What is an IEP?

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) serves as the framework for determining the meaning of the term “free appropriate public education” in the least restrictive environment, a term frequently referenced in the IDEA. IEPs must be developed and reviewed annually and must be in effect at the beginning of each school year. The IEP may be reviewed more than once a year if the parent or the district requests a review.

What is MAP?

MAP stands for Measure of Academic Progress. Floyd County gives the MAP test at the beginning, middle and end of the year. Each child takes the test on a Chromebook or computer. In the testing world, this test is called "adaptive" meaning it is personalized to measure the needs of every student. If you child answers a question correctly, the test follows up with a more challenging question. If you child answers incorrectly, the test follows up with an easier question. We know that children learn better - and faster- when teachers have a clear picture of what each student knows and what they are ready to learn next.

MAP Growth reveals how much growth has occurred between testing events. You will likely hear about this during an IEP meeting or parent conference with your child's teacher.

What is Orton Gillingham?

Orton-Gillingham is a highly structured approach that breaks reading and spelling down into smaller skills involving letters and sounds, and then building on these skills over time. It also was the first approach to use multi-sensory teaching strategies to teach reading. This means that educators use sight, hearing, touch, and movement to help students connect and learn the concepts being taught.

If your child talks about RED words, they are talking about sight words. They are red because the students need to stop (like a stop sign) and think about them. They may also talk about arm tapping and finger tapping. These are all strategies used in Orton Gillingham. We also draw letters and write words in sand. As the children say, write and feel the letters, they are using multiple senses to help them remember letter/sound relationships.

What is Acadience?

Acadience are measures that help teachers and schools determine how students are performing on important reading skills. All students are given the Acadience test three times each year; usually this occurs in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. This school-wide testing is called benchmark assessment. School personnel may also regularly check on the progress of students who receive extra reading help to make sure their reading skills are improving. These regular checks are called progress monitoring.

Benchmark assessments generally take 2 to 6 minutes to give, depending on the grade of the student and time of year. Teachers only need about 1 to 2 minutes to progress monitor students at each testing time. DIBELS measures allow teachers to get valuable information about students’ reading skills without using large amounts of instructional time.