Determining students’ understanding of the content we are teaching is critical to the Response to Intervention process. How we determine this understanding- simply, the kinds of assessments we use- is even more important.
Unfortunately, schools are becoming more and more locked in to using summative assessment, standardized measures of student achievement, multiple-choice tests, and other traditional forms of written assessment.
Although one could make an argument that this must be the measure that teachers use because it is the measure required for state testing, it is truly an inaccurate, and I would argue unethical, means of evaluating students.
The only true evaluation is authentic assessment. Authentic assessments incorporate a variety of measures into the evaluation process and focuses on formative assessment. Some types of authentic assessment include:
1. Rubrics
2. Exit cards
3. Curriculum-based measurement
4. Student self-evaluation
5. Documented observations
When assessing with a variety of measures, teachers build a portfolio of data that provides a more accurate picture of the student as a learner. With this authentic, data-driven student portrait, teachers have the necessary information to do the problem-solving and detective work required for determining appropriate interventions.
In RTI, three types of assessments are used:
1. Universal screening to determine which students need closer monitoring, differentiated instruction or a specific intervention n (3+ times a year)
2. Progress monitoring to determine if interventions are producing the desired results.
3. Diagnostics to determine what students can and cannot do in important academic areas.
To best understand what students are and are not struggling with, these assessments should be given as authentic assessments. As opposed to traditional assessments like multiple-choice tests that are often lengthy, administered infrequently, and do not give feedback to students, authentic assessments used with RTI should be quick, administered frequently, and give immediate feedback to both students and teachers.
To learn more about the types of assessments used for progress monitoring with RTI, see RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers by Susan Fitzell.