Who We Are The Center for Children and Technology (A division of the Education Development Center) A non-profit education research group Wendy Martin: Cricket Heinze: Helga Perez: Naomi Hupert:

Trends in use of handheld technology to support student reading assessment Information presented here is based on work for the following projects: –Reading First Evaluation for the state of New Mexico –Evaluation Framework for Data-Driven Instructional Decision-Making, funded by NSF

Using handheld computers to support assessment: A look at New Mexico’s Reading First initiative New Mexico Reading First Facts: Reading First implementation start date: August, 2003 Evaluation start date: July 1, schools received Reading First funds in 10 school districts K - 3rd grade teachers administered the DIBELS assessments three times throughout the year students were assessed in November, students were assessed in February, students were assessed in April, 2004

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Efficiency Teachers, coordinators and administrators state use of the Palm to administer the DIBELS is far more efficient in terms of: –teacher’s time –accuracy of administration of the timed sections –entry of data into a central system –built in graphic/visual display of information

Instant Feedback Loop: Using PalmPilots to administer assessments: –Provides assessment data that is “here and now”- assessment data comes to teachers immediately following administration making it useful in implementing differentiated instruction and in making instructional decisions based on data (data-driven decision making) –Immediacy of feedback loop – teachers begin to see connections between assessment and classroom practice

Feedback Loop: In the past assessments were always for someone else, a principal, a district, the state. Data rarely arrived back in a teacher’s room within a timeframe that was at all useful for teaching or meeting students’ needs. Use of the DIBELS on the palm gives a teacher information that can be use immediately—the assessment serves teachers’ needs as educators.

Professional Development Guiding teachers interest in professional development: –As teachers spend more time examining their DIBELS data they appear to be realizing that there are gaps in their knowledge about how to address particular aspects of literacy instruction, or how to address particular students’ needs, and they are requesting professional development to address these gaps.

Home-School Communication Use as parent conference starting-point Students’ interest in their own progress heightens parents’ interest - Several teachers use their assessment data as a basis for discussions about student literacy progress with parents. In one school teachers report that student interest and excitement in their own progress as documented by the DIBELS Progress Monitoring assessment has led to greater parent interest in students’ literacy skills.

Classroom Instruction Promoting differentiated instruction -With the DIBELS data, teachers know “specifically what their [students] needs are” and are experiencing a change in mind-set about providing differentiated instruction - incorporating in-class strategies, such as grouping, peer tutoring, and interventions, as well as identifying students for additional resources based on need. Aligning instruction to RF requirements - After reviewing the DIBELS results, several teachers said that they are including more explicit phonics and phonemic awareness instruction into their practice.

Challenges: Lack of time: –While teachers indicated that giving the DIBELS on the handheld saved them time, they reported not feeling that they had enough time to look at the data and connect it to instruction. Over Testing: –Teachers, school building administrators, and some district personnel voiced concern about testing students too often, especially those students in Kindergarten. Many said that while it is essential to assess students’ abilities, it does not take the place of teaching.

More Challenges: The technology –Technical infrastructure: Some schools lack the necessary hardware to support use of the Palms for assessment purposes. In one case an entire school was left unable to snych their data because a local server went down and there were not the resources or staff to repair it. In other cases schools have to rely on only a few internet-connected computers where all teachers must synch their Palms. –Technical support: Schools with fewer resources to draw on are often unable to provide the technical support (training, assistance and maintenance) necessary when introducing a new technology to a school setting. This can result in teachers’ lack of consistent use.

More Challenges: Professional development –Teacher support: In order to gain maximum use of assessment data teachers must have access to professional development, which makes the connection between the use of data and instruction explicit. Flexibility –Ownership of information: teachers’ sense of “ownership” of their assessment data is central to their perception of why it is useful: it is, primarily, for them, and not for some other educational entity. Maintaining this sense of ownership in the face of school, district or state accountability may prove difficult.