Special Education

Task 3: Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

1. Analyzing the Focus Learner Performance

a. Identify the lesson objectives from the learning segment measured by each daily assessment record.

There is one daily assessment record sheet that contains data from all three lessons. The objectives are listed below for each of the three lessons listed on the sheet.

Lesson 1 Objective: Given letter tiles for ‘e’ ‘n’ ‘l’ ‘t’ ‘d’ ‘w’ ‘v’ ‘y’, Julien will be able to correctly identify each letter sound and name with 87% accuracy.

Lesson 2 Objective: Given letter tiles for ‘o’ ‘x’ ‘c’ ‘g’ ‘h’ ‘b’ ‘f’ ‘s’, Julien will be able to correctly identify each letter sound and name with 87% accuracy.

Lesson 3 Objective: Given letter tiles for ‘u’ ‘q’ ‘m’ ‘p’ ‘j’ ‘r’ ‘z’ ‘k’ ‘a’ ‘i’, Julien will be able to correctly identify each letter sound and name with 85% accuracy.

b. Describe any changes in the assessment related to the work sample, daily assessment records, and/or lesson objectives from what was described in the lesson plans, and explain why changes were made.

The procedure for the daily assessment record was altered slightly. I had originally described the procedure as recording the student’s responses as he said them. That procedure distracted the student and caused him to lose focus on the task. So I altered to procedure so that I did not record any response while he was taking the assessment. The actual assessment was not altered, only the recording procedure. The change benefitted the student in that he was more focused on the task; this resulted in a more accurate reflection of his knowledge. The work sample shows the final daily assessment and the altered recording procedure. The lesson objectives were not changed.

c. If the work sample for the learning goal is an excerpt from a video from Instruction Task 2, provide a time-stamp reference here. If a video work sample includes more than one learner, clearly describe how the scorer can identify the focus learner (e.g., position, physical description, first words spoken by focus learner) whose work is portrayed.

The work sample for the learning goal is an excerpt from the video submitted in Task 2. The excerpt is 18:32-20:00. The student is completing the final assessment of the segment in this excerpt. He is the only learner in the clip.

d. Summarize the focus learner’s progress toward the learning goal as reflected in the lesson objectives. The summary can be presented in a table or described in several paragraphs.

Each lesson focused on 8-10 target letters. When the daily assessment was given, that data was used to determine if the lesson objective had been met or not. This information is shown in the table below.

Lesson Number / Target Letter Names Correct / Target Letter Sounds Correct / Lesson Objective Met?
Lesson 1:
e, n , l, t, d, w, v, y / 7/8 / 3/8 / Names: Yes
Sounds: No
Lesson 2:
o, x, c, g, h, b, f, s / 8/8 / 6/8 / Names: Yes
Sounds: No
Lesson 3:
u, q, m, p, j, r, z, k, a, i / 10/10 / 10/10 / Names: Yes
Sounds: Yes

The table indicates that lesson objectives for letter names were met for each of the three lessons. The table indicates that the lesson objective percentages for the letter sounds were not met for the first two lessons. The objective percentage for sounds for both of these lessons was 87% percentage or 7/8 correct. The objective percentage for the third lesson was met, as 100% of the sounds were identified correctly.

Even though two of the lesson objectives were not met after the lessons, the daily assessments showed that Julien was making progress towards the learning goal. After each daily assessment, Julien had an increase in the number of letter sounds correctly identified. There was also an increase in the total letter names identified correctly after the third daily assessment. The total progress (letter names and sounds combined) also increased after every daily assessment. This is shown in the table below.

Assessment / Total Letter Names Correct / Total Letter Sounds Correct / Total Progress
Beginning of Year Assessment / 22/26 / 9/26 / 31/52
Lesson Segment Pre-Test / 23/26 / 14/26 / 37/52
Daily Assessment 1 / 23/26 / 16/26 / 39/52
Daily Assessment 2 / 23/26 / 21/26 / 44/52
Daily Assessment 3 / 25/26 / 23/26 / 48/52

The learning goal for this segment was to identify at least 24 letters and 24 sounds correctly. Julien identified 25 of 26 letter names correctly after the third daily assessment; he identified 23 of 26 letter sounds correctly. Progress was made after each daily assessment in the number of correctly identified sounds. At least two more sounds were correctly after each lesson. There was a review portion of each lesson, so Julien had the opportunity to practice previously taught letters, which was one factor in the improved score of each daily assessment.

The number of letter names identified stayed constant until the third daily assessment. However, when looking at the daily assessment sheets, I notice that the three letter names missed during each are not the same. On daily assessment 1, ‘n’, ‘c’, and ‘h’ were incorrect; on daily assessment 2, ‘d’, ‘y’, and ‘f’ were incorrect. So there was inconsistency with the letter names but the data did show that Julien corrected the names of letters he had previously identified incorrectly. The data also shows that Julien was making progress towards identifying his letter names correctly but still has some difficulties with naming them consistently.

When looking at the total progress made, it is clear that progress towards the learning goal was made after each lesson. The final number on the total progress column is 48 of 52, which actually was the target goal for the segment. The number of letters and sounds correctly identified was not even, as 25 names were identified and 23 sounds were identified correctly. For both of these skills, progress was made by the learner. From the assessment given at the beginning of the year to the conclusion of the learning segment, a gain of 3 letter names and 14 letter sounds was made.

e. Analyze the focus learner’s performance based on

¡  strengths (what s/he appears to understand or do well) and needs (where s/he continues to struggle or s/he needs greater challenge). Include any error analysis.

