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DORA is a comprehensive, valid, and reliable web-based assessment that diagnostically assesses students’ reading abilities. Like having a reading specialist in every classroom, DORA adapts to students as they respond to each question in the online program, getting harder or easier as needed to complete the diagnosis. DORA’s interactive style makes testing fun, engages students, and allows teachers to test an entire class simultaneously, in a classroom lab setting. The eight sub-skills of reading assessed by DORA are: high-frequency words, word recognition, phonics, phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, and fluency. By examining multiple reading measures together, DORA reveals a student’s unique reading profile, allowing teachers to tailor instruction to individual student needs. Fast, Powerful Results DORA’s web-based platform allows for easy deployment of assessments, providing teachers with the knowledge to dramatically increase individual reading skills, while saving teachers time and paperwork. DORA is ideal for automating the diagnostic assessment process, which is often paper-based and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
Discovering the best way to implement RtI in your school or district by Richard Capone, CEO Let’s Go Learn Considering all the amazing changes that are occurring today with regard to the Internet, communication, and society in general, the way we teach our students is rapidly evolving. One of the newest models that schools are adopting to help ensure achievement for all students is Response to Intervention (RtI). Buzzwords like "universal screening" and "progress monitoring" are used constantly, particularly as districts search for products to help them implement RtI effectively. But there is a major piece of the RtI puzzle that is missing: diagnosis. As districts examine the accepted model of RtI, they find themselves looking for products to screen and monitor those students who need intervention. But how are schools determining which interventions are right for which students? How do schools ascertain the exact needs of each individual student? The diagnostic piece of the puzzle is often left behind because the models being adopted haven’t kept up with the rapid pace of change. Let me give you an example: universal screening. There is an implication that universal screening is a light-weight test given to all students in order to separate them into groups: those who need additional help and those who do not. However, with computer-based assessments, particularly those with adaptive technology like Let’s Go Learn’s DORA and DOMA, we can do far more than a light-weight screening. We can perform a full diagnostic in the time that it would usually take to do only a screening measure. So we need a new term: Universal Diagnostic. Because of these buzzwords, however, administrators are still seeking "universal screeners," and companies are producing "universal screening" products. In this case, schools must complete an extra step - adding further diagnostic assessment to determine the placement or course of action for their intervention students. Or worse, as we have seen with many districts’ RtI implementations, diagnosis is completed left out. Let me give you another example. Currently, many RtI implementations are based on aggressive progress monitoring. The idea is to watch students closely and if they fall behind, apply medium to aggressive remediation. This was adequate in the past because diagnostic assessment was time-consuming and very difficult to do. Thus, schools focused on what was easier to do. As a result of this line of reasoning, many schools are deploying AIMSweb or similar products, which focus on aggressive progress monitoring and the storing of data online. But this is not the end game. How do you help these students now that schools are, in theory, more efficiently sorting them into Tier 1, 2, or 3? It comes back to the diagnosis. This is the failure point of many interventions. Students are given the wrong instruction and thus no gains are seen. Ironically, with a proper diagnosis and thus the correct intervention, progress monitoring can be applied less often because teachers will be confident that they are applying the correct remediation. Once again, with next-generation diagnostic products like DORA and DOMA, diagnostic assessments can be applied online and in a lab to entire schools. So in theory, Tier 1 to Tier 3 students can all be diagnostically assessed. Or in secondary schools, one might apply DORA/DOMA just to the Tier 2 and 3 students. The RtI model is a strong one and is being implemented nationwide with vigor. But let us not forget that when implementing any intervention model, all the pieces must be addressed. Building a car but forgetting to install an engine means the project will fail. A screening alone won’t produce RtI. And progress monitoring alone is inefficient, if you’re just making a guess as to which intervention to use. The component of diagnostic assessment is the one that completes the RtI puzzle.
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Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) is a K-12 measure that provides objective, individualized assessment data across eight reading measures that together profile each student’s reading abilities and prescribe individual learning paths. Available products:
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“DORA has really proven itself to both my administration and instructional teams. We are delighted with the ease with which multiple students can take the assessment at one time from a single computer lab, the access to current performance and longitudinal data, and the recommended instructional interventions. We are also very appreciative of the way the DORA performance data correlates to performance data we identify with individual administrations of Test of Word Recognition Efficiency (TOWRE), Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT), CSAP – Reading, and Scantron Performance Series – Reading. This tool is not only efficient but also effective in identifying and communicating students’ strengths and weaknesses in specific reading skill areas.”
