[Bestplus] scoring question

[Schwerdtfeger, Jane]

Hi, Betty--these are great questions too--I'll see what carol has to say,
also...
I think your scoring of Question 1 makes sense to me.  I'm confused on the
2nd question though--is it a picture they are responding to? Don't they have
to respond to "tell me about this picture?" then? Are there other questions
associated with the picture prompts?  I may be misunderstanding your
question.  I'm okay with the off script responses if testers know to not go
too far off and to only do it in situations (pretty extreme, like the one
you describe) like this.  Very sad, poor woman.  Having to take a test
sounds like adding insult to injury, so I appreciated the fact you
acknowledged how hard things must be.
Thanks, Betty--
 
Jane
  

-----Original Message-----
From: Betty Stone [mailto:bjstone13 at yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 10:56 AM
To: Schwerdtfeger, Jane; 'iris.broudy at SDH.state.ma.us';
Bestplus at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: RE: [Bestplus] scoring question


Hi All,
 
I'm so glad you brought up a question, Iris. I have one too.
And I'm glad I haven't lost my touch...I would have "zeroed out" the answer
in Spanish, because the student has to respond in English. I do recall being
able to gently prompt "in English?" to probe whether the student is able.
 
Here are a few questions:
1.Tester: "How do you decide if you need to see the doctor?"
Student: "I just call and make an appointment."
At our last calibration meeting, we discussed and came to a score of 1-1-3
(or maybe 2 for comm. if there were difficulties)
The tester who brought the question up was dealing with how far/close was
the response to the question. The group decided that LC was partial (1),
complexity was simple sentence (1).
 
2. Tester: (shows picture of jogging/baby carriage) "what do you do in your
spare time?"
Student: answers by describing the picture--not really responding to the
set-up. 
Without the ability to "go off the script" and confirm that the student does
these things in her spare time, and is not just talking about the picture,
we don't really know if this is a LC 2 or a 0. What would you score?
What do you all say? 
 
Here's a poignant one for the anecdotal files:
 
In response to "what do you do everyday?"
Student sadly described in detail taking husband to chemo treatments.
 
We agreed that after that, it would be totally appropriate to acknowledge
the difficult situation, ask the student if she were "OK", and also ask "Do
you want to continue (the test?)" Some kind of human transition seems
imperative in such a situation.
 
Any disagreement/problem with these "off script" comments?
 
Thanks, I love this list, and everyone who helps us all be better at BEST
Plus!
Betty
 
P.S. Could you all please change my email to bstone at k12.somerville.ma.us
<mailto:bstone at k12.somerville.ma.us> 
We are being required to use our K12 accounts for work purposes. Many
thanks.

"Schwerdtfeger, Jane" <JaneS at doe.mass.edu> wrote:

Hi, Iris--I heard back from Carol Van Duzer--she said score this type of
question zero across the board. She also said this will be covered in their
revised manuals, that are due out soon, so it sounds like others had
questions about that kind of scoring issue also. Thanks for asking--hope
you're well--

Jane





Betty J. Stone
ESOL Program Administrator
SCALE - Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences
167 Holland Street, Somerville, MA 02144
Phone: 617-625-6600, Ext. 6933
FAX: 617-623-8528
 <mailto:bstone at K12.somerville.ma.us> bstone at K12.somerville.ma.us



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