We are students in an undergraduate program for multicategorical certification. We are confused about whether formal assessment such as the Woodcock Johnson really helps teachers figure out what to do with the students in their classes. We hear differing opinions from some of our professors. What do you, the real experts, think? Thanks.
Mixed affect teachers BUT helped me as a parent.
I don’t think the teachers even look at test results. And, in some cases they wouldn’t know what to do if they did. Read on.
When my son was in first grade he was struggling with reading. His first grade teacher suggested we have him formally tested. (Thanks to her for acknowledging there was a problem.) We met with the resource teacher and the school psychologist to review the results. He was too smart for resource or an IEP. So there. They acknowledged that he had problems but the problems he had couldn’t be fixed in resource. In fact, I was told by the school psychologist that “they” didn’t know much about how to help him other than by asking the teachers to give my son more time to complete his work.
Here the state mandates that teachers give timed math tests. The children are supposed to be able to master certain math skills in a certain amount of time. I’ve been told by all my sons teachers that he is too slow. So I tell them about the results of the testing and I’ve gotten mixed results. In second grade the teacher accomodated him. Last year his regular teacher accomodated him but his math teacher didn’t. Of all the teachers who should have accomodated him it should have been his math teacher. But she didn’t. My son’s regular teacher asked her to let him sit out in the hall during his timed tests and that lasted about a week. When the math teacher expressed concern I told her about the test results and that it was more important to me as a parent that he knew the facts than that he could recall them quickly. I don’t think she knew what to say to that. I know that wasn’t the response she was expecting. I got the impression she just thought we, yes we, were lazy. She said he is too smart to be so slow at completing his math!
This is very frustrating to me because I’m finding my son is struggling with the same things I’ve struggled with all my life. I succeeded inspite of the school system not because of it.
I’ve gotten absolutely no help from the school because he is too smart in too many areas and the areas he has problems in they don’t even know how to go about helping him with. In fact, some of the areas I’m finding my son has problems with the school doesn’t even test for and isn’t even aware that they can be problems. When I mention them to the teachers they don’t really know what to say. They’ve never heard of the problems.
BUT the test results and the referral to this forum have given me as a parent a place to start from so I could begin helping my son on my own. The greatest good they did was for me as a parent. The frustrating part is I’m basically figuring out how to help my son on my own. No guidance from a professional other than those I’ve communicated with on this forum. At least the people at the school were honest and admitted they don’t know what to do though.
Re: FORMAL ASSESSMENT??
As a parent, I would hope that if teachers look at Achievement scores that they keep an open mind. These test scores give a somewhat distorted view of the child and do not encompass the whole child.
My daughter tests Full scale score 52, Verbal scale 56„ performance scale 57 on WISC-III; on Woodcock-McGrew-Werder mini battery she tests 77 on Basic skills, Reading 85, writing 72 Math 80, Factual knowledge 63. She is labeled EMH with Sped. She is in 5th gr regular ed classroom. Our school has no seperate Sped contained classroom.
I don’t want a teacher to lower his/her expectations of my daughter by seeing her test scores. The test scores do not reflect the determination that she has, she can learn, she wants to learn, she just learns slower.
She is a good reader, comprehension is a struggle, she is a good speller, just tonight she studied spelling there are now 25 words to study, the teacher marked it just to 12, the remaining words were still there. My daughter knew there were 25 words, she wanted to study 25 words, i gave her a test on them she put down 25 lines on her paper, she got them all right. :lol:
The tests do not show the tempermant of a child, their love of life, their love for people and genuine interest in them. She knows who belongs to whom and she remembers.
There is alot to a child that the testing does not show and the teacher needs to get to know the whole child by interacting with them.
Re: FORMAL ASSESSMENT??
Sorry I had gotten disconnected and forget to login. I was the guest in the previous reply.
Teacher doesn't look at assessments
I would agree with the other parents. Our teachers don’t look at previous assessments. Most need to be told by the parents that there is an IEP or 504 on the child to begin with.
Even then, I don’t think they read too much into the file. However, it may help those teachers who are working with the student at the time of the actual evaluation and results. They are usually more involved with the testing.
Good luck on your undeergrad studies.
Dana
IME, teachers do not review records or testing. I have always had to inform teachers the first few weeks of class that ds3 has an IEP.
I think teachers go to a record after they have a problem or concern with a child and then will go….ahhhh, that explains it. But I don’t know that they will change anything based on what they see.
JMO but I have found teachers pretty set in the way they teach and tuned into the group as a whole. They may set up a task for multiple intelligences because they agree with the overall model or because they now have to enter this information in their lesson plans, but I can’t see them setting up an activity for just “Billy” (based on test scores or observation)
Special ed teachers are a bit more accomodating as they do have small groups. My sons resource teacher last year definitely read his records and tailored his reading sessions(there were 3 in his group)-he made wonderful progress but that was an exceptional experience for us(grade 5)