What do I do if there is no change in a child's score?
As we continually assess children’s skills with PARA, we will occasionally find that a child does not progress. This is an important piece of information that should be represented in your data.
The ‘No Change’ option in Progress Monitor allows you to record the results of every assessment, even when the score remains the same. This way, the fact that the child was assessed is still recorded. Progress Monitor will record the current score and update the most recent date of assessment.
Recording a No Change Assessment
If you have reassessed a child on a challenge and the score remains the same, simply select ‘No Change’ in the data entry window:
- With ‘No Change’ selected, clicking the ‘Submit’ button will record the highlighted score.
- If you alter the score and then select ‘No Change,’ the previous score will be re-highlighted.
- If ‘No Change’ is selected and then a new score is clicked, the ‘No Change’ option will be cleared and the new score will be recorded instead.
- If ‘No Change’ is left blank, no score will be recorded. Progress Monitor will only record a score if ‘No Change’ is selected or if a new score is indicated. In other words, if you leave the previous score selected but do not select ‘No Change’, no score will be recorded. This is important in representing the act of assessing a child, and not the assumption that no change in score has occurred.
Example of a Student with No Change
In this example, consider a student who initially scores these numbers:
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On the next assessment, the child made progress on some challenges, but not others:
In this scenario, you would select ‘No Change’ on Challenges Two and Three, while selecting the new scores for Challenges Four and Five.
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In the class list, the number of times assessed and the last assessment date will be adjusted accordingly.