The concept of universal screening is a type of assessment. This assessment is characterized by the administration of quick, low cost and repeatable testing of age appropriate skills to all students.
The general idea of the universal screening is to improve student learning by providing high quality instruction, intervening early with students who are at risk of academic difficultly and distinguishing between students whose reading difficulties stem from experimental and instructional deficits as opposed to learning difficulties.
The purpose of universal screening is to predict an outcome for the schools and students performance months or even years in advance. The reason why this is so important is so that any problems with certain aspects of learning, such as reading or basic math can be taken care of before the problem turns into a learning difficulty and goes on too long to be able to change it. Universal screening is all about making a difference. It is about getting help to the students that need it most. So just how does the universal screening process work?
The information that is gathered in the universal screening provides two useful pieces of information. The first of these pieces of information is that the universal screening process shows how functional the core curriculum and instruction are in schools. The way that this works is that in a multi-tiered model of school support, it is said that 80% of students in the school should be showing sufficient progress in their studies across all school subjects. If however more than 20% of the students in a school are not making acceptable grades in an area then the school need to take appropriate steps to improve the core curriculum and the manner in which the subject areas are being delivered to the students.
The second part of the universal screening process is performed to identify students who are not making progress in core curriculum areas. The way that this works is similar to the first half of the universal screening, which is that if 80% or more are making progress then those who aren't require additional intervention.
The idea behind the universal screening is to determine how effective the curriculum, school organization and teacher instruction is to the learning of students. As well as these aspects, the universal screening is also all about the student's level of proficiency in essential academic areas. The date that is collected from the universal screening process is then organized in a format that allows for the inspection of both group performance and individual student performance on specific skills.
Thanks to the universal screening process schools do not wait for students to fail before coming to their assistance. With the help of the universal screening process all students are screened in order to identify those who, despite a strong educational program, seem to be on the path to failure. To have any chance of escaping this adverse path, students must obtain help as soon as possible and thanks to the universal screening process that is exactly what they get!
Josh was a classroom teacher for grades Kindergarten through 8th grade
and used The A+nyWhere Learning System® with his 5th & 6th graders
in order to differentiate the curriculum and provide appropriate
content to his many students with Individualized Education Plans
(IEPs). Josh currently meets with schools, assisting in implementation,
and training teachers and administrators on various software tools.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
tweet this!