Understanding diagnostic assessment for struggling learners

As a classroom teacher, you know how important it is to measure your students’ progress. But the act of administering an assessment can feel like a bureaucratic exercise, a duty to fulfill, rather than a way to figure out the next steps in instruction.

And let’s be honest… District-mandated diagnostic assessments are usually hugely expensive assessments with 3-letter nicknames from the publishing companies that are only backed up by their own research. Add in the days it takes from actual instruction, and it can feel like a hugely frustrating waste of time. 

Despite all of this, there are benefits to a well-planned, purposefully selected diagnostic tool.

 

Today I want to share a little more information about how to use these in conjunction with universal screening to help you identify gaps and pinpoint how best to support a struggling learner in your classroom. 

Before we dive in too deep. Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with the basics first.

What is diagnostic assessment? 

A diagnostic assessment is a type of formative assessment designed to gather information about how a learner is currently performing in a particular subject or skill. It is a criterion-referenced assessment, meaning learning is measured using a specified set of indicators. The student’s performance is not compared to peers, unlik 

While the term diagnostic covers a broad range of assessments, including unit pre-tests, in this case, we’ll be referring to the assessments used within the RTI process to identify knowledge and skill gaps. 

These formative assessments are designed to gather additional data when red flags occur based on in-class performance with struggling learners or during a review of universal screening data. 

Unlike universal screeners, diagnostic assessments aim to provide a more complete picture of where students are performing within a subject area. This means they are typically longer and target a deeper set of skills than universal screeners. They also often require one-on-one administration. 

The goal is to find the strengths and gaps in the student’s knowledge and skills. This helps target interventions to accelerate student progress. When available, diagnostic assessment data should come from reliable, valid measures. You should examine these in conjunction with other data sources (such as classroom work or teacher observational data).

What is the role of diagnostic assessments? 

A diagnostic assessment is like a health checkup.

It’s a relatively short evaluation that can help identify strengths and weaknesses to figure out what’s going on. It sounds obvious. However, it might surprise you just how rarely it actually happens as part of the RTI process.

A quality diagnostic assessment doesn’t take long. Typically, it takes about an hour, and it can be tailored to the individual student or even the grade level. You will administer it in either a paper-and-pencil or electronic format. They are a logical follow-up when you have concerns about a student and need more information.

Like any formative assessment, the goal is to use the data to create a plan of action. This allows the teacher to move forward with effective instruction and identify where to monitor student progress. 

Do all students need diagnostic assessments?

For the diagnostics we are discussing here, the short answer is no. 

The entire school should not complete diagnostic testing three times a year. This is an incredible waste of weeks of academic learning time and resources and has little impact on actual student learning.

Unfortunately, old habits are hard to break. As a result, some districts still require the BAS or DRA to be administered this way. This ends up as a very time-intensive duplication of the universal screener. 

If you have concerns, a more complete diagnostic assessment plan is warranted. That may include when a student is:

• flagged by the universal screener data
• identified by the teacher due to academic or behavioral concerns
• has repeated failures on campus or district benchmark assessments
• displays inconsistent performance & more information is needed

You use diagnostic assessment to identify gaps and target your interventions

Whether you use a pre-assessment before an upcoming topic or a formative assessment in the classroom to inform your teaching approach, it can be helpful for all students to participate in the diagnostic assessment process. 

What are the types of diagnostic assessments given in reading? 

A reading diagnostic provides information about strengths, the strategies students use, and the areas they need help with. Many struggling students have gaps in early literacy skills. The tests identify these, beginning with phonological awareness. This data can also serve as a reference point when there are questions about student progress.

Teachers use the reading diagnostic test to estimate student reading levels. This can identify the next steps for reading development. It can also help when creating small groups for reading instruction.

It is essential to recognize that not all criterion-referenced assessments used for this purpose are high quality. 

Many, including some commonly used by districts listed below, are very subjective. Factors like teacher-student relationships easily influence the outcomes. Despite this, many public schools rely on these as part of their state reporting requirements.

Many diagnostic tools are also comprehensive and cover all five components of reading. However, some focus on beginning literacy and leave comprehension out. Different tests also require additional administrator training. However, anyone can administer the free tools listed. 

Commonly used paid comprehensive reading assessments: 

• Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT) 
• Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery 
• Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment (ERDA)
• Developmental Reading Assessment 2 (DRA-2)
• Benchmark Assessment System (BAS) 

Examples of free reading diagnostic assessments available online: 

Suppose your school only has a limited number of diagnostic tools available. In that case, you can use online options to start gathering data on how best to target your intervention efforts for struggling learners.

I’ve included information on the types of assessments to help you find what you need quickly and easily. 

What types of diagnostic tools are used for math? 

When students struggle in mathematics, it can lead to math anxiety. It’s essential to find and target gaps early so you can address issues before they grow into bigger problems. However, unlike reading, math is a much broader topic. Teachers often have more trouble targeting math interventions. Literacy gaps follow a clear progression. However, math is far less clear-cut.

Diagnostic assessments can help teachers take a data-driven approach to identify student strengths and needs, guiding supports and intervention efforts. Math diagnostic testing can give teachers valuable insights into how students are currently thinking about math and the skills and strategies they use. 

Unlike reading, most schools don’t have a school-wide measure because fewer laws and regulations guide math data than those covering literacy. Therefore, it can be much harder to find assessments floating around your campus. I always check with special education teachers on my campuses because they are most likely to have a closet full of tools to help target their support.

You’ll also notice far fewer web-based resources. I’ve tried my best to curate a good list for you below. If you have recommendations for teachers, let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for good tools for teachers to use, and math is just a complex skill to assess.

Commonly used paid comprehensive literacy assessments: 

• NWEA MAP Testing
• Scholastic Math Inventory
• STAR Math

Examples of Free Math Diagnostic Tools for Teachers & Interventions

How you can use your diagnostic assessment data to target interventions

As a general rule, interventions should be short and focused (Ollendick et al., 2007). That is, when you plan interventions, make sure they are brief and focused on a single skill or set of skills.

For example, a high error rate on a student’s screening data suggests a possible gap in decoding skills. If you follow up with a phonics inventory, you may find out that the student struggles to decode vowel pairs.

After setting a goal based on the diagnostic data you collected on vowel pairs, you’d begin a focused intervention. This intervention would only focus on teaching the student to identify and decode words with vowel pairs.

You’d continue to monitor progress over time. Graph the data for review to ensure the student is on track to meet the goal.

How do teachers use diagnostic assessment?

As you work through the diagnostic assessment process, remember that these are, first and foremost, formative assessments. Whether you’re an interventionist or a classroom teacher planning instruction for your small groups as efficiently as possible, it is crucial to recognize that the data is only valuable if you put it to use. 

The first step is finding ways to streamline the assessment process to use instructional time more effectively. However, we must also gather and use quality diagnostic data to better meet the needs of struggling and reluctant learners and support their success in school. Sometimes this may be through intensive intervention. I find the classroom is the best place for this support in other situations.

If you’re looking for evidence-based resources that won’t cost an arm and a leg, check out these blog posts:

• Free Math Intervention Resources
• Free ELA Intervention Resources