4th grade Instructional Guide

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT AND UTAH LAW

What is diagnostic assessment ? A diagnostic assessment provides an in-depth assessment of key underlying academic skills that better informs the instructional and intervention needs for individual students who are not performing at grade level in a specifc academic area, such as reading. For example, a diagnostic assessment in reading measures key literacy skills (phonemic awareness, sound-symbol recognition, alphabet knowledge, decoding and encoding skills, and comprehension), to help make informed decisions about the specifc literacy skills that intensifed instruction or intervention should focus on for a particular student. The evidence-based diagnostic assessments in reading that have been approved for use in Canyons School District include the: ● Phonological Awareness Screener for Intervention (PASI), and ● Phonics Screener for Intervention (PSI). The precise information provided by these diagnostic assessments helps inform decision making regarding the instructional needs of struggling learners. Why administer diagnostic assessments ? Diagnostic assessments can help identify why a student may be having diffculty in an academic area, such as reading, and help determine what intensifed instruction or intervention may be needed to support that student’s reading skill development. Who is given a diagnostic assessment ? Based on Utah state law (SB 127), a diagnostic assessment must be administered to all K-3 students who perform below or well below benchmark on Acadience Reading benchmark assessments . Diagnostic assessments may also be administered to students who are behind other students in that grade in acquiring a reading skill or students who lack competency in a reading skill based on a supplemental assessment. Data from diagnostic assessments must be used to provide specifc, focused, and individualized interventions to further support the development of that reading skill. Who conducts diagnostic assessments ? Ideally, the teachers primarily responsible for a given student’s intensive intervention should conduct the diagnostic assessment. This could be a classroom teacher, a special education teacher, or an intervention specialist with the appropriate training. When to conduct diagnostic assessments ? A diagnostic assessment should be administered as soon as a student is identifed as behind in grade level reading skills (as determined by the Acadience Reading benchmark assessment or a supplemental assessment). A diagnostic assessment only needs to be administered once per year when a student is identifed as being below grade level. If a student is not identifed as being below grade level until the mid-year benchmark, a diagnostic assessment can be conducted then.

Canyons School District 2022.07.21