Julien appears to have a solid understanding of his letter names. Over the course of all three lessons, Julien correctly identified every letter name. A need of his is to be consistent in naming each letter. Julien is often impulsive which contributes to his inconsistency; he blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind or repeats the last piece of information he thought about. This often means that he doesn’t look at and think about the new information that has been presented. Being able to pause before responding would likely increase his consistency in naming letters. Though Julien demonstrates some inconsistency in naming letters and sounds, he does have the ability to self-correct when given time to do so. This is another strength he possesses. He is more successful at self-correction when given a visual cue to pay attention to, like the tall stem of ‘h’ or the two humps of ‘m’. This is a strength that can continue to be developed by giving more instruction and support on the visual cues; once Julien can internalize those cues, he will be even more successful at self-correction.

Julien does still demonstrate a need for more practice with identifying letter sounds. Though he made significant progress during this lesson segment, there is still more progress to be made. The ultimate goal is for Julien to identify all letter sounds correctly, so that learning to decode will be easier. He also continues to demonstrate a need for more practice and instruction on correct articulation of sounds. He has difficulties forming his mouth properly when producing some sounds and when blending some letters together. That is a continuing area of need. Throughout the lesson segment, Julien demonstrated the ability to blend some letter sounds together vocally but only with a lot of support from me.

¡  types or levels of planned support provided to the focus learner.

One of the main planned supports I used during the lesson segment was modeling-guided practice-independent practice. This support was faded throughout the segment, so by the end of the third lesson, Julien was identifying letter names and sounds independently without needing modeling or guide practice. The support was still used when blending sounds together due to student need. Julien was able to independently identify letter names and sounds but was not yet able to independently blend sounds.

Another support used was immediate systematic error correction. This support was used when Julien incorrectly identified a letter name or sound. Julien responded well to this support and because of it, was able to improve his own performance. When Julien said an incorrect response, I would say the correct response with Julien repeating the correct response afterwards. This helped Julien hear the correct response and connect it with the written letter. This support improved his performance.

A third support used was prompting. I used gestures and verbal prompting. I would prompt Julien to identify letter names and letter sounds during lesson activities and the assessment. More prompting was given during lesson activities, which kept Julien engaged throughout instruction. Verbal prompting was used primarily during activities and faded during assessment. Gesturing was used during assessment which helped keep the learner focused and on task.

f. Based on the focus learner’s performance, explain how the planned supports you used did or did not impact learning and provide access to the content.

The support of modeling-guided practice-independent practice impacted Julien’s learning in a positive manner. In the beginning of the lesson segment, Julien received a lot of support with pronouncing the letter sounds and names. As he gained more experience working with the letters, the support was faded, allowing him to be independent. By the third lesson, he did not require modeling or guided practice of the letter sounds. When presented with a letter, Julien would independently say the name and the sound. Julien was learning the letter sounds and names and was learning to attempt a pronunciation without needing to hear it first. The daily assessment records show that after each lesson, his scores on the whole alphabet were higher (39, 44, 48 respectively) indicating that he was learning and retaining the information.

The immediate systematic error correction also positively impacted Julien’s learning. He was given feedback on his performance and was able to hear the correct pronunciation of a name or letter sound. When Julien made an error, I provided him with the correct response and he echoed it. This improved his learning because not only did he know his pronunciation was not accurate but also he heard and echoed the correct pronunciation. Julien’s pronunciation during the daily assessments was better than during baseline data collection and review sessions at the start of each lesson. Even his pronunciation while echoing me was better than when he tried it on his own.

The prompting impacted the student’s learning because it kept him focused on the learning tasks. Attention can be a difficulty for Julien, which impacts his ability to learn desired tasks. If he is not concentrating on instruction or learning activities, it is difficult to actually learn the information. The prompting kept him on task and reminded him what was expected of him at each point of the lessons. During the daily assessments, the gesturing kept the pace for his responses and drew his focus to the task of saying the letter names and sounds.

2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning

a. Identify the form in which you submitted your evidence of feedback for the focus learner.

In a video clip from Instruction Task 2 (7:48-10:42)

The student is the only learner in the video clip.

b. Explain how feedback (including error prevention) provided to the focus learner addresses his/her individual strengths and continuing needs relative to the learning goal.

The video clip listed above provides examples of both positive reinforcing feedback and specific constructive feedback. The positive reinforcing feedback addresses his strengths by praising what is being done correctly. That feedback can be observed in the video clip at 8:12 with the letter ‘t’, at 10:02 with the letter ‘s’, and at 10:33 with the letter ‘v.’ Most of the feedback is verbal praise, usually the words “good” or “good job.” Sometimes physical signs of praise and feedback are also given, like a nod or a smile. This feedback encouraged Julien to continue producing those sounds in that manner and boosted his confidence about his ability to be successful when articulating letter names and sounds.

There is also positive feedback that prompted Julien to attempt sounds he was unsure of. He would look at the letter, start to form his mouth to say the sound, and then pause to look at me; this occurs at 9:48 with the letter ‘w’ and 10:33 with the letter ‘v.’ The feedback I gave him was to form my mouth in the correct position without saying the sound. Julien looked at my mouth, formed his the same way, and remembered what sound to produce. This feedback was an attempt at error prevention by modeling the correct mouth position to make the appropriate sound before an incorrect sound was produced. This feedback also helped address Julien’s need for correct articulation of the letter sounds. By seeing how my mouth looked, he was better able to make his own mouth form correctly to produce the desired sound.