How can I make assessing easier for me next year? That is what I thought about when I chose the assessment I created using my district’s CMS which is Illuminate. I wanted an assessment that could be quick and give me as much information as possible. So having already played with item bank and on the fly assessments, I chose to use an illuminate assessment I do not typically use which is a skills assessment. These assessments can be a list of words, problems, or pictures. I know a kindergarten teacher I work with uses them for rhyming. She shows the student a picture and they have to give her a word that rhymes with the picture.
For my assessment I chose to do an assessment on long and short vowels. Within the assessment I have a mixture of the different vowels in long and short vowel form. What I like about the skills assessment is that the students can see at the end how they did. I can also print out flashcards for them for practice. I can also take notes on each attempt to refer back to, as well as give notes to parents in a parent letter on the assessment. In the assessment I can link standards so that I have a purposeful teaching point. One set back of this assessment is that it has to be given individually so it will take some time, but the information taken from that one to one assessment will be worth it in the end.
As far as my ADC goes the assessment checks a few of the boxes. This assessment can guide my next lessons based off of how the students do I can reteach the standard in large or small group depending on the needs. The assessment also has a place for feedback and self reflection as the students are given materials to practice from the assessment report when they have completed the assessment. I think some things I need to think about is how the students can show understanding with this assessment. This is definitely a first draft as I think of ways to improve using skills assessments. However, it was my first time using these types of assessment and I am excited to see other ways I can use them.
A quick look at my assessment can be seen here.
Learning with Lindsay 