Patty Eaton-Foeppel
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I recently began using Unique Reader Secondary with my fourth to sixth graders. I was so impressed with it for many reasons. First, the lessons are well thought out. They are sequenced in a way that makes sense developmentally, following along with a typical school curriculum. Second, the material is presented in a lively and interesting way. Kids are so often "turned off" to lessons. With Unique Reader Secondary, they can’t wait to get started. Finally, as their teacher, Unique Reader Secondary allows me to see exactly what level each child is up to, and is thus easy to incorporate into our own curriculum. At our center, we work towards helping kids not only read at grade level, but towards helping them develop a love of reading. Unique Reader Secondary helps us accomplish our goals. I highly recommend it!! Laura Reisler, MS, CCC-SLP Director, Park Slope Communication Center, Brooklyn, NY
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The state of California announced this month a plan to require all eighth graders to take an algebra assessment. The state-wide algebra assessment, which must be implemented within the next three years, will ultimately lead to all eighth grade students taking Algebra I. The reaction to this announcement has been mixed. The reaction from the business community has been positive, with many citing the need for algebra skills for jobs in the scientific and technological markets. From the education community, however, there has been skepticism, with many noting that a large percentage of students placed into Algebra I in the eighth grade will be unprepared. Click here to read a news article about the algebra assessment from the Silicon Valley Mercury-News. Click here to read an article about the concerns raised regarding California’s decision.
by Paolo Martin When the sun sets at the end of the day, my alter ego comes out. Sometimes it’s the former scientist who revels in mixing and measuring ingredients, experimenting with different flavors in an attempt to make dinner; sometimes it’s the amateur athlete, trying to stay fit; but often it’s the artist, the musician, practicing violin sonatas for recitals or Cuban salsa tunes for his band. For all of these things, I understand that there’s practice involved - for cooking (or science), it’s practice learning about the nature of the ingredients (or materials) one is working with; for running, it’s regular timed runs, exercises and drills around the track; and for music, it’s playing scales and rehearsing fingering and bowing techniques over and over again. All of these drills have given me a certain level of flexibility and control in different aspects of each discipline. So when I think about learning how to read, I can see the potential benefits of direct instruction and practice in areas like phonemic awareness, phonics, high frequency words, etc. For example, it’s not hard to believe that if a child learns to effectively memorize the sounds of various English letters and letter patterns within words, a certain amount of cognitive energy will be freed up to make the process of reading and understanding text easier. For example, it’s not hard to imagine a student who practices reading a dramatic script over and over again gaining enough fluency to personally own the text, making it possible to portray the character in a way that is true to the story but imbued with the student’s own personal interpretation. However, I think that many government education institutions’ advocacy of "explicit instruction" and drills in reading has gotten out of control in many classrooms. It may have even gone so far as to become a way some teachers justify a deficit perspective on students (i.e., that students come into the classroom as empty heads waiting to be filled) and/or some subconscious need to control their environment. In his blog, Peter Campbell has quoted two teachers as saying: 1. "The most important thing, I think, is to make sure that they [students] know that I am in complete control of everything going on, that there’s not a step that I haven’t planned in advance." 2. "I assume they [students] just don’t know anything." Granted, these quotes are out of context, but I believe they represent a growing way of thinking in education today: that teaching is about getting kids to know what we know and get there by doing what we want them to do. Kind of like obedience school. Yes. Obedience school. Is it really that far from reality? Perhaps not. While standards and standardized tests should be used to enhance the quality of education children receive and inform the practices of educators, instead they are being widely used to penalize schools, as children’s performances on these measures carry huge stakes. So reading instruction in this case is not about the enjoyment of reading or learning to take personal stances on what one reads, but about how high, how far, or how fast. Peter Campbell calls this "Stupid Pet Tricks," referencing some examples from the Association for Direction Instruction (ADI). Performance anxiety is so deeply felt by some students that they become physically ill and vomit over their test booklets. Susan Ohanian reports that Stanford 9 producers insist that those soiled tests be returned to the publisher. In defense of the children she writes, "No group stepped forward and demanded that schools discontinue practices that make kids vomit. Instead, a principal in San Diego insists that kindergartners must take pre-Stanford-9 tests, declaring ‘Unless students become familiar with the exam format, they cannot zero in on the academic skills....’" It’s bad enough that children are increasingly losing control over their personal opinions and insights for the sake of making the right scores on high-stakes tests. It’s awful when they become ill over it--when it’s not about educating children as much as it is about controlling them.
