[Solved] Assessment and Communicating With Parents - how`s my child doing?

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[Solved] Assessment and Communicating With Parents - how`s my child doing?

Assessment and Communicating With Parents

Introduction

Assessment is essentially the process of gathering information about a student for the purposes of making a decision about his or her education. When a proper assessment is carried out, a teacher is able to identify the areas that students struggle with as well as the strong areas hence modifying his or her teaching strategies. Teachers and parents should have a very good relationship so as to work together towards improving the potential of the students.

Areas of Assessment

The five areas of assessment for young children comprises of observation, adaptive behavior, cognitive, physical as well as communication. Observation assessment is aimed at determining is capable of performing a skill. Adaptive behavior assessment involves evaluating skills for which the child may have limited exposure. Cognitive assessment involves testing the child’s purposive planning, memory, attention as well as decision making. Physical assessment involves skills that the child can be able to do especially advanced ones. Communication assessment is aimed at determining the child’s ability to respond to command among others (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

Testing Instrument

Fully battery assessment tests prove very crucial when it comes to communication. This testing instrument provides a testing comparison of scores on the separate test hence painting a clear picture of student’s strengths and weaknesses. These tests usually measure basic skills in reading, language, and mathematics.

When it comes to cognitive assessment, achievement tests tend to be effective. Achievement tests are essentially designed to examine what the child has learned or has been taught in a certain area of instruction. Bracken Basic Concept Scale test is also used when it comes to cognitive assessment. It acts as a measure of basic concept development and a school readiness assessment (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales test is very crucial when it comes to physical assessment. This instrument assesses personal and social skills used for everyday living.

Battelle Developmental Inventory Screening Test proves effective as far as the assessment of adaptive behavior is concerned. It is administered through individual administration, direct observation as well as the interview. The test takes approximately thirty minutes.

Observation should be continuous process during learning and it is a primary tool in assessment. The teacher assesses the students through observation especially when they are too young to be tested. Teachers observe record and analyze the information so as to be able to make decisions that affect the child (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

Informal Measures Used To Evaluate and Measure Student Progress

Observation is one of the measures used to evaluate students’ progress. it involves looking at children in a systematic way for the purposes of enabling teachers to identify children’s behaviors, document performance and make decisions.

Anecdotal records give a brief written of an individual student’s behavior at one time hence it services the purpose of providing insight into a certain behavior and a foundation for planning specific teaching approach (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

The portfolio is also crucial. It is essentially a collection of children’s work samples. They provide documentation of a student’s achievements in certain areas over time.

Communicating both Formal and Informal Assessments to Parents

When it comes to communicating with a parent about formal and informal assessment, caution needs to be taken so as not to create some form of mistrust. When the parent arrives in the school they should first be welcomed. Technology can also be used to communicate with the parent since it saves time. Emails, phone calls, and newsletters are effective. The parent should be told of the progress and assessment of his or her child measures to be taken to help the student improve should also be recommended (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

I would engage parents in assessing their children’s learning by inviting them for a brief questionnaire since they can be an invaluable source of information about their own children. I would also invite parents in the classroom as silent observers or help in certain activities since this can help them in assessing their children learning.

Engaging Parents in Assessing Their Children’s Learning

Technology is very beneficial in the classroom and it is slowly being integrated into learning and assessment. Technology is used for progress monitoring. Through the use of computers, teachers can use spreadsheets to track students work as well as their teaching strategies. If several students in a class are registering dismal performances in a particular area, this kind of record keeping can highlight the areas that the teacher needs to concentrate more on to ensure that these students understand the concepts better, therefore, improving their performances (Gardner & Gardner, 2012).

Technology is also used in the process of assessment, for example, electronic delivery of tests. Using computers, tests can be delivered electronically. This method is easier compared to traditional methods of entering data. Questions are straightforward and calls for minimal experience. Technology assists in recorded, analysis, general storage as well as management of results. In case the results are not in electronic form, they can easily be entered manually using database packages such as excel, Minitab, access among others. This makes the process of assessment and progress monitoring very fast and effective therefore saving a lot of time compared to using the traditional methods.

Conclusion

All in all, assessment is fundamental since it enables the teacher to identify areas that students are strong and weak in so that he or she can make the necessary changes in the teaching plan. Communication between teachers and parents should be encouraged since it benefits the students. Use of technology in assessment makes work easier hence saving a lot of time that would have otherwise been wasted.