The Time Is Now: Early Diagnosis of Academic Deficits Is Pivotal to Keeping Students from Falling Irretrievably Behind. Formative Assessment Technology Gives Teachers the Tools to Respond

DURING A HOLIDAY VISIT LAST WINTER, my aunt asked. What exactly do you do? As explained the work the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA: www.setda.org) does to highlight the power of technology in education, she quickly commented, I don't get it why is technology so important in education? We all learned without it. Is it because of all those video games kids play? Remaining calm, started my answer by reflecting on my first year of teaching. As a new teacher, was driven to help each and every student, and the only way could do that was to look at the work of each child in my class. arrived at school early, left late, and still went home toting canvas bags of papers and assessments to go over. Armed with handwritten running records, paper copies of quizzes, and an old green gradebook, did my best to prepare lessons suited for each student, but as a novice teacher with analog tools and minimal training, struggled. Today, life in technology-rich schools is different--better-for teachers. Handheld devices for reading assessment, electronic response systems, software programs for assessing and grading, and skills-based online resources provide teachers with an abundance of tools for evaluating students, producing information teachers can then respond to with instruction tailored to the needs of each student. With individualized instruction, students with different learning styles and rates can succeed in the same classroom. At-risk students, who would probably drop out of school, stay and graduate. It's well documented that success in elementary school is a good indicator of academic success down the line. Conversely, students who fall behind in their early school years are vulnerable to ending up as high school dropouts. And if academic issues aren't addressed promptly, they only intensify over time. According to a February 2006 fact sheet on adolescent literacy from the Alliance for Excellence in Education (www.all4ed.org), approximately 8 million students in grades 4 to 12 struggle to read at grade level, and a full 70 percent of US middle and high school students require additional instructional support to meet their learning needs. Not a moment can be lost waiting for standardized test scores or quarterly assessments to gauge student progress, especially for elementary-level students learning to read and acquire basic math skills. Teachers must assess students regularly to check for comprehension so that they can individualize instruction promptly. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] States throughout the country are now offering formative assessment tools to help teachers apprehend students' learning difficulties early on. Arizona, for example, offers an item bank located within its IDEAL web portal (Integrated Data to Enhance Arizona's Learning; www.ideal.azed.gov). Pre-and post-assessments and performance-objective snapshots are available to all teachers in the state. Similarly, Alaska has developed a bank of formative assessments aligned to the state's grade-level expectations in math, reading, and writing for grades 3 to 10. The assessments are intended for use by all Alaska teachers to guide them in differentiating classroom instruction. And last fall, the Pennsylvania Department of Education launched the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System Performance, which empowers the state's educators with student progress and achievement data so they can make informed instructional decisions. Technology is impacting specific content-area assessments as well. For reading, many states and districts use the formal Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (http://dibels.uoregon.edu) to assess reading progress and help individualize instruction. DIBELS is now available through handheld devices, which enable teachers to quickly assess students and gather student, group, and class data instantly. …