Monthly Archives: September 2008
Six students the second week after Benchmark testing
Melissa didn’t complete her math homework because she said she couldn’t “get it,” and for that matter, neither could her mother. She did very little math during the week at school, although the math lesson on Monday had been given … Continue reading
Week Six: Time to Teach/Time to Learn Tally of Hours
Time to Teach/Time to Learn: Tally of Time for Curriculum and Instruction in my Classroom Monday, September 22: An uninterrupted day = 5 C & I hours Tuesday, September 23: Subtract 45 minutes for the Art teacher’s project (finishing the … Continue reading
Filed under Time Keeper: Tally of Time to Teach
Time to Learn
As I explore all the issues associated with assessments and accountabililty, I have begun to see that the time squandered is not only lost Time to Teach, but lost Time to Learn. If I manage the time available for Curriculum … Continue reading
Filed under Assessment costs, Commentary on assessments
THE BENCHMARK DILEMMA September, 2008 Denison Montessori School 1. The only possible merit of all that time spent—taking and scoring benchmark tests—is the opportunity to study your own students’ responses. We have to do some higher level thinking here, not … Continue reading
Filed under Commentary on assessments
Week Five C & I Tally
Monday, September 15: Picture Day. Subtract one hour. C & I = 4 hours Tuesday, September 16: A full day = 5 hours Wednesday, September 17: Minus specials = 3.5 hours Thursday, September 18: Because Friday is cancelled, students have … Continue reading
Filed under Time Keeper: Tally of Time to Teach
Benchmark Madness
September 19, 2008 Today there were no students attending DPS schools. It was a day set aside for teachers to score the Benchmark tests and (in the extra time, of course) to do other kinds of assessments. I invested about … Continue reading
Filed under Commentary on assessments
Benchmark Reading Test Results for six students
Melissa wrote a good summary of the first story, but her answers on comprehension questions were weak throughout the test. I notice that she hasn’t picked up a book in the week since we tested. Jonas seemed to have a … Continue reading
More about the DRAs
This morning Katy, the literacy consultant at the school, showed me how to administer the DRA reading assessment. It begins with the student reading a page or two of a small book while the administrator of the test reads the … Continue reading
Filed under Commentary on assessments
Another Reading Assessment?
Monday I received the third directive to do the “DRA” assessment with all of my students who are not proficient on either the Spring CSAP tests or last week’s Benchmark Reading test. “Proficient” is the word that Denver Public Schools … Continue reading
Filed under Commentary on assessments
Assessment Blunders
Friday shortly before noon I learned from the assistant principal in charge of assessments dropped by my classroom to tell me she would need her help. It seemed that some of the scoring sheets for the Benchmark tests of two … Continue reading →
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Filed under Assessment costs, Commentary on assessments
Tagged as processing errors, Scoring sheets, waste