Parent/Community-Based Assessment
Option 1: Standard Group
Assessment (Ages 5 to 18—On-site or In Tucson)
The standard group Assessment is the most economical and commonly used Assessment option and is available in your community or in Tucson. The Tucson location is the best option for parents within driving distance of Tucson or who will be in the Tucson area anyway.
The group Assessment measures abilities in five areas—Spatial, Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. It provides a well-rounded and detailed analysis of a child’s strengths, making it easy for parents and teachers to customize learning environments so as to challenge and expand the child’s potential.
This Assessment contains five activities, each measuring several or all of five areas specified above, and requires a full day to complete. Keep in mind that we do not allow parents to participate in, or directly observe, these activities because doing so would affect the children’s behavior and invalidate the results. However parents can watch a video of parts of the procedures, see photographs, and listen to audiotapes after the Assessment is complete. In the future we likely will offer partial live viewing via web cams over the Internet. In Tucson, we also offer parents the opportunity to attend, as part of the Assessment package, a series of presentations that are given while the Assessment is in process. The presentations explain how the process works, in general what we are looking for, and how the Assessment is different from other testing methods. Some components of the Assessment are kept confidential to avoid contamination of results for children who may be assessed in the future.
After the Assessment is complete, DISCOVER staff members spend another day analyzing and categorizing the results, which are used to create the Strength Profiles. Strength Profiles are available currently in hard copy but in the future will be available (in expanded form) digitally over the Internet.
Groups of children to be assessed can be any size, from two or more, but we generally encourage Assessments to be no larger than 30 children per day. For on-site Assessments, the cost decreases if more than children will be assessed. Children are assessed in small groups of no more than five per Observer. Thus an Assessment of 20 children requires four Observers, one seated at each table of five children. Groups larger than 30 usually are spread over two or more days. We encourage parents to partner with local PTAs and civic organizations (and with each other) to increase the group size beyond 20, to qualify for the lowest costs possible.
In addition to trained Observers, the Assessment requires a leader, someone who reads directions during the exercises, leads children in and out of the Assessment area between exercises and handles discipline issues. The Assessment leader should be a local individual, preferably known to the children, such as a teacher or school counselor—or the leader can be a parent but only if no related children are being assessed. The leader should have experience working with children, and usually she or he is also the local contact person who helps coordinate other details in advance of DISCOVER’s arrival. In cases where the Assessment will be conducted in more than one language, the leader (or leader’s assistants) should be able to give directions in all applicable languages, to assure that each child’s dominant language is covered.
Separate versions of the group Assessment exist, one for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 respectively. Because each version has different procedures, they cannot overlap. In other words, two 4th graders cannot be combined with three 2nd graders to form a group of five. In this case, two separate Assessments would be required.
In Tucson: Fee of $120 per student covers the Assessment and Strength Profile. The per-student fee drops to $110 if more than 20 students will be assessed.
Optional components:
1) A personal interview to gather information about a particular student’s interests, learning experiences, and perception of his or her strengths. This interview is an excellent way of helping the student and parents integrate the Assessment results into the everyday learning environment and a development of goals. ($60 per student)
2) Observations of the student in his/her educational setting. This option, coupled with the Assessment, is particularly useful and effective for a child who is struggling in the regular classroom. The DISCOVER Observer can make many suggestions for improving both learning environment and learning style. Availability of this option is conditional upon the child’s teacher granting permission for such an observation and upon schedule coordination between the Observer and the class time. Advance preparations are necessary. ($150 per student)
3) A conference with the child’s teacher(s) to assist in creating a better learning environment. In this option, the DISCOVER staff member goes with you to meet with teacher(s), to act as an advocate for the child. Teachers may not know how to use the Assessment results and may be unfamiliar with the many effective learning techniques advocated by DISCOVER. With this option, you can help the teacher learn how to personalize the classroom and teach your child from the perspective of his or her strengths. Availability of this option is conditional upon the child’s teacher(s) granting permission for the interview and upon schedule coordination between the Observer and the teacher(s). Advance preparations are necessary. ($100 per student)
On-Site in your community (Continental U.S. Only): Fee of $155 per student plus travel expenses for DISCOVER staff members covers the Assessment and Strength Profile. The per-student fee drops to $140 if more than 20 students will be assessed. The same optional components specified above are available on-site, if scheduling details are worked out sufficiently in advance.
International: Fees at locations outside of the continental U.S. will vary, depending on the distance and circumstances. Please contact the DISCOVER office for a customized rate plan.
Note: If your community plans to assess more than 50 students, contact the DISCOVER office. We will structure something similar to School-Based Assessment, Option 2 instead, that will be far more economical.
If for some reason your community is unable to provide an Assessment leader, DISCOVER can provide one for you. The cost is $450 per day. As mentioned earlier, we prefer that the Assessment leader be someone in your community.