by Anne-Evan Williams, LGL Director of Educational Development
With an ever-increasing emphasis on educational assessment, first under the auspices of the No Child Left Behind Act, and now even more through the growing implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model, it is crucial for districts to differentiate between benchmark assessments and diagnostic assessments. While both types of assessment find their niche in the educational system, the reasons for their use and their outcomes vary significantly. For districts to ensure that they are using the right assessment to meet their needs, it’s important for administrators and teachers alike to differentiate between the two types of assessment.
The notion of benchmark testing has spread rapidly as states and districts have adopted standards and objectives in a range of subject areas such as reading, math, and science. These measures are designed to provide teachers, administrators, and others with information about student success in regards to mastery of standards, often assigned to grade levels. While such measures might be used for other purposes, it is important to keep in mind that such measures are designed to assess which academic grade-level benchmarks are successfully being met by students.
The key difference between benchmark testing and diagnostic assessment lies within the questions that they answer. Benchmark assessments answer the question what? What standards have the students achieved? What standards have not yet been met? What standards are not being addressed completely? Benchmark assessments are an efficient measure for predicting success on state achievement tests, as well as for screening students for possible placement in remediation programs. Benchmark assessments provide accountability at the classroom level which is then rolled up to the school level. They are designed to identify curriculum gaps.
With diagnostic assessment, the question that is answered is why? While benchmark assessments address the question of what a student knows, diagnostic assessments address the issue of why a student is achieving what they are achieving. Fully diagnostic assessments determine the why by breaking benchmarks down into fundamental skills and analyzing patterns of achievement across multiple measures. Such measures, for example, examine from different perspectives a set of skills or strategies so that patterns of error or miscues can be identified. This diagnostic perspective is tied to the specific goals and uses of a measure. Further, diagnostic assessments suggest instructional strategies that will help individual students, creating a “prescription” to accompany the diagnosis of each individual student.
Diagnostic assessment finds its place in education particularly in meeting the needs of struggling students. Diagnostic assessments provide detailed diagnosis of both student strengths and weaknesses, and may be aligned to multiple instructional solutions to provide differentiated instruction, particularly for remediation. Diagnostic assessment is efficient for progress monitoring for students who are below grade level, and not yet achieving state grade-level standards. Diagnostic assessment is also meaningful for accurately placing ELL students and secondary students into appropriate instructional paths.
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What is the Difference between a Formative Assessment and a Summative Assessment? Formative assessment is an ongoing assessment used to inform instruction. The frequency is not defined, so it might be weekly or quarterly. Also what type of measure is not defined as long as the information is helpful for the teacher in making adjustments to instruction in an ongoing manner. It could be as simple as classroom observations, a fluency test, or full diagnostic assessment like DORA. Summative assessment is given a pre-determined intervals. It could be anything from a state assessment, benchmark test, or end of unit test. It specifically is testing the knowledge that a student should have mastered at a particular point in time. It is used for accountability.
What Makes an Assessment Diagnostic? These are deep assessments that ask additional questions to find out how the teacher should improve instruction for a student or students. Diagnostic assessments look beyond student achievement, to examine patterns of strengths and weaknesses and diagnose the WHY of student achievement and not just the WHAT. Generally speaking short assessments are rarely very diagnostic.
