Assessment+Interview

I interviewed a bilingual Kindergarten teacher with six years of teaching experience. She teaches bilingual English Language Learners (ELLs) who reside in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood where the home language is Spanish. During our interview, we discussed stress factors, administrative support, pros/cons of best practices, professional development, and parental communication.

Stress factors are relevant in various situations. Some students get stressed over the certain types of assessments. The teacher found that using games help to eases the students mind regarding assessments. The games make the assessment fun and it helps students relieve some of the tension. Some students are stressed over the newness of assessments, especially if they are new to this culture. Most of her students have only been in America for a very short amount of time and they have little formal education in an academic setting. Students are affected by stress in a variety of ways.

The teacher is receiving some support from the staff of Dibels. However, additional administrative support is always welcomed. The assistance of aides would allow the teacher more opportunities to work with small groups. More parental involvement could help the teacher better prepare students for standardized tests. Any additional resources and support is from the administration is helpful to the students.

The teacher uses various assessments, including but not limited to: ACCESS, pre-screening, Dibels, standardized tests, informal assessments, and checklists. Her favorite assessment is Dibels. However, it is not without fault. There are pros and cons with Dibels and the ACCESS program. Dibels is a favorite during the middle and at the end of the school year. At the beginning of the year, students may become distracted with the handheld device. The device can freeze and lose data. Some pros include progress monitoring. Dibels can give reports on progress and it helps you with differentiating instruction. ACCESS helps to determine English proficiency. If students test well in ACCESS, they may not be recommended for bilingual programs and/or support. ACCESS and Dibels are among the best practices for ELLs assessment but both programs have pros and cons.

Professional development plays a major part in authentic assessments. Administrators encourage teachers to keep up with new techniques including data driven instruction (DDI). Teachers participate in teacher-led professional development to get trained on various assessments and to bounce ideas off of other colleagues. CPDU’s can be gained from attending professional development trainings. Teachers can use museums, such as the Mexican Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute, and the Museum of Science and Industry as a source of research for a variety of assessments. Teacher can also do their own research on assessments to assist their students and colleagues. The teacher that I interviewed believes that professional development can come from many sources and it should always be in the forefront of an educators mind.

The teacher stated that communication with parents is very important to the student’s success. She communicates daily with parents depending on the progress of the student. Daily communication can be reduced to weekly progress reports as student’s retention is proven. The teacher I interviewed enjoys being a bilingual teacher. She understands that assessments for ELLs have come a long way but that assessing ELLs have a long way to go. She is dedicated to her students and always seeks innovative ways to assess their works. She also emphasized the importance and value of administrative support, best practices, professional development, and parental communication

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