AIMSweb Guide

Assessment Definitions
Screening-skill based assessments given to all students in fall, winter and spring. Purpose is to identify at-risk students and will be used to assist teachers with initial identification of students as benchmark, strategic or intensive learners.

Progress Monitoring-individualized to assess progress on specific goals. Purpose is to inform instruction and monitor basic skill deficits and effectiveness of interventions. Diagnostic-tools that identify specific skill gaps. Used if student fails to reach progress monitoring benchmarks.

Outcome-end of year or major instructional sequence (ISAT, etc..)

Screening: A Review by Grade Level
Screenings will take place three times per year in grades K-9. Students who are not at benchmark in grades 10-12 will also be screened three times per year.

Kindergarten
Fall: Letter-Naming Fluency

Winter: Letter-Naming Fluency, Letter-Sound Fluency, and Phoneme-Segmentation Fluency (one probe given in each area)

Spring: Same as winter

Grade 1
Fall: Phoneme-Segmentation Fluency, Letter-Naming Fluency and Nonsense-Word Fluency

Winter: Phoneme-Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense-Word Fluency, and Reading Curriculum Based Measure (CBM)

Spring: Nonsense-Word Fluency and Reading CBM

Grade 2 - 6
Fall, Winter, Spring: Reading CBM (Fluency Measure at Grade Level)

Grade 7 - 12
Fall, Winter, Spring: Reading CBM (at Grade Level; 9-12 to use 8th grade level)

Scoring Screening Assessments
All Reading Benchmark CBM's require that three probes be given and then scored. Each probe is to be given during the distict's screening window. The Median Score is used for the student's benchmark. To obtain the median score, give all three probes and score them for Words Read Correctly (WRC) and number of errors counted per passage (WRC/error). Once all three passages are scored, the administrator of the probe throws out the high and low score in both WRC and errors. The remaining score is the Median, which is what is reported in the student's AIMSweb record.

Note: The IRI is the screener for grades K-3.

The Early Reading Assessments (K-1) require only one probe each and are scored using a variety of methods.Teachers should refer to the scoring protocols associated with each grade-level probes.

Teachers administering the K-1 screening assessments need to be aware that many of their students may have scores that demonstrate a significant need for intervention (example: scoring a 0). Please be aware that the school district expects lower scores at the first stages of screening. However, as the year progresses, students will make significant progress relating to increased knowledge. Teachers may choose to progress-monitor all of their students monthly to ensure that students are indeed progressing. This is not a requirement, but should be considered a best practice.

Progress-Monitoring
After the screener has been assessed, if students do not meet the proficient score at their grade level, then the teacher must administer previous grade level probe(s)to find the appropriate instructional level for that child. The level at which the student is found to be proficient is the level at which progress-monitoring is started. Unlike screening assessments, only one probe should be administered. Over time, progress will be observed and the student will gradually move up the levels; if not, a change and intervention should be made. Intervention teams at each school can be helpful in guiding intervention suggestions to teachers.

Support for Teachers
Each school site has at least one teacher as well as the principal who have recieved additional training in AIMSweb. These people will assist in preparing probes for teachers, instructing in data entry and provide general support. If they don't know the answer to your question, please contact your Tecnician by submitting a help desk ticket.

AIMSweb Agreements for Schools

 * 1) All schools will use the appropriate AIMSweb reading benchmark assessment in grades K-9 in the fall, winter and spring. The high school will screen new-to-district students in grades 10-12.
 * 2) All Schools, K-12, will progress monitor their intensive and strategic students in AIMSweb and will use appropriate progress monitoring tools.
 * 3) All schools will use AIMSweb to store the scores of screening and progress monitoring assessments.
 * 4) All principals and key instructional staff agree to learn about how to use AIMSweb and the assessment tools available for screening and progress monitoring.
 * 5) All schools will designate a person to be the site manager of AIMSweb who will set up and maintain accounts according to district guidelines and also designate a person(s) to assist with entry of scores, as needed.
 * 6) No one should add student or teacher accounts nor should they update programs or any other demographic data that they feel is incorrect. They should report these issues to the School Manager.

AIMSweb Agreements for the District
1. The Technology/Data Team will import data as follows: 2. The District will agree to support and pay for AIMSweb for a minimum of two years until our own data tracking tool is established in the district.
 * Students and appropriate demographic data will be imported by homeroom during the first week of school after Labor Day.
 * New students and updated demographic data will be imported every Friday.
 * Initial roles of personnel will default as "Regular and Progress Monitoring" and the School Managers will adjust roles as needed.
 * Roll-up of K-11 data will occur at the beginning of each school year the week after Labor Day.

3. The District will ensure that professional development is available.

Commonly Asked Questions
Who is progress-monitored? All students who do not meet the proficiency level in AIMSweb must be progress-monitored in either a strategic or intensive capacity, depending upon their scores and their teacher /school personnel's expert opinon.

What is the schedule for progress-monitoring? Students identified as having strategic needs must be progress-monitored at least once a month, Students identified as having intensive needs must be progress-monitored at least two times a month. Teachers may choose to progress-monitor on a more frequent basis at their discretion.

How often can I change interventions? Interventions should be done for a period of 4-6 data-points, giving the child time to make progress over time. For students not making progress, either additional diagnostic assessments may be needed or additional instructional time or a change in instructional strategies.

Do I have to document interventions? Yes, all interventions must be documented in the Progress Monitoring portion of AIMSweb. Documentation of interventions is essential because it will enable all teachers to see what interventions are (or are not) working to increase our students' academic achievement levels.