What is the Difference between Criterion-Referenced and Norm-Referenced Testing? These terms relate to how the results of an assessment are presented. Criterion-referenced means the test relates to some sort of established unit of measure. DORA is criterion-referenced because it reports in grade level equivalent scores. For example, John’s phonics skills are low 4th grade level. Norm-referenced is a percentage ranking compared to an average population. For example, Johnny is at 45th percentile. This means if you took 100 students and ranked them from top to bottom, Johnny would be 45 from the bottom. So higher is better. Average is 50. Most state tests which are accountability tests are norm-referenced.
What is a Benchmark Assessment? This term refers to a gauge of advancement, such as pre-testing at the beginning of a class/school yera and post-testing at the end. Or it can be one-time testing that provides comparison to state standards thus showing a "benchmark" of student abilities.
What is an Accountability or High Stakes Assessment? These look to tell school administrators whether something is working or not. Is the school improving year after year? Is the a CD-ROM that they bought working? These assessments hold a person or program accountable for success.
What is RtI? RtI stands for Response to Intervention. Dr. McCallum, our co-founder, has written a long article about rti, but I’m going to give you a short answer. The long article can be found here. RtI is the model of intervention that a school district follows when responding to students who are below grade level in their core reading and math abilities. It states that there are three tiers of students. Tier 1 represents the majority of students who are at or above grade level and are on track. Tier 2 students may be only slightly behind but are at risk of falling further behind. Tier 3 students are very far behind and require immediate and intensive remediation. See the drawing below: Implementing an RtI model requires the following steps: Step 1: Problem identification Step 2: Problem analysis or diagnosis Step 3: Intervention planning Step 4: Progress monitoring Step 1 can usually be accomplished by some sort of universal screener. Many districts use their annual state test, since it is administered to all students. Any student who is below or far below the basic level will fall into the Tier 2 or 3 categories. Step 2 is more difficult. It requires diagnosing students, which often means one-on-one assessment. The highly energetic teacher who can multi-task with a full student load will differentiate instruction to each student’s need. In practice, this only works in pull-out classes or at the elementary level. In secondary, it rarely happens. DORA and DOMA can help automate this required diagnostic assessment step. Step 3 is executing intervention appropriate for each student, Tier 3 intervention being more intense than Tier 2. This step often happens without Step 2, which is a huge stumbling block. Just because Step 1 identifies students who need intervention doesn’t mean all below or far below basic students should go into the same interventions. Also, "RtI Progress Monitoring Systems" miss the point here. They encourage monitoring but assume differentiation, which isn’t the case. Step 4 is progress monitoring, which is necessary to be sure students are benefiting. RtI recommends more monitoring for students in Tier 3, who are further behind. Monitoring can occur via a wide variety of informal or formal assessments. It could be a fluency test, sight word lists, CLOZE passage assessment, or DORA and DOMA. Let’s Go Learn’s philosophy is that better diagnostic assessments up front make intervention more effective, because less time is wasted teaching students materials that are either too easy or too hard.
How to implement response to intervention (rti) in general and with Let’s Go Learn. Discusses different models of RtI: school support, progress monitoring, and diagnostic. Discusses how DORA/DOMA can help with the three-tiers of RtI as well as fit in with commonly used benchmark tools like Aimsweb.
