Welcome to another episode of TLP!
In this episode, we discuss assessments— their cost, time, and accuracy. Two guests, Dr. Courtenay Barrett and Dr. Adrea Truckenmiller, partnered with a school to explore these questions. Dr. Barrett is an assistant professor in the school psychology program at Michigan State University, and Dr. Truckenmiller is an associate professor in special education at Michigan State, recently published a journal article comparing the costs and accuracy of different reading screening approaches in elementary schools.

They collaborated with a school that used three assessments in third grade: the Star Assessment, Acadience Assessment, and Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System. Their goal was to identify which assessment or combination best predicted outcomes on the end-of-year state assessment and determine the specific cutoff scores indicating passing. Additionally, they calculated the monetary and time costs for each assessment’s implementation.

There is a lot to unpack in this episode!