TET1 Task 3 essay PDF

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RUNNING HEAD: SOFTWARE EVALUATION

Software Evaluation Ebony Bibbins Student ID: 001367032 Program Mentor: Kimberly Taylor Assessment Code: TET1 Task 3 March 17, 2021

SOFTWARE EVALUATION

TET1 Task 3: Software Evaluation Instructional Setting The instructional setting will be a hybrid setting in a 3rd grade classroom in a Title 1 school. Due to Covid 19 and social distancing guidelines, 15 of my 25 3rd grade students will receive instructional minutes virtually and the other 10 will receive instructional delivery in person. All students are supported by the general ed teacher and there are some in class supports from the special education team for students have been identified with a disability. The content area is ELA, specifically reading. The ELA block is 2 hours and 30 minutes long for each class and within that time frame, reading instruction lasts about 90 minutes each day. Learners in the Instructional Setting The learners are a hybrid class of 25 3rd grade students. Due to COVID 19, 15 of my students have elected to continue learning virtually. There are 9 girls and 6 boys who range between 8 and 9 years old. Out of my virtual learners, 3 students have been identified as English Language Learners with a Spanish native home language. 2 students have been identified for speech only services. 10 of my students have elected to continue learning in person. There are 4 boys and 6 girls who also range between 8 and 9 years old. Out of my in-person learners, 2 students have behavioral intervention plans, 3 students have been identified for special education services due to learning disabilities and 3 other students has been identified as Gifted and Talented. An overwhelming majority of my students both in person and virtually are eager and excited to learn new materials however there are some significant gaps due to the pandemic. Many foundational skills that students needed in order to grasp and understand 3rd grade curriculum were taught in the first half of 2nd grade before schools went virtual. These skills were supposed to be spiraled back into the

SOFTWARE EVALUATION

curriculum towards the 2nd half. For many of my students, they lacked access to technology, so they missed many of those reinforcements. For the purpose of this assignment, I will focus on the students who are face to face learners. Evaluation Tools After searching on the internet, I found two software evaluation tools. The first one is an Educational Software form, which could be found at Software Evaluation Form. This educational tool uses a rubric to analyze three specific categories which are content, assessment, and technical quality with a rating scale. The evaluation tool then provides the raters an opportunity to give a final report card grade based on category and provide feedback in the areas of strengthens and weaknesses. The second evaluation tool I found was a criteria checklist, which can be found at Criteria Checklist for Software 2013. This tool uses a checklist with a rating scale of 1-3 to analyze six different categories. These categories are content, support, assessment, cost, ease of use, reviews. The evaluation tool then provides the raters an opportunity to provide any additional feedback or notes below. For the purpose of this activity, I will be using the second evaluation tool. I’ll be evaluating a web-based subscription called Core Lexia 5. Core Lexia 5 is a web-based technology program designed to provide explicit personalized instruction to students at their current reading level and target specific learning gaps (Lexia Core5 Reading 2020). The information collected will be used to decide whether the district continues usage of the program.

SOFTWARE EVALUATION

Findings and Recommendations Based on my evaluation, Core Lexia 5 is a great resource to use in the classroom to help support students in reading. When students initially log into Core Lexia, they are given a ten-minute preassessment to see what reading level they fall into. After that initial pre-assessment, when students log into Core Lexia 5, They are given a level and they must earn units in order to level up. The program provides explicit instruction and practice for students to demonstrate mastery. If students are having difficulty, the teacher receives a notification along with the activity that the student is struggling with. Once the teacher provides direct instruction, the students then receive that same activity again to demonstrate mastery. The instruction in Core Lexias 5 is completely personalized so students can level up as fast or as slow as they can depending on how quickly they are able to show mastery of content. Core Lexia 5 is a resource that I use quite frequently in my classroom. As a result of the pandemic, there were a lot of foundation skills that my students missed that I didn’t have enough time to really cater whole group instruction to. Having Core Lexia 5 in the classroom helps me to target small group instruction based on the skills that the students are missing in real time. By utilizing this program, my classroom has shown almost a year and a half growth in 8 months. By the time my students leave my class this year, they are projected to be at 2 years or more in reading gains. Based on my experience and evaluation, I would highly recommend districts and teachers to use Core Lexia 5.

SOFTWARE EVALUATION

References

A Criteria Checklist for Evaluating Educational Software. (2013). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from http://kcnwsd.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/69131246/Criteria%20Checklist%20for%20Software %202013.pdf Educational Software Evaluation Form. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.rcps.info/UserFiles/Servers/Server_468571/File/Roanoke %20City/Departments/Administrative%20Departments/Technology/Instructional %20Technology/Web%20Pages/Technology%20Standards%20for%20Instructional %20Personnel%20(TSIP)/Software%20Website%20Evaluation.pdf? 950a07&63cd8a&sessionid=6e443813daf94877efa3c3e3c4fabd01 Lexia Core5 Reading. (2020, May 04). Retrieved March 18, 2021, from https://www.lexialearning.com/products/core5...