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By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical school or district-wide deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any school’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and administrators to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical learning center deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any learning center’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and center administrators to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for ease of use, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, and time and cost savings. Individual student reports are instantly available for parents to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical school or district-wide deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any school’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and administrators to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children and adults who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, students are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of adult literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any program’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical school or district-wide deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy and ESL programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any school’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and administrators to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical homeschool deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of homeschool literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any homeschool’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered and labor-intensive. Individual student reports are instantly available for homeschool parents to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
By the time children are between three and four years old, they have learned most of the approximately 40 phonemes (discrete sounds in words) which comprise the English language. The ability to hear and manipulate these discrete sounds in spoken words is referred to as "phonemic awareness." Children who have good phonemic awareness can often recognize/decode words and spell/write better than others. Some research has indicated that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success. Others further argue that phonemic awareness is both the prerequisite and consequence of learning to read. DORA Phonemic Awareness is available for a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills. In DORA Phonemic Awareness, children are presented with a number of audio and picture-only items, ideal for non-readers or struggling readers, and asked to manipulate the sounds in these items to produce a new word. Specific phonemic awareness categories tested include: 1) addition, 2) deletion, 3) substitution, 4) identification, 5) categorization, 6) blending, 7) segmenting, 8) isolation, and 9) rhyming. Fast, Powerful Results DORA Phonemic Awareness’s web-based platform allows for practical school or district-wide deployment of assessments, leading to dramatic reading score improvement, the enrichment of literacy programs, and time and cost savings. DORA Phonemic Awareness is ideal for automating any school’s phonemic awareness diagnostic assessment process, often orally administered in a one-on-one environment and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers and administrators to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
Network acceleration is now available to schools/districts that have limited Internet bandwidth and/or heavily congested Internet usage during assessment times. To read more about this solution click the link below:
RtI Solutions A solid Response to Intervention (RtI) model begins with a three-tiered intervention model based on a problem-solving approach and an integrated data system. Let’s Go Learn offers a complete online RtI system for your school or district, designed to meet the needs especially of Tier 2 and Tier 3 students, by providing the following: Let’s Go Learn’s RtI Solutions offer a variety of reports for placement, progress monitoring, as well as school and district-wide accountability. Reports include: Check out our recorded webinar on how districts can develop their own Response to Intervention (RtI) plans. It discusses how Let’s Go Learn’s DORA/DOMA can be used as well as provides general tips on how districts can leverage some of their existing tests and tools.
Go to the login page. http://www.letsgolearn.com Using the web browser* you plan on using for assessment/instruction, click on the "System Check" link on the lower left side of the screen. If your system does not pass, upgrade your browser's Adobe/Macromedia Flash plug-in to latest version. Ready to get started: Login to your account by using the Teacher/Parent login. To Add your student(s): *If you experience any browser difficulties, later versions of Internet Explorer work best. Firefox is a very clean and fast web browser that you might want to consider if you have trouble with Internet Explorer. To View Results: Updating Account with New Products When you add a new product to your account, you need to update your class. If you need more assistance, please feel free to call Customer Service at 888-618-7323. Useful Links:
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Developmental Gain Report B has the following 6 distributions Support Document 559
Pre-Algebra Pathways brings together comprehensive pre-algebra skills assessment with differentiated instruction, all administered in an interactive, online learning environment. Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA) Pre-Algebra first performs a detailed assessment of each student’s pre-algebra abilities across 14 different mathematical constructs aligned with NCTM and state standards. After the initial assessment, the program transitions the student into interactive tutorials and activities that improve math skills identified by teachers as essential for success in Algebra I. How It Works The first step to successfully addressing individual students’ learning is accurate assessment of their current understanding of specific material. DOMA Pre-Algebra assesses 14 areas of pre-requisite mathematical knowledge, needed for success at the Algebra I level. The assessment’s advanced adaptive features reduce the total assessment time, increase the diagnostic nature of the program, and maximize the useful information teachers receive. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online pre-algebra lessons. The easy-to-understand and engaging lessons featured in Pre-Algebra Pathways use online versions of familiar math manipulatives to help students understand lessons and apply their learning to real-world problem solving. Differentiated instruction means that each student receives instruction at his or her own level, so students learn at their own individual paces, following the path that works best for them.
Unique Math brings together comprehensive math skills assessment with differentiated instruction, all administered in an interactive, online learning environment. Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA) Basic Math Skills first performs a detailed assessment of each student’s basic math abilities across multiple benchmarks. After the initial assessment, the program transitions the student into interactive tutorials and activities that improve essential math skills needed for success. Unique Math is aligned with both NCTM and state standards. How it Works The first step to successfully addressing individual students’ learning is accurate assessment of their current understanding of specific material. DOMA Basic Math Skills assesses three primary areas: number skills, fractions, and measurement skills. The assessment’s advanced adaptive features reduce the total assessment time, increase the diagnostic nature of the program, and maximize the useful information teachers receive. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online math lessons. The targeted lessons featured in Unique Math use online versions of familiar math manipulatives and models to help students understand lessons and apply their learning to real-world problem solving. The Numbers and Operations track helps students gain number sense through an understanding of operations and computations, including numbers’ relationships to one another. The Fractions track helps students develop fraction knowledge, including computation using fractions and mixed numbers. Unique Math’s Measurement track helps students understand measurement attributes of objects and their units, systems, tools, and processes of measurement.
