Matching Context to Students: Assessment as Inquiry (Chapter 5)

One of the main responsibilities of a reading specialist is communicating to the teachers, administrators, and parents the literacy strengths and needs of students (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).

Assessment is the process of gathering data to better understand strengths and weaknesses of student learning.  Assessment can be completed by observation, testing, interviews, as well as in other acceptable ways.   In education, diagnosis often includes instructional planning and an assessment of the student's strengths and weaknesses (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).

Recent approaches to reading intervention have become known as a difference model or contextualized difference model.  A difference model simply means there is a mismatch between what a student needs and what is being offered in regards to literacy instruction and materials.  The teacher’s responsibility is to determine the source of the mismatch and appropriately adjust materials and instruction to attain a closer match (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).  The concept of the difference model (versus the deficit model) seems to make much more sense to me.  Similar to the idea that you cannot change others’ behaviors, but you can change yourself and how you react to others; the difference model embraces the idea that people are who they are (rather than there is something wrong, we must fix them), and asks how can I best support their learning.  Interestingly, I have heard that the Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs and various school nutrition programs (ex. Free breakfast) stem from the deficit model which leads me believing that the deficit model does have a vital place in education in some ways.

A number of factors must be considered in contextualized assessment.  Home factors (e.g., family structure, number of moves, changes in schools), community factors (e.g., language use within the community, values about literacy), identity (e.g., ethnicity, certain physical attributes), and school factors (e.g., school quality, resources available) are recognized as some of the complex and cultural factors that inevitably affect learning (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).

The purpose of a Learner Assessment Profile (LAP) is to provide information in a factual way free of judgments and biases.  The goal is to achieve a closer match between students’ needs and what is offered in the classroom (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).

"You can't make a pig fatter by weighing it more often." (author of quote unknown)

            A concern of many educators is time spent screening, testing, and monitoring students is taking valuable time away from instruction.  Regardless, evidence needs to be available that documents student learning (Vogt & Shearer, 2011).  Finding the balance between the assessments that need to be done (regardless of whether they are high stakes, authentic, or some other form of testing) and not taking away too much precious instructional time is paramount.

References

Vogt, M., & Shearer, B. (2011). Reading specialists and reading coaches in the real world. Boston, MA: Pearson.