Prompt and Proper Placement: Enrolling Students Without Records

1
Prompt and Proper Placement Enrolling Students
Without Records

• Beth Garriss Hardy, Ph.D.
• Consultant
• National Center for Homeless Education

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Its the Law

• McKinney-Vento requires immediate enrollment,
  even if records are not available
• Schools need a plan
• Students must be allowed to
• participate while assessment
• is taking place

3
Importance of Quick Assessments

• Children need continuity in their education
• Placement decisions can determine success or
  failure of mobile students
• Incomplete records often result in frustration
  for students and teachers

4
Records may be gone

• Records may be lost or totally destroyed due to
  disaster
• After trauma, children need the normalcy,
  stability, structure, and socialization of a
  school setting
• Quick assessment is critical

5
Gather existing information

• Contact previous school immediately
• If records are completely destroyed, contact
  school district office or the State Coordinator
  of Homeless Education
• Some records are stored electronically in the
  school district or state department

6
Phoneemail.

• While waiting for official records, you may be
  able to speak with
• Previous teachers
• School counselors
• Physicians or nurses

7
Parents know their child

• Parents can provide valuable information
• Informal interviews
• Simple, descriptive questions

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Sample questions for parents

• Do you have papers from previous school, notes
  from teachers, homework assignments, tests,
  progress reports, etc.?
• What were homework assignments about?
• What were grades like? What was easy? Difficult?

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Sample questions for parents

• Did you attend meetings at school with teachers,
  counselors, doctors, or someone from the school
  district office?
• Did you ever sign papers that talked about goals
  for your child, or special school services?

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Students know a lot!

• Conversations with students can often yield
  helpful information to guide initial placement
  decisions
• Informal interviews
• Simple, descriptive questions

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Sample questions for students

• What was your school day like?
• What were you learning in math/history/science/lan
  guage class?
• What was the name of your math/history/science/lan
  guage class?

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Sample questions for students

• How many other students were in your class?
• How many teachers?
• Did you ever spend time alone or in a small group
  with a different teacher?
• What were your grades like?

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Other Tools for Quick Assessment

• Quick assessment in core academic subjects can be
  accomplished with a variety of available
  instruments
• Brigance Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills
  (CIBS-R)
• Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR)
• Diagnostic Screening Tests (DSTR)
• Dynamic Indicators of Basis Early Literacy Skills
  (DIBELS)

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and more.

• More tools for quick assessment
• Informal Reading Comprehension Placement Test
• Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second
  Edition (KTEA-II)
• KeyMath Revised
• Spanish Reading Comprehension Test
• Standardized Reading Inventory (SRI)
• Test of Reading Comprehension 3rd Edition
  (TORC-3)
• Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-3)
• Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery
  (WJ-R)

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And more assessment tools.

• Computer-based assessment tools
• Lexia Quick Reading Test
• Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA)
• Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA)
• STAR Reading
• Woodcock-Munoz Language Survey

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And more assessment tools.

• School textbooks
• Placement tests
• Chapter tests
• Unit pretests
• Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)
  www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/
  cbmwarehouse.shtml
• Web-based resources

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Challenges and Strategies

• What particular challenges have you encountered
  when enrolling students whose records are
  delayed, or not available?
• What strategies did you find useful in addressing
  these challenges?
• Are there any specific assessment tools that you
  would recommend others use for quick assessment?

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So what do you take home today?

• Prompt enrollment Quick assessment
• Proper placement Student Success
• Best decisions are informed decisions
• Team decision-making lends strength to quick
  decisions
• NCHE Brief Prompt and Proper Placement
  Enrolling Students without Records
• Also available for downloading from
• www.serve.org/nche/briefs.php

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In Her Own Words

• Through it all, school is probably the only
  thing that has kept me going. I know that every
  day that I walk in those doors, I can stop
  thinking about my problems for the next six hours
  and concentrate on what is most important to me.
  Without the support of my school system, I would
  not be as well off as I am today. School keeps me
  motivated to move on, and encourages me to find a
  better life for myself.
• Carrie Arnold, LeTendre Scholar, 2002

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NAEHCY Annual ConferenceLittle Rock,
ArkansasNovember 11-14, 2006Beth Garriss
Hardy, Ph.D.ConsultantNational Center for
Homeless Education
www.serve.org/nche