COMING SOON!! Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA) Algebra evaluates skills taught during the crucial Algebra I year. DOMA Algebra can be used to assess Algebra students in middle school or high school to determine their understanding of key Algebra constructs. DOMA Algebra also works well as an end-of-course assessment, or in preparation for high school exit exams. The online program adapts to student responses by difficulty level and construct, clearly identifying mastery/non-mastery, either by full assessment or by placement during the pre-screening. Adaptive and Interactive Assessment The DOMA Algebra assessment evaluates 11 different areas of Algebra I math knowledge. These constructs include: evaluating advanced exponents, solving linear equations, graphing and analyzing linear equations, relations and functions, solving and graphing inequalities, solving and graphing systems, polynomial equations, factoring polynomials, radical equations and expressions, quadratic equations, rational expressions and equations. Middle school and high school interfaces engage secondary learners and make testing more fun and relevant. DOMA’s adaptive technology intelligently decides which specific test items will be given to each student. Based on individual student performance during the assessment, DOMA adjusts in difficulty, item selection, and construct selection. These adaptations allow DOMA to measure a wide range of student abilities efficiently and accurately.
Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA) Pre-Algebra provides a detailed examination of students’ preparedness for entering Algebra I. DOMA Pre-Algebra is useful for teachers in assessing students to gain a clear understanding of their Algebra readiness. By testing prerequisite skills, DOMA Pre-Algebra provides meaningful feedback to students and teachers at a critical learning transition time. Smart Assessment Adapts to Students Using Let’s Go Learn’s adaptive technology, the DOMA Pre-Algebra assessment evaluates 14 different areas of math knowledge that teachers consider essential for success at the Algebra I level. The 14 areas of math knowledge evaluated are: integer operations, fraction operations, decimal operation, comparing and converting, estimating and rounding, evaluating exponents, ratios and proportions, simplifying expressions, coordinate graphing, linear functions, simple equations, geometry, interpreting data, and simple probability. DOMA Pre-Algebra uses middle and high school interfaces to engage secondary students. In addition, if performance in early, lower-level constructs indicates a possible deficiency, then DOMA Pre-Algebra ceases testing and checks either math facts or English language proficiency to identify further students’ strengths and weaknesses.
DOMA Basic Math Skills is a comprehensive, valid and reliable web-based assessment that diagnostically assesses students’ math abilities. The adaptive nature of the assessment maximizes the useful information that teachers receive while reducing the total assessment time for students. DOMA Basic Math Skills assesses students’ K-5 math abilities, including: The individual math profile generated for each student enables teachers to clearly identify specific math constructs in need of targeted instruction. DOMA’s web-based platform allows for classroom deployment of assessments that leads to dramatic math score improvement. DOMA Basic Math Skills is appropriate as a screening or diagnostic tool for students in grades K-5 and remedial math students. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers to download, view or print. These reports may be used to:
Let’s Go Learn’s Unique Reader Secondary is a web-based learning system that combines powerful diagnostic reading assessment with comprehensive, supplemental reading instruction for secondary students. Designed with middle school and high school students in mind, Unique Reader Secondary begins with an online diagnostic reading assessment and then places students in lessons with explicit instruction in comprehension strategies, critical thinking, and vocabulary. How It Works Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) serves as the foundation for Unique Reader Secondary. DORA diagnostically assesses students in eight subskills of reading, adapting to students as they respond to each question in the online program. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online reading lessons. Featuring a scoring system designed to encourage intrinsic motivation in students, Unique Reader Secondary rewards students frequently with positive feedback as they move ahead. Teachers can monitor each student’s progress, and repeat assessments clearly show advances in learning.
Let’s Go Learn’s Unique Reader is a web-based learning system that combines powerful diagnostic reading assessment with comprehensive, supplemental reading instruction for each student. Unique Reader begins with an online diagnostic reading assessment, which results in a customized lesson plan for each student. The reading instruction that follows includes over 1,000 online activities spanning all critical areas of "Reading First" and the "No Child Left Behind" act. How It Works Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) serves as the foundation for Unique Reader. DORA diagnostically assesses students in eight subskills of reading, adapting to students as they respond to each question in the online program. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online reading lessons. The lessons, built by classroom teachers, use a multi-sensory, instructional approach and follow a Tutorial, Reinforcement, and Graded Review format. At lower levels, online instructional activities use large text and have clear audio playing as the student reads along. Teachers can monitor each student’s progress and repeat assessments to clearly show advances in learning.
