Kindergarten
Assessment and Early Childhood Data
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HF 761: Kindergarten Assessment |
The 2005 General Assembly passed legislation requiring local school districts to complete the following: · Administer Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early
Literacy Skills (DIBELS) or a kindergarten benchmark assessment adopted by
the Department of Education (DE) to every kindergarten student enrolled in
the district no later than October 1 [Iowa Code 279.60(16)] · Collect from each parent, guardian or legal
custodian of a kindergarten student enrolled in the district, information,
including but not limited to, preschool attendance, and demographic factors · Report the results of the assessment and
preschool information to the DE no later than January 1 of that school year |
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Alignment with Chapter 12: General Accreditation
Standards |
The 1999 General Assembly passed legislation to improve
the learning achievement and performance of all students so they become
successful members of a community and work force (281 IAC 12). This legislation delineated a process for
continuous school improvement and reporting results about improving learning
achievement and performance by identifying the following important
components: · Comprehensive School Improvement Plan
addressing general accreditation standards and long-range student achievement
goals. This plan is revised and
submitted to the DE every five years. ·
Annual
Performance Report submitted annually to its local community describing the
progress on the state indicators and other locally determined
indicators. In addition, all school
districts receiving early intervention block grant funds shall report to the
DE the progress toward achieving their early intervention goals. |
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Alignment
with HF 743: Early
Intervention/ Class Size
Reduction |
The 1999 General Assembly passed legislation [281 IAC
12.5(18)] to reduce class size so that all students reach challenging and
achievable goals in kindergarten through third grade. It combines three critical elements of
school improvement: · Parent participation and support · Lower class size for improved student
instruction and teacher-child relationships · Documentation of successful early literacy
development The DE was charged with identifying diagnostic assessment tools
to measure reading accuracy and fluency skills, including but not limited to,
phonemic awareness, oral reading ability and comprehension skills. Presuming that some skills are
foundational or prerequisite skills, students must be assessed on the appropriate
skills at each grade K-3 (e.g., phonemic awareness for kindergarten
students). The diagnostic measures
are to be valid, reliable and fair. Local school districts are required to share assessment
information with each child’s parents; however, there is not a requirement to
report student findings to the DE.
The local school districts are required to report progress toward
achieving their early intervention goals to DE.
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Kindergarten
Assessments Identified by the DE for HF 761 |
The DE has aligned the
kindergarten assessment requirements of HF 761 with the statutory
requirements for comprehensive school improvement and early
intervention/class size reduction. Based on this alignment, the DE recommends
districts consider assessments that address phonemic awareness. Based on
current research regarding early literacy development and information
provided to implement other state and federal requirements, districts may
also consider assessments that address the literacy components of alphabetic
principle, letter knowledge, and concepts of print. The assessments the
districts select must be technically adequate. The DE has approved the
following list of kindergarten assessments to be used to implement the
requirements of HF 761. If a school district
administers an assessment that is not on this list, the district will be
required to demonstrate it addresses the literacy components and meets
technical adequacy for a kindergarten assessment. The following list of
assessments are standardized criterion referenced or norm referenced
assessment instruments [1]
that appropriately assess literacy concepts in kindergarten children: · Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy
Skills (DIBELS) · Phonological Awareness Test (PAT) · Basic Reading Inventory, Early Literacy
Assessments, eighth edition, or above · Observation Survey · Texas Primary Reading Inventory · Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation |
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HF 761 Demographic Reporting Requirements |
The DE will collect assessment
information and participation information and match the results with
demographics and preschool enrollment. |
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HF 761
Reporting Assessment Data |
Each school district will report
the results of the kindergarten assessment and preschool information to the
DE no later than January 1 of that school year. The DE will review the
information and submit findings and recommendations annually in a report to
the Governor, General Assembly, Iowa Empowerment Board and Community
Empowerment Area Boards. |