Tirza Bosma

Learning During Dynamic Testing: Variability in Strategy Use by Indigenous and Ethnic Minority Children

The objective of this study was to explore whether dynamic testing of indigenous and ethnic minority children could provide information concerning changes in their strategy use during testing. It was hypothesized that dynamic testing with graduated prompting and trial-by-trial-assessment could reveal the development of children’s strategy use while tested. The participants were indigenous Dutch and ethnic minority children. Trial-by-trial-testing provided information of how strategy use developed during training. Experimental-group children showed significant changes towards more advanced strategies. Ethnic minority children showed most strategy changes during training, initially needing more prompting but progressively requiring less. The study provided insight into strategy use during and after training. Pretest strategy level was found to be the first predictor of posttest strategy level, followed by condition and ethnicity. Age, gender, and intelligence test scores did not change this order. The relatively short dynamic intervention provides insights into children’s strategy use and their response to prompting, particularly for ethnic minority children.

Need for instruction: dynamic testing in special education

The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of dynamic testing in the measuring of children’s need for instruction and to explore responses of special education teachers to dynamic testing results. Thirty-six 10–12-year-old children with a moderate to mild intellectual disability and their teachers participated. Children in the experimental condition were dynamically tested. This test included graduated prompts training and an analogy construction task; children in the control group were administered a static pre-test and post-test only. Outcomes of the assessments were reported to teachers. Teacher–child interactions were observed twice, learning potential ratings were gathered and teachers were interviewed regarding reports. The results showed that dynamically tested children achieved significantly higher post-test scores than untrained children. Dynamically tested children, even with comparably low IQ scores, varied in their need for instruction – measured by the number and type of prompts they required during training as well as during construction problems. Teachers appreciated the reported dynamic testing outcomes, although substantial changes in teaching practice were not observed. Supplementing intelligence testing with a dynamic testing procedure is recommended to obtain a more accurate description of children’s educational needs.

Teacher's Appraisal of Dynamic Assessment Outcomes: Recommendations for Weak Mathematics-Performers

This study investigated teachers’ evaluations of reports and recommendations, based on outcomes of dynamic assessment, regarding their second grade pupils with math difficulties. Thirty-one teachers and 116 pupils assigned to an experimental or control condition participated. Reports for children were based on administrated math and memory tasks and either a dynamic test (Seria-Think Instrument) or standard test (Raven PM). Teachers were observed, interviewed, rated the learning potential at two moments, and evaluated specific dynamic assessment information in a follow-up questionnaire. Results showed that teachers valued the dynamic assessment reports and recommendations overall as meaningful, as did teachers reading static reports. Learning potential ratings appeared to be affected by the reports. Dynamic assessment information and recommendations were valued as applicable for constructing individual educational plans; personal factors (seniority and teaching experience) appeared of influence. To realize the potential of dynamic assessment, it is recommended to make dynamic assessment part of teacher’s curriculum.

Dynamic Testing: Measuring Inductive Reasoning in Children With Developmental Disabilities and Mild Cognitive Impairments

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the use of dynamic testing based on a graduated prompts techniques training in a clinical educational setting. We examined the question of whether it would be possible to administer a four session dynamic test to a specific group of children with complex behavioral and psychiatric problems, developmental disabilities, and often very weak school performance. We further examined whether children would show different change patterns in their use of solving strategies when presented with a figural analogies task, and we explored the relationship between existing intelligence measures, school achievement measures, and dynamic testing outcomes. Data revealed that the children with these complex problems were able to solve figural analogies and progressed in their accuracy in solving the task after training. We also found that trained children employed more sophisticated problem solving after graduated prompts training, and individual differences in progression paths from pretest to posttest were apparent. Furthermore, we were able to identify groups of children differing in the number and type of instructions needed during training. IQ scores and teacher ratings of school performance were highly correlated, although IQ scores were not related to objectively measured school achievement scores. Dynamic test scores revealed lower correlations with teacher ratings of school performance but were the best predictors of school achievement. It was concluded that dynamic test measures gave the best indication of the children’s scholastic achievement and their potential for learning.