Palm-based
testing program could save time, paper
cuts
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 • By
KAT MAIN • The Express-Times
INDEPENDENCE TWP. -- Great Meadows
Regional School District's administrators are tapping into a
technology they say will save teachers time, energy and
paper cuts.
At school's start on Sept. 6, they'll be
using a Palm Pilot-based software program, mCLASS: DIBELS
(Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), to give
traditional literacy tests. Created by Wireless Generation
in New York, the software replaces more time-consuming paper
and pencil tests.
"The problem is (traditional assessment
tests) take a very long time to administer per student
(which takes) time away from time spent in the classroom,"
said Jason Bing, soon-to-be district superintendent.
"mCLASS: DIBELS combined with handhelds takes about 15 to 20
minutes and allows us to download data
immediately."
With mCLASS: DIBELS, teachers use a
prompt-driven program, after which they can log onto a
password-protected Web site to access data and run detailed
reports.
"It can take weeks and weeks and months,
to get reports. mCLASS: DIBELS provide reports instantly,"
said Monica McDonald, a director of marketing with Wireless
Generation.
Bing said the district has 15 of the
handheld units for the 2005-06 school year. The cost is
covered by President Bush's No Child Left Behind
Act.
Bing said state and federal initiatives
spurred by the act encourage districts to use the software.
The act calls for student proficiency in language arts and
math by 2014. Proficiency levels are set each year and when
students do not meet the set levels, their schools face
state sanctions.
McDonald said the software was developed,
in part, to help administrators meet government
requirements.
"These tools are great for informing
instruction, they can create intervention plans for
students, who are struggling readers and help them meet
their goals," McDonald said.
McDonald said administrators can also get
student and class summaries and use the reports for
district-level planning.
In addition to fluency and comprehension,
the software also tests pronunciation.
"If a child can produce the sounds of
individual letters correctly, but can't do words correctly,
you can track that all on the hand held," she
said.
The mCLASS: DIBELS program can also gauge
a child's motivation, McDonald said. By selecting either a
frowning, smiling or neutral face, the teacher can record a
child's mood at the time of testing.
Research for the program began more than
15 years ago by doctors Roland Good and Ruth Kaminski, both
of the University of Oregon, McDonald said. The software,
which is the result of a collaboration between Good and
Kaminski and Wireless Generation, became available in
September 2003.
According to McDonald, teachers in 46
states are already using the software.
Reporter Kat Main can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by
e-mail at kmain@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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