EDU 510 Asssignment 4

Introduction

The paper is all about improving the performance of the students using the K-12 assessment.it advocates for the inclusion of the disabled students into the assessment.For a long time, disabled students have been seen as a hindrance to good performance of the general students.

The genesis of this thought is that the disabled are less advantaged to compete with the rest of the students because of their condition.The aim of the K-12 assessment however is to ensure he inclusion of the disabled I the assessment program and its main focus should be to improve on the performance (Messick, 1989)

How can the disabled students compete fairly?

The paper first recommends that they be identified and classified, after which they can receive special attention according to their specific needs. The assessment tests are then supposed to be tailored to suit the needs of the specified student, e.g. a deaf person cant be tested on dictation.Because of their conditions, they can be given extra time when having assessments so as to be at par with their peers.

How can this paper be used?

This paper can be used to come up with district-wide legislation to help improve on the overall test score of the disabled kids.The white paper offers standards that can be used in schools and other institution of learning, which is high enough to improve the learning standards.Disabled students need special treatment, and this paper can help the taskforce come up with regulations concerning the same

Recommendations

Inclusion of the disabled students, and designing the assessments to suit themChanging the mindset that assessments are merely for students performance and their ranking in class to their preparedness for college and their career.Teachers should merely teach to test but students should be allowed to play a role in their own learning by being allowed to set targets that they can work towards

Lessons from the paper

Throughout the paper, the main theme is about improving the performance of the district, with focus on k-12 assessment.K-12 assessment is a method that benefits both the teachers and the students, because it gives feedback in performance and other ways. (Boston & Carol, 2002).Instead of excluding the disabled from the assessment to improve the performance, they can be included, but with designed…

…in a way that will make the assessment friendly to them.Strategies used to assess the students include goal setting, self-assessment and regular descriptive feedback. Goal setting: Students are allowed to develop their own goals.Regular descriptive feedback and self assessment focus on giving the student regular feedback for them to analyze and reflect on their performance.

The use of technology like the computer aided assessment and the edustar technology is effective and convenient. It ensures that the performance levels are above average, because the current generation of students are more inclined to the use of computers, and a culture of self assessment will be cultivated because they are left to handle studies on their own. The students will learn to understand, as opposed to reading to pass the test, since technology has a way of making education interesting, and it is accurate as well.

Technological advancements in assessments

How to implement the recommendations

The introduction of the recommendations will amount to very radical changes being made in the education sector. It therefore needs that everyone involved be aware and ready for the changes that are about to take place. EDU STAR technology is what I might be introducing, as well as the use of rubrics in assessing the students so that they know what is expected of them

References

Messick, S. (1989). Validity. In R. L. Linn (Ed.), Educational measurement, (3rd ed). New York: American Council on Education/Macmillan.Boston, Carol. (2002). The concept of formative assessment. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation,