Mrs. E's Assessment

In Mrs. E's first grade class, she assesses children's growth in literacy by doing benchamrks, Directed Reading Activities, daily observations anecdotal data, and reading tests.  For math, she does daily checking for understanding, assessments and benchmark quizzes.  For social studies, she assesses by checking for participation.  Mrs. E assesses children's social-emotional development by observation and their interaction with others.  Assessment information is shared between grade levels by data meetings via a Title 1 facilitator.  Most of the assessments are teacher-created. 
     Mrs. E makes assessment first and then plans for instruction and if the students do poorly on assessments (formal and informal), then she reteaches.  Mrs. E does use portfolios, each child in her classroom has a file and folder and she keeps all of their work in them.  She uses observation daily, all throughout the day and keeps it in a notebook.  First grade does not have any standardized tests, and she shares assessment with parents by conferences and sending notes home in their weekly folders.  Newington's procedure for assessing and diagnosing children with special needs is that tests are modified (if needed) and standardized tests are modified based on the child's IEP.