KEY POINTS TO INCLUDE IN WRITTEN REPORTS WHAT GOES INTO AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MAKING SURE PARENTS UNDERSTAND YOUR EVALUATION Writing Effective, Comprehensive.

KEY POINTS TO INCLUDE IN WRITTEN REPORTS

WHAT GOES INTO AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MAKING SURE PARENTS UNDERSTAND YOUR EVALUATION

Writing Effective, Comprehensive Reports

For Initial Evaluations

Introductions…

Tom Campo, school psychologist at WHS

Phil Medeiros, school psychologist at WMS

Donna Alfisi, school psychologist at the preschool, Sweeney & Natchaug Elementary Schools

Bernie Barile, school psychologist at the Charles H. Barrows Elementary School

Patricia Wilding, school psychologist at the preschool, North Windham & Windham Center Elementary Schools

Katherine Halpine-Siegelstein, special ed. teacher/team leader at WMS

Adele Lanza, special ed. teacher/team leader at Sweeney Elementary School

Today’s Objectives

Review content and components of educational evaluations

Understand the district’s Executive Summary form

Practice writing & presenting parent-friendly executive summaries

Today’s Agenda

Time Activity

9:00-9:10 Arrival

9:10-9:30 Comfort Zone Activity

9:30-9:45 Small Group Discussion

9:45-10:30 Review of Report Writing/QA Session

10:30-10:40

BREAK

10:40-12:40

Review Executive Summary Template & Summary Writing Activity

12:40-1:40 LUNCH

1:40-2:30 Mock Presentations

2:30-2:45 Update on Annual Reviews

2:45-3:00 Debrief of the Day

Comfort Zone Activity

How it works…

There is a marker in the room that represents “complete comfort.”

You will be asked your level of comfort with a variety of things.

The closer you are to the marker the more comfortable you are.

The further away from the marker the less comfortable you are.

What’s Your Comfort Level With…

Dogs

Heights

Spiders

Grading homework

How About Testing & Report Writing?

The more comfortable you feel you are, the closer to the marker you will be

The less comfortable you feel you are, the further away from the marker you will be

NOW…Break into Groups

Form 5 groups of special ed teachers & 1 psychologist

Each group must contain at least one person:

From each school

Who feels comfortable with testing/writing

Who feels less comfortable with testing/writing

BREAK AWAY FROM YOUR COMFORT ZONE!!

Small Group Discussion

What are the essential components of an initial educational evaluation?

What do you think is the most important section of an initial educational evaluation?

Report out: Initial Education Evaluations

Essential Components Most important Section

Demographics (chronological age) Scores/validity

Reason for Evaluation Summary

Information supports classroom performance

Recommendations

Concerns/Why are we testing? Concerns/how to address them

Instrumentation

Current performance

Background information

Seeing the child/analyzing the results

Scores

Validity

Sample Educational Evaluation Report

Key Components Of Educational Reports

Demographics

Introduction

Student Behavior During Testing

Statements of Testing

Scores

Score Interpretation

Conclusion

Recommendations

Demographics

Includes:

Student Name

DOB

Grade

Age

Name of Evaluator

Date of Evaluation

Demographics Example

Student: Penny Lane

DOB: 01/29/2003

Evaluator: Katherine Halpine-Siegelstein

Grade: 6

Age: 12-1

Date of Report: 01/20/15

Introduction Example

Penny was referred by the PPT for an educational evaluation in order to determine eligibility for special services. Penny is a 6th grade student who has been in the EIP process since the beginning of September. Despite tier 2 and tier 3 interventions, she continues to struggle in all academic areas. Please refer to the psychological evaluation for further background information.

Student Behavior During Testing

Includes:

How student responded to testing

Student Behavior Example

Penny approached the test setting with a positive attitude. She appeared to work to the best of her abilities, but at times was fidgety, tapping her pencil or moving in her seat. However, this did not seem to distract Penny from the testing as she remained on task throughout all subtests. In order to give her sufficient breaks, she was tested during three 45 minute sessions. The test examiner feels that Penny’s performance on this assessment is a valid representation of her abilities.

Statement of Testing

Essential Components

Tests administered

Dates

Description of tests

RPI: Relative Performance IndexPredicted score relative to a peer in the classroom.

Ex: RPI 59/90 predicts that compared to an average peer, the student will receive a 59 when a peer will receive a score of 90.

Statement of Testing Example

Penny was administered the Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Achievement

*All tests have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.

Scores

Essential Components

percentiles

Confidence levels

Graphics

clusters

Score Example

2/13/15

ClusterScore

Age Equivalent

Standard Score

PercentileRank

Academic Skills 9-9 88 20

Academic Fluency 12-7 104 68

Academic Applications 9-2 83 17

Broad Achievement 10-6 92 32

Broad Reading 10-1 90 34

Reading Fluency 11-4 98 53

Basic Reading Skills 9-7 89 30

Letter-Word Identification

9-8 88 30

Passage Comprehension

7-8 69 4

Sentence Reading Fluency

12-7 103 72

Word Attack 9-5 92 40

Oral Reading 9-5 88 30

Score Interpretation

Essential Components

Break down subtests to report on performance and report on actual examples of what student did.