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DORA is a comprehensive, valid, and reliable web-based assessment that diagnostically assesses students’ reading abilities. Like having a reading specialist in every classroom, DORA adapts to students as they respond to each question in the online program, getting harder or easier as needed to complete the diagnosis. DORA’s interactive style makes testing fun, engages students, and allows teachers to test an entire class simultaneously, in a classroom lab setting. The eight sub-skills of reading assessed by DORA are: high-frequency words, word recognition, phonics, phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, and fluency. By examining multiple reading measures together, DORA reveals a student’s unique reading profile, allowing teachers to tailor instruction to individual student needs. Fast, Powerful Results DORA’s web-based platform allows for easy deployment of assessments, providing teachers with the knowledge to dramatically increase individual reading skills, while saving teachers time and paperwork. DORA is ideal for automating the diagnostic assessment process, which is often paper-based and labor-intensive. Individual student and classroom reports are instantly available for teachers to download, view, or print. These reports may be used to:
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by Paolo Martin For a number of reasons, I started spring cleaning early this year. In the process of rummaging through my things and figuring out what stays and what goes to a fundraiser garage sale, I came across a number of old files with journals I had written, and a few other items like lesson plans, student reports, and so forth. Unlike other instances in which I have been struck by the person I was years ago or by the creativity that seems to have evolved (and in some cases, dulled) over the years, this time I was struck by my penmanship. Yes, penmanship! I barely recognized it. It was clean, legible, effortless. Nowadays, certain muscles in my hand tremble just trying to write a personal greeting on a birthday card! All of this, I believe, is because I’m spending less time writing things down by hand and more time typing things out on my laptop. As far as reading goes, while I still read books, I now spend copious amounts of time reading material on the Internet - much more than I do reading from the pages of reference books or magazines. It’s amazing to me that in fewer than a dozen years of my life, my experience of text has changed so drastically that now much of it happens electronically. I don’t know how my personality or my learning experience would have been different had my grade school been completely digital when I grew up, but we can be the first to watch some of our children develop in a completely digital environment, as many classes are now offered online. In the city of Makkah (sometimes Mecca), Saudi Arabia, a school without paper and pens--completely electronic-based--opened recently. According to an article from Arab News, "...the main objective behind establishing the school was to develop and modernize the Kingdom’s education system and produce a new generation of Saudi students armed with knowledge, information and technology - the three essential factors for progress in the modern world.....All [the school’s] academic and administrative activities are based on electronics and students of the school will not use any books." Is this just another sign that the end is nearing for print as we know it? I can’t say for sure, but I honestly don’t think so. While Bill Gates has been quoted as saying "Reading is going to go completely online" in an advertising conference in Seattle, I think there’s something about the portability of a book and the ability to flip through the pages of a novel that will keep it from becoming extinct. However, I do agree with Washington Post columnist Howard Gardner, who recently wrote that the prevalence of electronic media jeopardizes two aspects of the traditional book: 1) "...the author’s capacity to lay out a complex argument, which requires the reader to study and reread...." and 2) the "hallowed" status of books and their ability to draw people into their own world for hours at a time, as online networking communities compel people to stay connected with each other 24/7. But these are only possibilities. One never knows what life brings. In the meantime, the book is here to stay - to stand alongside the Internet, hand-held devices, video, graphic arts, and the many other forms of literacy developing and evolving today. Howard Gardner put it nicely: "If we’re going to make sense of what’s happening with literacy in our culture, we need to be able to triangulate: to bear in mind our needs and desires, the media as they once were and currently are, and the media as they’re continually transforming."
District Administration has released an article highlighting the need for diagnostic assessment in the classroom. Featured in their article is Dr. Richard McCallum, co-founder of Let’s Go Learn.
