Riley Turgeon Spring 2021

Student Assessment Report

Background

Student: Liam Date of Birth: 5/2/2011

School: Playa Vista Elementary Assessment Date: 3/8/2021
Chronological Age: 9.10 years Purpose of Assessment: Initial
Assessor: Riley Turgeon

Liam is a 9-year-old boy with emotional disturbance enrolled in a 4th grade general education
class at PVES. He currently participates in general physical education. He is a very smart
student, but he is quiet in the classroom and shows very little interest in his schoolwork. Liam
does like to socialize with peers during recess and other unstructured play times. He shows great
interest when participating in activities such as foursquare and handball, but can become easily
frustrated with himself or others when he is unsuccessful in these games. Overall, Liam is a good
student when participating in activities that he enjoys, but struggles at times with socialization
and some gross motor skills.

Assessment Tools
Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3)
Running Rubric (created by the APE teacher)

Assessment Results

Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3)

The TGMD-3 is used to assess how a student performs gross motor skills, as opposed to
assessing the end result of a motor skill (e.g. how far they throw or kick a ball). It is a norm-
referenced assessment, meaning that it compares a student’s performance against the
performance of others from a particular peer group with similar characteristics (e.g. 6-year-old
boy’s scores will be compared with other 6-year-old boys’ scores). The TGMD-3 assesses 13
fundamental motor skills in children age 3 – 10.11, and these skills are subdivided into two
categories: Locomotor (run, gallop, hop, skip, horizontal jump, and slide) and Ball Skills (two
hand strike of a stationary ball, one-hand stationary dribble, two-hand catch, kick a stationary
ball, overhand throw, underhand throw, and forehand strike of a ball). Each skill is broken down
into 3-5 criteria. One point is given if the student demonstrates the criteria, and zero points are
given if they do not demonstrate. The assessment has the following format: demonstration,
practice, trial 1, trial 2. Each trial is scored, and then the total score for each subtest is added up
to determine the raw score. These raw scores are then used to determine age equivalents,
percentile ranks, and a Gross Motor Index, which is the student’s overall score on both subtests.
The Gross Motor Index is then used to determine a descriptive term for the student (impaired or
delayed, borderline impaired or delayed, below average, average, above average, superior, and
gifted or very advanced). See Table 1 for a breakdown of Liam’s overall TGMD-3 results.

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Table 1: TGMD-3 Results

Locomotor Ball Skills
Raw Score 27 Raw Score 45
Age Equivalent 5 years, 6 months Age Equivalent 9 years, 6 months
Percentile Rank 9 Percentile Rank 50
Gross Motor Index 88

Liam’s locomotor raw score of 27 puts him in the below average category, and his ball skills raw
score of 45 puts him in the average category. Overall, Liam’s Gross Motor Index of 88 puts
him in the below average category for fundamental motor skills in his age group, as you can see
in Figure 1. See Tables 2 and 3 for Liam’s locomotor and ball skills subtest results.

Table 2: Locomotor Skills Raw Scores

Skill Liam’s Score Total Possible Score
Run 3 8
Gallop 6 8
Hop 4 8
Skip 5 6
Horizontal Jump 3 8
Slide 7 8
Total 27 46

Table 3: Ball Skills Raw Scores

Skill Liam’s Score Total Possible Sore
Two-hand strike of stationary ball 8 10
One-hand forehand strike of self- 6 8
bounced ball
One-hand stationary dribble 5 6
Two-hand catch 5 6
Kick a stationary ball 6 8
Overhand throw 8 8
Underhand throw 7 8
Total 45 54

Areas where Liam excels (Met mastery level of 75%)

Areas where Liam needs improvement (50% or below)

Running Rubric
This rubric was created by the APE teacher and is used to assess the quality of the student’s
running form. It also looks at the quantity of laps a student can run in a given time frame. The
qualitative side of this assessment looks at how a child coordinates their limbs and body
positioning while running, and the quantitative side assesses how many laps around a basketball
court the student can run in a 5-minute span. The assessment categories on this rubric are as
follows: move in opposition to legs with elbows bent, brief period of flight, landing on heal or
toes, narrow foot placement, and # of laps run in 5-minutes. Each skill has four mastery levels
associated with it (beginner, emerging, competent, mastery), and the teacher will select one of
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these levels for each skill observed. At the end, the student’s points will be added up based on
the mastery levels chosen, and their total number of points will indicate the student’s overall
mastery level in the skill of running. See Appendix A for a template of the rubric used to assess
Liam’s running form. Table 4 provides Liam’s results from his assessment.

Table 4: Running Rubric Results

Skill Level of Prompt Mastery Level Score
Arms move in
Arms move in
opposition to legs
opposition to legs Modeling prompts 3
with elbows bent 50-
with elbows bent
90% of time
Brief period of flight
observed <50% of the
Brief period of flight Modeling prompts 2
time

Landing on heal or
Landing flat footed
toes (not flat footed) Modeling prompts 1

Student demonstrates
Narrow foot
narrow foot
placement Modeling prompts 2
placement <50% of
the time
# of laps run in 5
4 – 6 laps
minutes No prompts 2

Total 10 (Emerging)
Comments: Liam performed 4 laps around the basketball court during the 5-minute period.
Liam did not want to participate in this assessment and needed a lot of encouragement from
the teacher.
Liam complained about his legs hurting during the assessment.

Assessment Observations
Liam was not very motivated or excited to participate in either of the assessments. However,
when I told him that he would have the chance to play with some of the equipment during the
ball skills portion of the TGMD-3, he became a little more cooperative. Liam attempted the
locomotor movements reluctantly and was angry that he had to do these before he got to attempt
the ball skills. Liam’s locomotor skills are improving, but he needs to continue working at them
to be able to perform on grade level. Liam’s ball skills have also improved substantially in the
last year or so, which has greatly improved his self-confidence. This is evident when he is
playing foursquare and handball during recess and interacting with his peers. At the end of the
assessment, Liam was in a much better mood because he was able to play with the equipment
during the ball skills assessments.

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Assessment Recommendations
Adapted physical education services are provided to students whose motor assessment results
indicate that they are performing at 30% below their chronological age and/or below the 7th
percentile on a standardized assessment in two or more areas. According to the information
gathered from the TGMD-3 and the rubric, Liam is performing below average in locomotor
skills and average in ball skills for his age group. He is performing in the 9th percentile in
locomotor skills, but overall, he is performing in the 21st percentile. Therefore, Liam does not
meet the recommendations to qualify for adapted physical education services. Liam will benefit
from participating in general physical education with his typically developing peers because it
will help him further his progress in socializing with his peers, as well as continue to improve his
locomotor skills.

Teacher Notes:
1. I recommend that Liam participate full time in the general physical education class for
the required 200 minutes every 10 days.
2. Free physical activity recommendation: Westchester Recreation Center
https://www.laparks.org/reccenter/westchester
 offers free sports clinics for children age 8-15. Sports include badminton,
basketball, flag football, softball, t-ball, volleyball, and 5-pitch.
 Free “walk in the park Fridays” where kids can go for a walk in the neighborhood
led by a trained adult, and make new friends
 They also offer sports leagues for children age 8-15 for only $10.
3. Paid physical activity recommendation:
 Del Rey American Little League – youth baseball league ages 4-12
https://tshq.bluesombrero.com/default.aspx?portalid=25452
 Westchester YMCA – gym, swimming, sports and exercise classes for kids,
camps, workshops, etc.
https://www.ymcala.org/locations/westchester-family-ymca

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Appendix A