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Teacher Resources for ERLI
Tips for Reading Assessments
- Base the biggest percentage of the total course grade on assessments that measure proficiency directly such as quizzes and tests. Don't give points for non-proficiency-based things like attendance, participation, and mere completion of homework. [It's ERLI policy anyway.]
- As you design your quizzes/tests, make sure they include sections that assess the skill outcomes in the curriculum. At the beginning of the semester, exams will contain mostly comprehension and opinion questions, but as the semester progresses and students learn new skills, add those skills to each subsequent exam. I like to label each skill section [i.e. comprehension, opinion, main idea, inference, vocabulary, etc...] on my exams to ensure I'm covering the outcomes.
- Give a mixture of quizzes/tests on readings you've covered together in class and "cold reading", i.e. ones they have not seen until they take the test. Increase the number of cold readings as the semester progresses and their skills improve/develop. This will help you to know who really has the reading skills to progress to the next level and who is depending on class discussions and other inputs to comprehend the reading.
- For readings you go over together in class, including more and more such questions as the semester moves along. Include questions on the quizzes about things from the reading that were not discussed in class…progressively step this back….doing less and less supporting activities in class for each reading.
- Track your students class average: Calculate your students class averages at midterm and the every two or three weeks after that. It will help you to know if the students who you think should be passing are passing and those who shouldn't, aren't –allowing you to make adjustments to your tests and assignments as needed. It also allows you to show the students their progress and guide them appropriately. At the very least, it makes it easy to calculate the final grade at the end of the semester.
A Thought to Consider: Failing a class due to a lack of skills may hurt for a short time, but being passed on to a level where they cannot hope to keep up hurts even more. It merely postpones their eventual failure for a semester, and robs them of the chance to gain the foundation they need to be successful.
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