District Administration has released an article highlighting the need for diagnostic assessment in the classroom. Featured in their article is Dr. Richard McCallum, co-founder of Let’s Go Learn.
KENSINGTON, CA (January 2008): Let’s Go Learn, Inc. announces the release of a new online supplemental reading curriculum available for secondary reading students, Unique Reader Secondary. Designed with middle school and high school students in mind, Unique Reader Secondary provides supplemental reading lessons with explicit instruction in comprehension strategies, critical thinking, and vocabulary. Using Let’s Go Learn’s award-winning Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) as its diagnostic foundation, Unique Reader Secondary is an ideal supplemental reading program for middle school and high school students. Unique Reader Secondary continues the Let’s Go Learn practice of providing reading instruction within the context of high-interest, age-appropriate activities such as songs, video, and games. Says Let’s Go Learn co-founder and CEO Richard Capone, "For years, Let’s Go Learn has offered differentiated, supplemental reading instruction for grades K-5; we’re excited to be able to expand our offering to the upper grades with the introduction of Unique Reader Secondary. Teachers will find that the lessons address many of the comprehension issues common to middle school and high school readers. Unique Reader Secondary uses a wide variety of reading materials, including those ever elusive, high-interest/low-readability passages, so students of all backgrounds will find topics and games that grab their attention!" Featuring a scoring system designed to encourage intrinsic motivation in students, Unique Reader Secondary rewards students frequently with positive feedback as they move ahead. Teachers or parents can use the administrative module to monitor students and can retest with DORA to show growth over time. Let’s Go Learn offers K-12 reading and math assessment and instruction as well as professional development courses for teachers and specialists. Developed by math and reading specialists and researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Let’s Go Learn’s suite of products has proven to be extremely valid and reliable. Since its founding, Let’s Go Learn has been used to perform over 600,000 assessments [AKW1] nationwide. Let’s Go Learn is committed to creating innovative, scalable educational assessment and instructional tools that help parents, teachers, and administrators rapidly advance students’ abilities. By combining cutting-edge technology with best practices in education, Let’s Go Learn provides top quality, research-based resources to the educational community, utilizing experts in reading, math, assessment, and instruction. Let’s Go Learn strives to develop solutions that are practical and easily sustained in today’s educational climate, providing students with the support necessary to ensure long-term success. For more information about Unique Reader Secondary or other Let’s Go Learn products, please call 1-888-618-7323 or visit online at http://www.letsgolearn.com/.
Explaination of the LGL Development Gain Report A Support document 544
Click below for more information about DORA or to place your order today! Click a category below to learn more about DORA: Click below for more information about DOMA or to place your order today! Click a category below to learn more about DOMA Basic Math Skills: Click a category below to learn more about DOMA Pre-Algebra: Click a category below to learn more about DOMA Algebra:
When I first moved into my fixer-upper almost five years ago, I had a long-lasting stand-off with rodents. They were intruders, squatters who violated my space. Friends said they were "only" mice. Well, if they were only mice, then they would have fallen mindlessly for the humane plastic traps filled with crunchy peanut butter which gave their captor the option of banishing them into the wilderness. But these things were cunning; my roommate swears that he saw one jump on top of the plastic trap as the vermin threw him an obscene hand signal. So, by virtue of their behavior, I called them rats. But unlike the filthy, manipulative intruders I experienced in my home, according to tradition, the Rat appears in the Chinese Zodiac as an animal which bears prosperity, charm, and order. Some also say it brings with it death, war, and pestilence. As thoughts from the Western New Year fade away and the lunar/Chinese New Year approaches (Feb. 7), ushering in the year of the Rat, I wonder whether this year will indeed bring prosperity and order to education, or pestilence instead. I really want to be optimistic and believe that all the hard work policy-makers and educators do in the interest of kids will make a significant difference this year. However, the way I see it, things are not looking all that rosy right now, especially in California, where hopes of a "Year of Education" have vaporized with the reality of California’s budget crisis as reported in the San Jose Mercury News. Also, many schools continue to languish in the bottom percentage by standards defined by NCLB with no clear changes expected to this legislation in the near future. Many teachers are even considering leaving the classroom as they feel less and less supported by educational environments that are le | |||||||||||||||
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