There are many variables to consider when assessing students. As a heterogeneous group, they demonstrate varying levels of language and literacy development. Their development is often not linear across domains (e.g., they may have higher oral language development in some areas and written language development in others). The “funds of knowledge” (Moll, 2019) or multicultural resources they possess play an important role, too. From an instructional perspective, Get Ready!: Language, Literacy, and Content uses a spiral approach, so students can revisit language and concepts throughout the curriculum. The assessment philosophy follows this approach and is supported with Get Ready!'s Assess to Learn system. The Assess to Learn system in Get Ready! is designed as a bridge between teaching and learning, helping teachers to effectively use assessment data to create a standards-based individualized learning path for each student. This system helps teachers assess ongoing learning progress, identify skills gaps, and then customize instruction using standards-based lessons and activities. The systematic approach in Get Ready! views all activities as providing information about achievement. As such, formative assessment plays a vital role; it is an ongoing process related to student progress toward meeting the learning targets and objectives of a unit. During the instructional cycle, teachers gather information through questions embedded in the text to determine the effectiveness of instruction. Based on that information, they provide timely and relevant feedback (Gottlieb, 2016). Further, teachers use this information to tailor instruction. Get Ready! is designed to prompt students to play an active role in their learning. Gottlieb (2016) describes the importance of students contributing to and helping to shape the assessment process. They should advocate for themselves, take responsibility for their learning, work toward becoming independent and self-regulated learners, reflect on their academic and linguistic accomplishments, monitor their personal growth and progress toward their learning goals, engage in peer assessment, and gradually become instructional resources for each other. Together, this allows students to develop metacognitive, metalinguistic, and metacultural awareness. Each unit in Get Ready! contains a self-evaluation that prompts students to pause and evaluate their work. Also, the formative assessments embedded throughout the Get Ready! units allow students to demonstrate what they know in ways that relate to their current learning, as well as the knowledge that they are developing. Get Ready! includes the following assessments: • Placement Test • Diagnostic Test The Placement Test can be used to place students within the program and to individualize instruction. The Diagnostic Test can be used to determine student needs in specific domains as well as their language proficiency level. The Progress Monitoring Assessment includes point-of-use quizzes and unit tests that assess a student’s developing knowledge, while the Proficiency Assessment includes summative assessments that serve as a way to check learners’ “sum” of learning at a particular point in time. This cumulative assessment includes midunit and end-of unit tests that use new reading passages and are similar to standardized tests. Students have the opportunity to use the skills they have learned and apply them in new reading situations. For Proficiency Assessment, there is also a mid-book and end-ofbook test. The results provide evidence of progress and can be used for accountability. • Progress Monitoring Assessment • Proficiency Assessment The Assess to Learn system for Get Ready! The Assess to Learn system for Get Ready! helps teachers ASSESS ongoing learning progress, DISCOVER skills gaps, and then PERSONALIZE instruction using standardsbased lessons and activities. Assess & Monitor Assess to Learn Analyze & Discover Teach or Reteach Plan & Personalize • Assess and Monitor student progress through standards-based progress monitoring and proficiency assessment to check learners’ skills development and “sum” of learning. • Analyze and Discover skills gaps easily with analytics tools that show student progress toward important learning standards. Monitor ongoing student performance at a glance through comprehensive dashboards. • Plan and Personalize instruction by assigning standards-based lessons and activities. Easily search for student and teacher resources to customize instruction. • Teach or Reteach skills and content for practice and reinforcement. Differentiate instruction by assigning activities to the whole class, small groups, or individual students. 29 ASSESSMENT
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