Thursday, January 24, 2013

Tests, tests and more tests

We are in the thick of NWEA testing at my school. (Northwest Evaluation Association) We administer these computer based assessments three times per year beginning in second grade to monitor student growth. They give immediate and specific feedback for each test taker and results can also be viewed by class. Students are tested in math, reading and language. These tests are really helpful in setting individual student goals as well as for the whole class. It also gives teachers a look at possible areas of teaching strength and weakness.

I have a student that is very bright but has been struggling for some time and is finally on a wonderful plan.  I have been convinced this plan is working for some time now but the test results were my absolute proof. Prior to the plan the student has always done well on these tests and met the benchmark scores and even exceeds them on occasion. Fast forward to present day, the student exceeded the expectation in math by 14 points and even more impressive is the reading score which exceeded the expectation by 30 points (which puts the student off the charts - past tenth grade.)  BIG FAT WAHOOOOOO!!!!!
Here is the icing on the cake! I was discussing the plan, the success, the testing, etc with the student and how much pride. The student replied (no joke), "Its because of how you teached me."  I am not holding out much hope for the language test, lol!

Another student's score increased by ten points from the fall. He was so proud, beaming the rest of the day, and decided to share the love by making this sweet note for me.



(Flip note over)


This also made me chuckle. Another person who rocked the reading assessment but could, perhaps, use some more grammar/language instruction. This just makes me love my class even more.  

One more giggle today- 
A student describing hotdogs: The outside of a hotdog is the pig skin and the inside is the insides of the pig.  

Oh dear, I would say she is not far off but still, ick! I don't know how much more inside recess I can handle!




1 comment:

  1. Nice job Mrs. Flannery! When even one student is successful it makes all that hard work worth while. LB

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