Assessing Student Strengths and Weaknesses During Distance Learning

‘I just don’t get it!’, ‘I’m not a Math person!’ ‘Can we do something else, please.’ These are exasperating statements we hear often as parents and as educators.  More so, in these unprecedented times, with school closures across the globe, there is a huge tendency for children to develop an unswerving conviction that a certain subject is not meant for them and no matter what a parent or teacher’s counter-argument is, they have almost assured themselves that it’s not their cup of tea.

Is it fair to let children firm up their beliefs in their self-diagnosed shortcomings? As parents and educators, do we need to intervene? The child’s belief may or may not be well-founded. We could ignore it or address it in the best possible way. Unless a thorough investigation is done into the matter, it is not only unfair but inequitable for the child to continue believing that their ability in a certain subject is compromised, irrespective of the mode of schooling.

This situation is quite relatable to a child complaining of a consistent tummy ache. Under any circumstances, if there is a medical complaint, we certainly seek a medical professional’s advice who in turn runs medical tests to get to the root of the matter. Finding the root cause of the child’s inability to perform in a certain subject should be dealt with in the same manner; objectively and methodically.

For this, technology comes to our rescue as EdTech companies now offer adaptive diagnostics that dig deep into the child’s skill levels and give a clear picture of why the student is struggling in certain or multiple subjects. The cause of the struggle is generally an unstable foundation of core concepts. Adaptive diagnostics tell us exactly where the child’s skill levels are in core academic subjects.

Consider the following scenario. Sue is in Grade 5 but she is struggling in reading comprehension. Her remote learning classes are getting increasingly difficult because, in order to excel in every subject, she needs to read most of the content individually. However, she is unable to comprehend the content and is falling behind the class rapidly.

In order to address the situation and get Sue back on track, it would obviously be humanly impossible to give her test after test of five years of previous learning to identify what domain she could be lacking proficiency in that’s causing the problem. In such a scenario, a powerful adaptive test will diagnose strengths and weaknesses in different domains of the subject and will provide the educator and parent with recommendations, the next steps of instructions and how to proceed with targeted intervention.

In the current scenario where the world, including the education sector, is facing a shift in the learning paradigm, it has become even more critical that deep insight is enabled into children’s learning. If learning gains and gaps are not measured concurrently while children attend school remotely, it might be too late when regular schooling commences and children struggle due to previous gaps in learning. The earlier these gaps are identified, the better chance to get them bridged comprehensively, paving the way to a strong and robust foundation.

Let us not decide our children’s intellectual prowess by just looking at the tip of the iceberg. We are navigating through uncharted waters. Let’s dive deep down with them and discover together what the child’s individual needs are and address them in a methodical and systematic way.