Arizona Department of Education
AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention
Program Toolkit
Staff & Director Quotes
Theme - Assessment Strategies
Examples Quoted from Site Staff & Directors
1. What kinds of assessment strategies are most effective for determining student success in your program?
2. What special skills or techniques do you use in working with the AIMS IDP students that produce positive outcomes for them?
3. To what extent do you think the curriculum in use with your students contributes to successful student outcomes?
When asked, “What kinds of assessment strategies are most effective for determining student success in your program?”
Staff Quotes:
· "Student progress in completing credits is assessed and recorded on Progress Reports that are given to the students every 6 weeks. We also use the ABLE (Adult Basic Learning Education) Assessment to test the youth on their reading, writing, and math skills when they enter the program, at various intervals during their program, and when they exit the program. The assessments that are embedded into the NovaNET program are able to be accessed by the ILC teacher and reviewed for content mastery and understanding. The grades the students receive on the NovaNET assessments make up the majority of their overall GPA." (Coconino Career Center, Independent Learning Center)
· "[We use] authentic assessment. Assessment directly connected to the standards which our kids are learning. Assessment that is not subjective. Assessment that not only ties to the immediate class, but illustrates the use of the particular learning -- how does this tie to real-world applications? Assessment that can be discussed, and students can articulate what the learning was, is about, and will be used in the future." (Coconino County RASD, Ponderosa High School)
· "Data on each student's earned credits, AIMS scores, and attendance is monitored to determine if the youth will move to the next grade level, what specific areas on the AIMS tests are weak, and are they where they should be each day. The assessment is tailored to each student’s plans so may be different for others. If we begin to see any problems, including issues out of school that may be barriers to academic success, we work to find ways to alleviate or circumvent them, using all resources available within ACYR and outside. Then we continue to assess for success." (Arizona Call-A-Teen, Youth Excel Program)
· "A pre-test is given at the beginning of the school. At the end of the spring semester, a post-test measures the academic growth of each student. This instrument is helpful in measuring student progress. On the other hand, it is difficult to measure the level of maturity students attain at the end of the school year." (JAG)
· “Quizzes, team work, attendance at civic projects, fundraisers and on projects for the career association.” (Sunnyside High School Senior Program, Sunnyside School District)
· "Once a student does an assignment, the results are given at that time. The student can then assess whether they want to keep that grade or not. If the student thinks he/she can improve the grade, the instructor can reassign the lesson; or, the student can sit with the instructor who has the capability of changing the grade if the student knows the correct answer. The student also has the capability of viewing a particular screen that will have all their courses listed, which ones have been completed and what grades they currently have in both completed and non-completed courses." (YMCA, I-Learn Program)
When asked, “What special skills or techniques do you use in working with the AIMS IDP students that produce positive outcomes for them?”
Staff Quotes:
· “One-to-one and group analysis of the AIMS test data to find where we need to focus our efforts.” (Indian Oasis Baboquivari H.S.)
When asked, “To what extent do you think the curriculum in use with your students contributes to successful student outcomes?”
Director Quotes:
· “Students are expected to be functioning "at grade level" when the majority are lacking basic skills. This results in negative behaviors when they are not anticipating academic success. We are planning a more structured benchmarking process as students enter school in the fall; all will take a benchmark assessment that will give the classroom teacher a more thorough understanding what skills that student has and what they may need to work on to be successful. The students will be assessed later in year to determine whether they are making progress; that is, whether interventions are working.” (YCFA Achieve Academy)
Return to Key Themes Page
ADE, AIMS Intervention and Dropout Prevention Program Toolkit – July 2007
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