ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR YEAREND ASSESSMENT PORTFOLIO
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
The class observed is a sixth grade English class with twenty-three students. Among the twenty three students, nine are bilingual in Spanish and English.
The English course content comprises of different components of English learning from reading, grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. The students are expected to participate in class discussions and recitations as well as pass writing exercises, quizzes and midterm and final examinations. Passing the class would be determined by completion of requirements which might include additional projects or researches. At the end of the year, the students are expected to acquire fluency in word analysis, vocabulary development, reading comprehension, literary analysis, writing applications and speaking.
The California Academic Content Standards for Grade Six stipulates that students should be able to use their knowledge of word origins, word relationships, and historical and literary context clues in order to come up with coherent, well-organized and effective written and oral presentations (California Department of Education, 2006).
STANDARDIZED TESTS AND ASSESSMENTS FOR THE STUDENTS
Standardized tests are constructed to provide accurate information about students’ level of performance (Slavin as cited in Pearson Education, Inc., 2005). Standardized tests have the following qualities: provide a systematic procedure for describing behaviors, whether in terms of numbers or categories; include specified procedures for administration and scoring; test items are derived from experience; have an established format and set of materials; present the same tasks and require the same response modes from all test takers; and provide table of norms to which scores of test takers can be compared in order to ascertain their relative standing (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2006).
In California, USA, students are required to undergo certain types of standardized examinations that gauge how well students are learning academic skills. These examinations form the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program. The STAR Program comprises four parts: California Standards Tests, the California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition, the California Alternate Performance Assessment, and the Spanish Assessment of Basic Education, Second Edition (San Diego City Schools Fact Sheet, 2004). The students in the class have undergone the California Standard Test, Spanish Assessment of Basic Education, Second Edition (SABE/2) and the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) as fulfillment of the requirements in the state assessment and accountability system.
CALIFORNIA STANDARDS TESTS - California Standards Tests (CSTs) are a major component of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program (Standardized Testing and Reporting Program Website, 2006). The focus of the test that the students have taken were the four arithmetic operations; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; as well as application of these operations in accurately solving whole numbers, positive fractions, positive decimals, and positive and negative integers. According to Education Data and Partnership (2006) all students in grades 2 to 7 take the same Mathematics test each year which are based on what are taught in class. For science, the Standards Tests are also based on the specific course students take. The options include earth science, biology, chemistry and physics (Education Data Partnership, 2006). The students in the class are taking up earth science with focus on the earth’s structure, ecological systems and energy through experimentation and investigation. The California Standard test is a form of achievement test which Slavin cited as a means to measure individual or group achievement in a variety of subject areas (as cited in Pearson Education, Inc., 2005).
SPANISH ASSESSMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION, SECOND EDITION (SABE/2) – According to California law, students who are English learners, have enrolled in California schools for up to twelve months or who are under bi-literacy program must be tested in their original language as well as the Standards test and the CAT/6. The Spanish Assessment of Basic Education, Second Edition (SABE/2), is a nationally norm-referenced achievement test of basic skills in home language which serves as the reference percentile and compares the student or group to other Spanish-speaking students (Education Data Partnership, 2006). The test includes Spanish reading, language, and spelling as well Mathematics tests in Spanish (California Department of Education, 2006). The nine students in the class observed have undergone this test to measure their proficiency in their native language. Norm-referenced achievement tests are assessments of a student’s knowledge of a particular content area, such as mathematics, reading, or Spanish (Slavin as cited in Pearson Education Inc., 2005).
CALIFORNIA ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT TEST – California English Language Development Test (CELDT) is a required state test for English language proficiency since 2001 that must be given to students from kindergarten to grade twelve whose primary language is other than English (California Department of Education, 2006). This test is a requirement for the nine Spanish students in the class in order to gauge their proficiency in English. The five levels of the CELDT are Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate, Early Advanced and Advanced (California Department of Education, 2006). Six of the nine Spanish students are included in the Beginning level and are given more attention during the English class. The teacher constantly gives them short exercises in spelling, word use and word meaning in order to help them improve their knowledge of basic English. The remaining three are Early Intermediate level students. They are more skilled than the six students in spelling though difficulty is encountered in the use and meaning of basic English words. The three students are from Spanish and American parents and are bilingual at home. The teacher gives them exercises on how to effectively use simple English words in sentences and phrases in order to strengthen their skills.
The teacher has a typical strategy in evaluating the learning process in the classroom. Feedback system is utilized all the time. The students are informed of performance results in quizzes, writing exercises, spelling, major exams and homework assignments. Parents are also encouraged to monitor their children at home and their observations are included in PTA meetings. There are times when the parents are invited in the school if the child is having severe difficulty which the teacher thinks is a result of both academic and personal factors. The feedback system is used by the teacher because it ensures on-time evaluation and makes it possible for the teacher and student to have face to face dialogues in discussing accomplishments and areas of improvement.
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