The Assessment Process

How Does P-E-M Use Assessments to Inform Classroom Practice?

Types of Assessments

How Do Screening, Diagnostic, and Progress Monitoring Data Inform the Decision-Making Process?

Grade-level Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) use the following assessments to guide their decision-making process with regard to interventions and differentiating instruction:

• • • Universal Screening assessments given to every student in the Fall, Winter and Spring help staff differentiate instruction for all students and identify students in need of extra help. Reading is generally broken down into 5 main categories: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and/ Comprehension.

    • Diagnostic Assessments help the staff to focus on a student's specific area(s) of difficulty and implement a proper intervention.

    • Progress Monitoring helps the staff to see how a particular intervention is addressing the specific area(s) of need.

How are Teachers, Administrators, and School Staff Involved in Regular Data Review?

• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), generally made up of grade-level representatives, meet weekly to discuss student data, suggest interventions, create common assessments and share best practices.

• Student Support Team (SST) Is a group made up of our data coaches, school phycologist, social worker, SPED teachers and the building principal. Grade level teachers identify students struggling with academic or behavioral issues, and together with the SST team, create a plan to provide interventions for the student's success . The group meets weekly to discuss new data and revisit previous intervention plans in order to see if they were effective, and to discuss what further steps need to be taken.

• A Data Coach is available in each building in the P-E-M district. The Data Coach disaggregates various forms of student data in order to make the numbers more teacher-friendly and immediately useful for differentiating instruction. The Data Coach consults with teachers about data in an effort to identify trends and trouble spots.