Agreed!  The proof is in the pudding... so they say.  I once had a  
student who upon entering my program, refused to read or write  
anything for me.  That is what I wrote down as my "base evaluation".  
"Refuses to read or write".    By the end of the year, she willingly  
read aloud for me on the GORT.  I considered that huge progress....  
going from refusing to read or write, to willing allow me test her.    
Her reading and writing progressed rapidly........  She soon was  
coming to my office each week with an 800 page book... her nose buried  
in it as she walked in!  Almost every week it was a different book.  I  
noticed that they were all of a popular genre, so my goal became  
turning her on to other types of books.... gently and discreetly... !   
She would often ask me for some of my resource materials to take to  
school.  She had begun to actually instruct others in her resource  
class... and told me the resource teacher wanted to know what  
materials I was using.   One summer, when her parents spoke about a  
"summer session" with me, I suggested that instead, she attend a  
summer writing program that I knew of at a private high school in the  
area.  The student, at the time, was entering 9th grade in the fall.   
I told her parents that I thought she was ready for some "group"  
stimulation from some "quality peers".  Soon after she began 9th  
grade, her parents called to tell me that Jill's papers were being  
"showcased" by her English teacher as "the standard" for her peers.

I have not written one word about "test scores".  So... why is it that  
we need "assessment"?  Probably not for the student!
Does it matter how long all this took?


Maureen Carro, MS, ET
Academic Learning Solutions
Alamo, CA
mcarro at lmi.net



On Oct 31, 2009, at 8:45 AM, ooprc at comcast.net wrote:


>  To me, if the students are reading, excited to read, and having fun  

> reading as well as managing their work in school well and easily,  

> and their behavior and self esteem has done a turn around, that to  

> me is the main goal


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