Application of Skills-Education Evaluation Test Administration Report (Assessment)

Introduction

Test administration is meant to conclusively help the teacher gauge the level of achievement and skills learnt by the student in the relevant area. Mathematics and reading are the two areas of learning upon which this test is to be administered. In the assessment of the skills attained, the tests are formal with the reading area test diagnostic while the mathematics area is standardized but all are applied to the 5^th Grade learner.

Mathematics Assessment Test for Fifth Grade

This assessment test is designed for a fifth grade learner. It is a standardized formal assessment based on the FCAT of 2007. The purpose of the assessment is to test the ability of the learner in the study areas of fractions, numbers and weights, probability, problem solving, time, distance, algebra and measurements according to the benchmark standards required by the Florida state for fifth grade.

The administration considerations include: each correctly answered question earns two points, a partially correct answer earns one point, while a wrong answer earns no point. It takes into consideration the grade level and current performance of the student. It is a test with fifty questions that are mostly based on multiple choice responses and other individual responses. The test is recommended to be administered occasionally throughout the course.

The skills to be measured for fifth grade assessment include: computational skills of basic mathematics, applications of mental computations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, basic arithmetic skills, comprehension skills in mathematical cases, application skills to real life situations and estimation abilities.

This standardized mathematics test has the strength of being summative hence can be used to measure the level of achievement of the learner in various topics and allows for no discrimination (McLoughlin & Lewis, 2005).

It also allows for validity in interpretation, convenience, effective revision, comparison and relating the topics of study as well as quick implementation while being comprehensive and convenient to be applied at many other times. The weakness of the test is its limitation in terms of scores, questions and multiple choices used.

Reading Assessment Test for Fifth Grade

This test is a standardized formal and diagnostic assessment test for fifth grade applied to Florida Sunshine State. The diagnostic test is to be applied formally and has criterion applications through the use of multiple choice responses. The purpose of the test is to identify the problem areas the student may have in reading.

The administration considerations are based on the Florida State standards and take into consideration the grade level of the student and the current performance. The considerations for answering the test is reading of the article provided as “Betsy Brandon meets the president” by Pollock, the poem “Washington” by Turner, “What is an Ecosystem” by Quinlan, “Hernie, Hanato, Paniolo”, “The secret of summer”, “What are you figuring now” by Ferris and “Bricks” by Jones.

The skills to be measured include the ability of the student to read English with speed and accuracy, the ability to write coherent sentences and short essays, comprehension abilities, vocabulary understanding, words analysis, decoding skills, phonemic analysis, cause/ effect interpretations, synonyms and anonyms, character analysis, comparison skills and interpretation including graphical interpretations. This mode of assessment has several strengths which are based on its validity.

It is also comprehensive and short enough to be done in one sitting or session and allows for comparisons (Sitlington, Neubert, Begun, Lombard & Lecconte, 2007). Further, the test allows for objectivity to include all the students despite their disabilities. The weakness of the test is that it did not cover all the areas of English that are taught at the student’s current level.

Conclusion

This paper has provided a summative analysis of the assessments in the areas of mathematics and reading for a fifth grade learner. The tests are standardized to the Florida Sunshine State requirements. The skills measured, strengths and weaknesses of the assessments have also been established.

Reference List

McLoughlin, A., & Lewis, R. (2005). Assessing Students with Special Needs (6^th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.

Sitlington, P., Neubert, D., Begun, W., Lombard, C., & Lecconte, J. (2007). Assessing for Success: A Practitioner’s Handbook on Transition Assessment (2^nd ed). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.