Opettajien arviointimenetelmät ja arviointiosaaminen akateemisten taitojen arvioinnissa alakoulussa

KM Riitta Virinkosken erityispedagogiikan väitöskirja “Teachers’ Practices and Competence to Assess Students’ Academic Skills in Primary School” tarkastettiin Jyväskylän yliopistossa 11.3.2022. Vastaväittäjänä toimi professori Marita Mäkinen Tampereen yliopistosta, ja kustoksena oli professori Mikko Aro Jyväskylän yliopistosta. nonPeerReviewed

Special Education Teachers’ Identification of Students’ Reading Difficulties in Grade 6

his study investigated special educational needs (SEN) teachers’ (n = 29) assessment practices and the accuracy of their ratings of the students’ (M age = 12.75 years, n = 55) skill levels in reading fluency and reading comprehension. Teachers rated their sixth grade students’ fluency and comprehension on a three-point scale, and the students were also tested in group tests. Results showed that SEN teachers used several assessment practices simultaneously but mostly relied on observations. The correlations between the teacher ratings and the test scores were significant but moderate in fluency and weak in comprehension. Only two thirds of low-performing students having difficulties in fluen…

Development of reading and arithmetic skills across Grades 1 to 4 in two groups of children receiving part-time special education

This study investigated why some Finnish students receive part-time special education in Grade 1, duration of that support, and its relation to student reading fluency, reading comprehension, and arithmetic fluency development. The participants included two groups from Grade 1 receiving part-time special education (1–2 years vs. 3–4 years) and a control group comprising the remaining participants from the study. Teachers identified reading and expressive language difficulties as the main reasons for part-time special education in Grade 1. By Grade 4, students who received support until Grade 1 or 2 caught up the level of the control group especially in reading fluency. Students who had rece…

Opettajat lukivaikeusriskin tunnistajina koulupolun alussa

Teachers’ Ability to Identify Children at Early Risk for Reading Difficulties in Grade 1

The aim of the study was to investigate what kinds of assessment practices classroom teachers and special educational needs (SEN) teachers use in assessing first grade students' pre-reading skills (letter knowledge and phonological skills). Further, we investigated to what extent teachers were able to identify difficulties in pre-reading skills of the children with the lowest achievement scores. The accuracy of teacher ratings of students' pre-reading skills was studied by comparing teacher ratings to actual test scores. The data from two Finnish longitudinal studies were used: JLD sample (class teachers, n = 91; SEN teachers, n = 51; 200 students) and First Steps sample (class teachers, n …