Timed vs. not timed

Item analysis (score says one thing, actual work says another)

Identify where the breakdown of area that student had difficulty with

Score Interpretation Example

Broad Reading

The Broad Reading cluster measures reading achievement including reading, decoding, reading speed, and the ability to comprehend connected text while reading. This cluster combines the Letter-Word Identification, Passage Comprehension, and Sentence Reading Fluency. Penny’s score falls in the average range as compared to peers of the same age with standard score 90 and percentile rank 34.

Continued…

Score Interpretation Example

Continued.....

Penny scored in the average range on the Letter-Word Identification subtest. This measures the examinee's word identification skills and reading ability. The student is asked to read aloud individual words which become increasingly difficult toward the end of the subtest, with words that Penny required increased time and attention to phoneme-grapheme relationship. Penny was able to read words such as “guarantee” and “veteran.” She struggles with silent letters. For example, when asked to read the word “knead”, Penny pronounced the /k/ sound. Words with more complex affixes were also a challenge for Penny. For example, she was not familiar with the suffix –cious in “ferocious”. Compared to other students of the same age, Penny’s decoding skills fall in the average range.

Explaining Results in Parent-Friendly Terms

Phoneme-grapheme relationship

Affixes

Decoding skills

Another Score Interpretation Example

The Passage Comprehension subtest measures the student's ability to use syntactic and semantic cues to identify a missing word in the text. Penny was asked to silently read a CLOZE passage and supply the correct word. Toward the beginning of this subtest, the passages are short and include a picture cue. As the test continues, the passages become larger and picture cues are omitted. This was a relative area of weakness for Penny, as she scored in the low range on this subtest. Although she appeared to read the passage at an appropriate rate, many of her answers were unrelated to the text. For example, when presented with the paragraph, “I like pizza. What do you like to ____?” Penny supplied the word “do”, which completes the sentence but is unrelated to the context. On some items, her answers did have relevance to the text, but showed her lack of vocabulary. An example of this was when she used the word “turn” instead of “wind” with reference to “winding a clock.” Students with difficulties with expressive and receptive language often have difficulty with this subtest.

Remember…Parent Friendly Language!

Rate??

Expressive and Receptive Language??

Also… Be sure to give examples to support your findings …

On some items, Penny’s answers did have relevance to the text, but showed her lack of vocabulary. An example of this was when she used the word “turn” instead of “wind” with reference to “winding a clock.”

Conclusion

Essential Components

Conclusion Example

  Overall, Penny is a very capable and hard-working sixth grader. She is currently functioning in the average range in all academic areas. Relative weaknesses for Penny are passage comprehension and oral reading. She does not always understand directions and lacks the vocabulary necessary for reading comprehension. She may have difficulty keeping up with class discussions or following multi-step directions. Activities involving working quickly and accurately are relatively easy for Penny. She should be able to keep up with classroom tasks and complete work within appropriate time limits.

Recommendations

Essential Components

Recommendations Example

Explicit instruction in vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. Instruction should encourage Penny to use new vocabulary as often as possible both orally and in written work.

Visuals to support new vocabulary.

Remediation of calculation concepts including operation with fractions.

Direct instruction in math problem-solving strategies. Teach key vocabulary to help determine the operation.

Break tasks into smaller steps.

Provide multi-step instructions in written as well as oral format.

Teach reading comprehension strategies, specifically making inferences and using context clues.

Your Turn…

If:The sentence reading fluency standard score

is 70and…The letter/word identification standard score

is 90

Then:Given the standard score and testing

observations, what recommendations would you make for this student?

Your Recommendations…

Essential Components

Additional Recommendations…

Give student more time

Build automaticity

Time management techniques

What NOT to Include in the Report

Avoid direct recommendation of eligibility determination

Avoid specific programs to be used with student(e.g. Wilson Reading Program)

Avoid excessive jargon

Avoid using “inability” instead use“weakness/deficit”

Sample Psychological Evaluation Report

Questions??

Take a Break…

10 Minutes

EXECUTIVE

SUMMARIES

Purpose of Executive Summaries

Only for initial evaluations where there is a psychological evaluation in addition to an academic evaluation

Meant to be collaborative…the special educator and the school psychologist work together to develop a clear, concise, parent-friendly way to present information to parents at PPT2.

By doing so, PPT2 will be more productive in less time!!

Name of Student: DOB: _______Date of this report _______

Is the student’s difficulty the result of a disability (IDEA ’04)Key Referral Questions:1. 2. 3.

Answers / Key Findings: 1. 2.3.

Impact of Combined Findings on Learning:1.2.3.

Moving Forward: Strategies include but are not limited to:1.2.3.

*Regardless of eligibility determination, strategy recommendations will be shared with staff*

Windham Public Schools Draft Executive Summary for Initial

Evaluation

Executive Summary Activity

Work together in groups to develop an executive summary using the educational evaluation & psychological evaluation samples provided.

Elementary Teachers: Patricia Wilding, Donna Alfisi & Bernie Barile

Middle School Teachers: Phil Medeiros & Tom Campo

LUNCH TIME!

Presenting

Executive Summaries

To Parents

Presenting Your Executive Summary

Take 5-10 minutes in your group to: Finalize your executive summary Decide on one person from your group who be the

parent of the student the initial evaluation was for.

Then: The “parent” will travel to another group to

participate in a mock PPT2 meeting

Annual Review

Updates

Debrief of the Day

Questions you still have

Your thoughts on: Finding the time to collaborate on executive summary Impact summary will have on parent understanding of

reports

Email alanza@windham.k12.ct.us for a copy of the Powerpoint

Thank You forYour

Participation!