A Mastery Check is an informal assessment you give to your students to evaluate their progress and determine if they are ready to continue to the next level or if they need further review and practice before moving on to new material.
In Sonday System 1 and 2, Mastery Checks occur at every third level (Levels 3, 6, 9, and so on).
- Mastery Checks for reading should be administered individually to each student in a private session.
- Mastery Checks for spelling can be administered to all students in a group session.
To conduct a Mastery Check:
- Mastery Checks are embedded in the digital platform at the applicable levels. After teaching the current level until students seem ready to move on, click Begin Mastery Check from the Class Level Overview page.
- The first portion is the Mastery Check for Spelling. Click the forward arrow in the Slide Controller to display the Writing Prompt slide to students.
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Dictate the word list displayed in the lesson plan and have students write the words in their physical Student Notebooks. Make sure to dictate all 20 words so that you can assess whether students can spell all the words in an appropriate amount of time.
Notes
- There are no sentences to dictate in Mastery Checks.
- Collect students' notebooks after administering the spelling portion of the Mastery Check. You'll need to record misspelled words later in the digital platform.
- After dictating, click Assess Reading to advance to the Mastery Check for Reading, which is administered to one student at a time in private sessions.
- Select a student, verify the Display Method is correct, and prepare the display device.
- Click Start.
- The Reading List will display for the student and the timer, which is visible to the teacher only, will begin counting down from 30 seconds. Click the red X by any word the student misreads to mark it incorrect. Allow the student to read all 20 words even if they go over the alloted time. When the student is finished reading, click Save to record the time. If needed, the total time the student spent reading can also be manually input to override the timer.
- After administering the Mastery Check for Reading to every student, finish the Mastery Check by clicking End Assessment. You can also end the assessment early and return to it later if you need to assess students at different times.
- Click OK to confirm ending the assessment.
- After ending the assessment, the Scoring page displays. In the Student Results section, click Edit next to each student to record their misspelled words.
- Review each physical Student Notebook. In the Spelling Results section of the digital platform, mark any spelling errors by checking the box next to the part of the word the student missed or by typing in the Other Errors field. You can also update the reading results or reading duration at the bottom of this page, if needed. Click Save Scoring Details at the bottom of the page to record the data.
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After spelling scores have been input for all students, the score summary page will provide guidance on areas of difficulty. An exclamation icon will also appear next to any part of a student's results that are below the level of mastery:
- Below 17/20 on Spelling
- Below 18/20 on Reading
- Above 30 seconds on time (Reading only; the Spelling portion is not timed).
If all students have demonstrated mastery, progress to the next level in the following session. Otherwise, refer to the guidance to help you determine whether reteaching previous levels is necessary before moving on.
- In the Recent Session History section on the Class Level Overview page, click the list icon next to any Mastery Check session to return to the Scoring page to view or edit results. If the list icon is blue, scores for both reading and spelling have been entered for all students. If the list icon is red, not all scores have been entered for all students.
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