Northglade Montessori

Student Evaluation Tools

DIBELS IOWA CogAT Star Reading EdPerformance

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DIBELS

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
Roland Good and Ruth Kaminski at the University of Oregon developed Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to assess students’ early literacy skills. Based on the research of early literacy, the authors developed measures to evaluate student mastery/knowledge of early indicators of reading acquisition. These tools include five measures to determine if a student is in need of additional instructional support. The first measure is Initial Sounds Fluency (ISF) where students are shown 12 pictures and are asked to identify the beginning sound. ISF is used primarily with kindergarteners as it measures the most basic literacy skills. Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) is the second measure in which students are given a page containing upper- and lower-case letters. Students have to name as many letters as they can. The third measure, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) is one in which students hear distinct words and are asked to verbally produce the individual phonemes. The fourth measure is Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) where students see written VC and CVC nonsense words. They are asked to verbally produce the individual sound of each letter or read the whole word. The fifth measure, DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), consists of a standardized set of reading passages. Students are given one minute to read the passage out loud. Typically, students are tested once in the fall and once in the spring to determine what instructional modifications should be made based on the results of the measures.

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The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills

The Iowa Statewide Testing Program is a voluntary, non profit cooperative program for Iowa schools provided as a service to the schools by the College of Education of The University of Iowa. The ITBS is used in grades K through 8. Schools participating in the program subscribe to a comprehensive program of professional services: ITBS test materials, scoring and reporting services, and consultation are available throughout the school year. From its beginning in 1935 with the Iowa Every Pupil Tests, the emphasis in the program has been on the use of ITBS results for instructional purposes. To that end, virtually all Iowa school districts-both public and private-have voluntarily participated in this program annually since its inception. For their part, the schools provide assistance to ITP by participating in research projects and test development efforts conducted by Iowa Testing Programs.

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CogAT

The Cognitive Abilities Test CogAT, Form 5, part of the Iowa Tests series produced by Riverside Publishing Company, is an integrated series of tests designed to evaluate the individual differences among children in their development of verbal, quantitative, and spatial skills. These abilities are closely related to a child's success in school in virtually all subjects. Test results may be used in planning effective instructional programs and, in combination with other relevant information about the student, can be used to enhance the student's chances of success in learning.


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STAR READING

Now, assessing students’ reading progress in grades 1-12 is fast, accurate, and easy! STAR Reading helps you determine the reading level of each student, measure individual and class growth, and forecast results on standardized tests. Students can complete the computer-adaptive assessment in less than 10 minutes, and you get accurate, reliable, norm-referenced scores immediately.


There’s no better tool than STAR Reading to help you measure individual and class growth, determine placement for new students, and forecast results on major high-stakes tests.
Get valuable information. With STAR Reading, you can determine the appropriate level of challenge for each child, instantly place new students, and identify those who need individual help.
Enjoy fast results. STAR Reading provides accurate, reliable, norm-referenced reading scores for grades 1-12 in less than 10 minutes. These scores include grade equivalents, percentile ranks, and normal curve equivalents.
Receive quality data. STAR Reading has been validated with nationally representative samples totaling more than 60,000 students (with an extremely high test-retest reliability coefficient of .94) and is highly correlated to state and national standardized tests, including ITBS, CAT, SAT, and TerraNova.
Monitor growth. STAR Reading streamlines the testing process. You can administer tests at key times throughout the school year—at no additional cost!
Access information easily. With the Renaissance Place Edition of STAR Reading, all your STAR Reading information can be accessed from any web-connected computer.

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EdPerformance

Features and Benefits

• Web-Based
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  Access data at any time from any computer with Internet access
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  Content Neutral
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  Not limited to certain content; use any items you want
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  Use Scantron’s item bank
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  Use locally-created items from existing district benchmark tests
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  Use content from Scantron’s partners
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  Standards Alignment
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  Use your expertise to align your items to state standards
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  Use Scantron’s item bank which has been correlated to state standards
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  Report by standard to identify strengths & weaknesses in preparation for state test
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  Multiple Delivery Methods
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  “Develop once, deliver any way”
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  Administer tests online
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  Use traditional Scantron OMR scanners and forms
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  Use off-the-shelf scanners and plain paper forms
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  Mix-and-match; compare results
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  Collaborative Environment
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  Team of individuals can work together to create and review item banks and tests
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  Work in the same item bank at the same time from different computers to build items
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  Immediate Results
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  Access reports as soon as test is submitted online or form is scanned
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  Aggregate and disaggregate by demographics, delivery method, school, instructor, etc.
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  View data necessary to impact instruction in the classroom in real-time