to go through their marks and erase any extra marks/neaten their fill-ins etc. I think that time is built into the ERBs. Is the teacher giving the students that time? I have students who struggle with the dots as well but given 10 -15 extra minutes at the end they manage well.
Even if he is getting that extra time, what if you asked the school psychologist about it? What would they suggest? His physical issues with filling in the dots should not be allowed to interfer with his score. What if you got an evaluation or note from an OT apprising them of his difficulty and asking for an accomodation? It might be simplest to ask for more extra time at the end of the test to fill in the dots after circling them as Sue J. suggested but if you wanted to shoot for the stars you could ask for someone to fill them in for him.
What if a student who took this test were blind? Do the publishers of the ERBs have test formats which accomodate blind students? They could not be expected to fill in dots. You could also consider calling the ERB people in Princeton, NJ or a school for the blind and asking them both how children without sight are accomodated by their standardized test.
Good luck.
Where I taught, kids *never* filled in the dots. They just circled the answer on the test. Shouldn’t be too tough an accommodation since somebody else could fill in the dots as long as somebody also checked behind ‘em and made sure they didn’t miss any. (We didn’t do that, we graded them individually — but it was a private school for kids with LDs so we didn’t have thatmany to deal with).