Preassessments

Hi Everybody, I just wanted to share an experience I had this past week which gave me some insite into the preassessment piece of the differentiation puzzle we all are now working on. I had a student return to school on Thursday, January 22, after being out sick since Christmas vacation. After 2 days being absent, the parent requested work for him which I sent home, but unfortunately the child was too sick until recently to complete it. In preparation for his return on the 22nd, I thought it would be a good idea to meet with the child and his mother to see "where he was" as a way to help him transition back into the classroom. My class was scheduled to take their Unit 5 math test on Thursday so in order to get a handle on his readiness I decided to have him do the end of the unit review we at OFRS use for each unit. Turns out he was able to complete all of the Part A section with no problem, but needed to be taught decimals which was on the Part B section. Since he was able to stay with me for awhile, we worked on that part. I sent home a couple of activities and pages from his math journal to work on and asked mom to send in a note telling me if she/he felt able to take the test the next day. Turns out I did not give the test until Friday, but the kid got a perfect score on both sections! I am really glad for his sake, and mine, that we don't have to go through that whole unit. This experience has really made me think about the value of preassessing.