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Welcome to the Assessment Home Page
 

Assessment helps teachers monitor the effectiveness of their instruction for all children.  Assessment identifies which children are falling behind in critical skills.  Good practice requires the use of timely, reliable data to track student growth in order to guide instruction.  By regularly assessing whether children are making adequate progress in learning to read, we know which children need more help and if their instructional plan is working for them.  Analysis of assessment data directs appropriate interventions.

Before administering assessments, the following questions should be considered to ensure that the assessment will be useful in making these decisions:

  • Why is the information being collected (to identify skills not yet mastered or to determine which students are not performing on grade level)?
  • What information is being collected (general performance or specific skill performance)?
  • When is the information being collected (frequency throughout the year; prior to, during or after instruction)?
  • How it is collected (individual or group administration)?
  • Which students' information is collected (all students or an identified group)?
The key types of Assessment are:
  • Screening
  • Diagnostic
  • Progress Monitoring (Formative)
  • Outcomes (Summative)

The video, Understanding Assessments by Catherine Pirri from Hanson Initiative for Literacy & Language (HILL), briefly explores these assessment types.  She also clarifies and provides insight into the differences between Criterion & Norm-Referenced tests

Please scroll down the page for descriptions of the types of assessment.

 

 Screening Assessments

Screening Assessments are brief assessments administered to all students to identify those at risk for literacy difficulties.  They assess critical skills known to be strongly predictive of future literacy performance. 

For more information about Screening Assessments, click here.

 Diagnostic Assessments
Diagnostic Assessments are individually administered to at-risk students to provide in-depth information about students' specific strengths and weaknesses in order to determine effective instructional interventions.
 
 
 

 Progress Monitoring Assessments (Formative)

Progress Monitoring Assessments are used to ensure at-risk students are making adequate progress and to determine if additional or different interventions need to be developed for these students.  Progress Monitoring Assessments should be administered during instruction and frequently enough to gauge student response to instructional interventions.

For more information about Progress Monitoring Assessments, click here.

 Outcome Assessments (Summative)

Outcome Assessments provide an indication of a student's performance at a specific point in time.  This performance level is then compared to a standard, such as grade level proficiency.  Outcome Assessments are administered to all students and are conducted after instruction.

For more information about Outcome Assessments, click here.

 Using Data to Inform Instruction
 
 
 
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This website is a collaboration between Eastern Suffolk BOCES Federal and State School Support Initiatives and the New York State Education Department – Office of Early Learning.  The contents of this website do not necessarily reflect views or policies of the NYS Education Department, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the NYS Education Department.