Objective 7: Interpret and critically evaluate reports of formal

assessments
Having the ability to interpret and evaluate the reports of formal
assessments is extremely relevant in my line of work as I begin my career as
an early childhood educator. Not only will I be administering assessments to
my students as I begin teaching, but I may also be reviewing assessments
that were previously given to them and analyzing those reports. Having the
skill of interpreting and critically evaluating reports of formal assessments is
vital as I enter into my career.
I have been able to meet this objective through a variety of ways
throughout this semester. We looked at many assessments, not only for our
weekly labs but also in class. In week 8 (October 28, 2015) we focused on
interpreting standardized assessment scores and also the quality of
assessments to see if the assessments we use are meeting our needs. This
lecture was particularly powerful for me. It was during this lecture that we
learned about Z-scores and T-scores and how powerful that information can
be when interpreting assessment scores. We applied these practices by
determining the Z-scores and T-scores of 12 children. We also learned about
standard deviations, distribution of variance, and percentile scores. These
are terms that I had heard of before, but I was unaware of how to calculate
them and critically evaluate them in order to make educated decisions of
how I will help the children in my classroom.

After having these experiences, I feel that I am very capable of

interpreting and critically evaluating reports of formal assessments. It was
especially helpful to practice using these equations and applying these
concepts to a group of scores. I was able to envision myself doing these
things in my future classroom.