Meeting with Vanessa's Teachers

This afternoon, I met with Vanessa's third grade teachers for parent teacher conferences.

I absolutely love her teachers at Watkins. It is evident that they put the needs of the student first and foster a learning environment that builds self-esteem and confidence.

The main discussion topics were the results of the assessments taken earlier in September. Vanessa scored high basic in both math and reading and was about 5 points away from proficient for both exams. This concerned the teachers (and myself) because they said it is obvious from speaking with her that she knows math and can read well so they are unsure why her scores did not indicate this. They are wondering if it could be a translation process problem that is affecting the spoken word moving from the brain and then replication on paper. They are going to do further monitoring and assessments so that we can figure out the best way to assist Vanessa with test taking and putting her thoughts on paper in an efficient manner.

A highlight of the meeting was the fact that Vanessa improved her DIBELs reading level by four alpha grades over the summer. I was extremely proud of Vanessa for doing this because I knew she read furiously this summer and was glad to see her efforts rewarded.