Different and Better

Instructions
Assessment for learning is “the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to
decide where learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how to best get there” (Broadfoot et al. 2002.)
Assessments help you understand where children are in their developmental trajectory - and how you can best support
them as they move forward.

Get Set for School includes the following range of assessments to give you a complete picture of your students as learners,
and the ongoing information you need to inform and differentiate instruction for every learner in your classroom:

• B
 enchmark Assessments. Use these tools at the beginning, middle and end of the school year, to provide a
snapshot of a student’s behaviors, skills and strategies at a single point in time.

o L anguage & Literacy will assess letter recognition of capital and lowercase letters, describing and
comparing, nursery rhymes and rhyming; words, and word parts. Children name capitals, lowercase letters,
describe and compare, nursery rhymes and rhyming as well as words and word parts.

o C
 heck Readiness will assess naming pictures, colors, shapes, letters, and numbers. Children will trace shapes,
draw a person, and write his/her name.

o N
 umbers & Math will assess naming shapes and numbers; rote counting, object counting and comparing;
positions, ordinal numbers, size, AB patterns, and measuring.

• C
 lassroom Observation Checklists. Use these tools on a weekly basis to help monitor how a student is
progressing toward achievement of specific skills. Using these checklists to conduct informal assessments provides
the data to continually revise and redirect teaching to match the instructional needs of students. Consider using
teachers’ assistants, volunteers, and even parents when you are trying to make such observations. They can help
manage your class while you are observing or take notes for you. Observations of children can occur as they
do any task during the school day. Get Set for School has observational checklists in the following areas:

o Language & Literacy

o Readiness & Writing
o Numbers & Math

• C
 heck for Understanding. These questions appear at point-of-use with each lesson. Use them daily to help you
quickly evaluate what students got and did not get so you can immediately modify instruction.

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