Anonymous
Post 03/03/2025 14:24     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Last year for the Reading MAP test my kid’s percentile dropped from 92nd percentile at the BOY to 48th percentile in the middle of the year.

I emailed the teacher to ask if she had observed anything that could help explain, whether we should be concerned etc. She told me to talk to testing coordinator. No response. Went back to the English teacher again, explained no response from testing person, and asked my question again. Then she sent me a note about how kids learn at different paces and that she hadn’t made progress shouldn’t concern us until the end of the year. I wasn’t satisfied with that so I asked to meet. I’m the morning of the meeting I got an email that her score had been entered incorrectly. Super fun times.
Anonymous
Post 03/03/2025 09:16     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

You should reach out to the testing person at your school and they can help you understand this better. Sadly, I think this is a position that will be cut under the new budget.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2025 21:26     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For my young the DIEBELS and PALS scores give completely different results. I think my kid was not in the mood to be assessed on PALS day.

DIBELS is a true screener -- its looking for things like learning delays or if your kid really can't read at all. Depending on how young your child is, it might not be very meaningful.


I’m sorry for reviving this very old post. The PP says DIEBELS is a true screener. We’re in 2nd grade - is it meaningful for reading comprehension at this point? From what I understand, this is the first year they test for it. Thank you for any insight.

No. Google dibels and you’ll see what it is for each year. They have them read nonsense words (thlem, feef, things like that) to make sure they actually know how to decode.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2025 16:04     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For my young the DIEBELS and PALS scores give completely different results. I think my kid was not in the mood to be assessed on PALS day.

DIBELS is a true screener -- its looking for things like learning delays or if your kid really can't read at all. Depending on how young your child is, it might not be very meaningful.



I’m sorry for reviving this very old post. The PP says DIEBELS is a true screener. We’re in 2nd grade - is it meaningful for reading comprehension at this point? From what I understand, this is the first year they test for it. Thank you for any insight.


DIBELS isn’t mostly for reading comprehension— it’s for phonics, fluency, and such. Hence the nonsense words. But I can tell you that when my dyslexic kid was in 3rd grade, she got a perfect score on the reading SOL (untimed, tests only for reading comprehension) while still scoring “below goal” or “far below goal” on all or nearly all components of the DIBELS. They test for very different things.


Interesting. Thank you.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2025 13:21     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For my young the DIEBELS and PALS scores give completely different results. I think my kid was not in the mood to be assessed on PALS day.

DIBELS is a true screener -- its looking for things like learning delays or if your kid really can't read at all. Depending on how young your child is, it might not be very meaningful.


I’m sorry for reviving this very old post. The PP says DIEBELS is a true screener. We’re in 2nd grade - is it meaningful for reading comprehension at this point? From what I understand, this is the first year they test for it. Thank you for any insight.


DIBELS isn’t mostly for reading comprehension— it’s for phonics, fluency, and such. Hence the nonsense words. But I can tell you that when my dyslexic kid was in 3rd grade, she got a perfect score on the reading SOL (untimed, tests only for reading comprehension) while still scoring “below goal” or “far below goal” on all or nearly all components of the DIBELS. They test for very different things.
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2025 10:15     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:I think all of the assessments are essentially worthless. They fudge the numbers, they scale it, etc., all to make it appear the learning loss over Covid and the overall decline in education isn't happening.





Do others agree?
Anonymous
Post 03/02/2025 10:02     Subject: APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:For my young the DIEBELS and PALS scores give completely different results. I think my kid was not in the mood to be assessed on PALS day.

DIBELS is a true screener -- its looking for things like learning delays or if your kid really can't read at all. Depending on how young your child is, it might not be very meaningful.


I’m sorry for reviving this very old post. The PP says DIEBELS is a true screener. We’re in 2nd grade - is it meaningful for reading comprehension at this point? From what I understand, this is the first year they test for it. Thank you for any insight.
Anonymous
Post 11/29/2021 17:12     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Yes. And the scaling of the assessments/inventories


Please provide more detail.

I know for a fact that APS number fudging happens. Certain kids not allowed into certain remediation programs because they know certain students won't show a big increase in scores.


Need specifics.
Anonymous
Post 11/29/2021 16:20     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:They fudge the numbers? Who fudges the numbers? We get the scores back immediately from the growth assessment and Math inventory. Dibels is calculated by DIBELS and we have specific protocol to follow. Who is fishing numbers?


I know for a fact that APS number fudging happens. Certain kids not allowed into certain remediation programs because they know certain students won't show a big increase in scores.
Anonymous
Post 11/29/2021 13:46     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They fudge the numbers? Who fudges the numbers? We get the scores back immediately from the growth assessment and Math inventory. Dibels is calculated by DIBELS and we have specific protocol to follow. Who is fishing numbers?


It's a write off, Jerry! They just write it off!

I think this is alluding to Duran's push to lower the standard for the reading SOL last year so more kids would pass.


Yes. And the scaling of the assessments/inventories.
Anonymous
Post 11/29/2021 10:10     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:They fudge the numbers? Who fudges the numbers? We get the scores back immediately from the growth assessment and Math inventory. Dibels is calculated by DIBELS and we have specific protocol to follow. Who is fishing numbers?


It's a write off, Jerry! They just write it off!

I think this is alluding to Duran's push to lower the standard for the reading SOL last year so more kids would pass.
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2021 20:56     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

Anonymous wrote:They fudge the numbers? Who fudges the numbers? We get the scores back immediately from the growth assessment and Math inventory. Dibels is calculated by DIBELS and we have specific protocol to follow. Who is fishing numbers?


It's a write off, Jerry! They just write it off!
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2021 17:59     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

They fudge the numbers? Who fudges the numbers? We get the scores back immediately from the growth assessment and Math inventory. Dibels is calculated by DIBELS and we have specific protocol to follow. Who is fishing numbers?
Anonymous
Post 11/28/2021 11:58     Subject: Re:APS fall assessment - What the heck do the numbers mean?

I think all of the assessments are essentially worthless. They fudge the numbers, they scale it, etc., all to make it appear the learning loss over Covid and the overall decline in education isn't happening.