July 2009

Inside This Issue

Why Assess Learning Needs?
The Assessment Challenge
Assessments that Add Value
Parents: a Wealth of Information
Validity: Low Threat/Low Stress
What Happens Next?

Why Assess Learning Needs?

Assessments are everywhere. And they are almost universally feared. Assessments are dreaded by students and their teachers. Children and adults. Novices and experts. Why? Because an assessment is a “measure.” It is used to measure success. It is used to measure ability. It is a measure that can change a life. Open or close a door. Create a possibility… or end it.

The science of assessment is difficult. Assessment experts, such as the College Board, are among the first to point out the limitations. Like any other measure, a tape measure for example, the usefulness of a measurement depends on what use is made of the results.

There is a very good “why” for the use of assessment. That reason is to discover what has or has not happened yet in terms of learning---to find the edge. If a planned 8 foot porch measures 7 feet 6 inches, this does not mean it cannot be built---just that the depth needs to be increased by 6 inches. An assessed score of 55% is not a failure, but a need to learn the remaining 45%.

The Assessment Challenge

Performing an assessment is easy. Obtaining a truthful result is difficult. Many factors impact the truthfulness of a result. Was the student feeling stress? Did the items measure what they were designed to measure? What do the errors mean, really, about what the student did or did not know? Could or could not do?

In the early days of education, tests were used to perform a sorting function. Only a few people needed to learn fully, since only a few educated people were needed. This sorting function no longer serves. Today’s demands necessitate that all people learn.

The challenge of assessment, then, is to use assessment to ensure and facilitate learning. To meet this requirement, an assessment needs to be flexible. It needs to be low threat, low stress. It needs to take into account the complexities of individual needs and learning styles. And it needs to point to “what happens next”.

Assessments that Add Value

Mastery Tutors (www.masterytutors.com) uses assessment to guide the future learning plans for each student. Assessments are created child-by-child, and adjusted to fit the child and the situation through a one-on-one in-home interview.

The value to be gained from an in-home assessment is:
• To find the learning edge.
• To find the missing blocks of learning.
• To find any misconceptions that are impeding the learning process.
• To find how the child’s mind works.
• To find the child's passion and learning wants.
• To find where there are

Parents: a Wealth of Information

Mastery Tutors, after conducting many in-home evaluations, knows that parents are a valuable source of information. Often parents are very aware of their child's strengths and needs. They have seen the intelligence of their children, and are advocates for their abilities that sometimes are not as visible in the classroom group setting.

During the home visit, the Mastery Tutors team engages the parents in an affirmative discussion of their child, focusing on strengths as well as needs. Many of the children who need additional tutoring help are exceptionally bright. But there is a circuit that is broken -- a disconnect that needs to be closed for the learning to flood in.

From this partnering between parents and Mastery Tutors, a plan is designed based on as clear an idea as possible of what has happened.

Validity: Low Threat/Low Stress

Mastery Tutors in-home assessments are carried out in a low threat, low stress mode. The in-home visiting team is well practiced in keeping the embarrassment factor low or nonexistent, knowing that embarrassment is the last thing that these children need.

By the time Mastery Tutors receives a phone call, the children generally have had enough embarrassment in their lives. They should come away from the assessment process feeling like something very positive has happened.

There are always successes, as well as challenges, during a Mastery Tutors in-home assessment. This is by design -- to ensure that there will be an opportunity for affirmations as well and for clarification of problems.

What Happens Next?

The purpose of the in-home assessment is to guide the plan for that individual child. Once the evaluation is completed, Mastery Tutors prepares a personalized assessment report, then customizes a one-on-one tutoring program for that child, along with the child’s carefully matched tutor, to get them on the road to learning mastery.

Mastery Tutors challenges the “can't”s, because over and over we have seen the “can’t”s turned into "can"s. By learning their way, using their minds in the way they work best, children can be successful. And from that will come the confidence to continue learning, in school and beyond.

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