How Does a Literacy Evaluation Support a Child’s Educational Needs?
Your child has had a literacy evaluation. Now what’s next? The information collected during a literacy evaluation serves several important purposes and informs various aspects of a child's education. Information gathered can be used to:
Identify Areas of Strength and Weakness: The assessment helps identify specific areas where the child excels and areas where they may struggle with literacy skills, such as phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, or fluency.
Diagnose Learning Disabilities: If the evaluation reveals signs of a specific learning disability, such as dyslexia, it can lead to a formal diagnosis. This diagnosis is crucial for providing targeted interventions and accommodations.
Individualized Educational Planning: The information guides the development of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or a 504 plan for the child, which outlines specific goals, strategies, accommodations, and services needed to support the child's literacy development.
Instructional Planning: Teachers can use the evaluation results to plan instruction tailored to the child's needs, focusing on strengthening areas of weakness and building on their strengths.
Monitoring Progress: The assessment establishes a baseline of the child's literacy skills. Subsequent assessments can monitor progress and adjust instructional strategies or interventions as necessary.
Intervention Strategies: The information helps educators choose appropriate interventions and teaching methods, such as phonics instruction, reading comprehension strategies, or speech therapy, to address the child's specific needs.
Parental Involvement: Parents are often included in the planning process, and the evaluation results are shared with them to foster a collaborative approach to addressing their child's literacy needs.
Accommodations and Support Services: The evaluation may lead to providing accommodations and support services, such as extended time on assessments, assistive technology, or speech and language therapy.
Goal Setting: The information collected helps set clear, measurable goals for the child's literacy development, enabling educators and parents to track progress and adjust as needed.
Advocacy and Legal Protections: In some cases, the evaluation results may be used to advocate for additional support and accommodations for the child, including legal protections provided by special education laws.
This is part of our literacy evaluation blog series. You can also learn more about ten reasons to consider a literacy evaluation, the key components of a literacy evaluation, and how to use literacy evaluation data to drive student instruction.
This blog series was written by Catherine Scholl, a literacy evaluator and special education advocate with Right to Read Advocacy. Catherine brings a unique and personal perspective to educational advocacy rooted in her extensive experience with Special Education, Individual Education Plans (IEP), and 504 processes. As a parent of two students with disabilities, former special education teacher, literacy evaluator, and educational advocate, she has “worn the hat” of all team members, allowing her to knowledgeably participate in all sides of the process. She serves clients through the state of Connecticut.