How to Easily Administer a Survey Level Assessment

First things first.  What exactly is a Survey Level Assessment? I heard this term about 10 or so years into my special education career. 

Well, I had probably heard it before then but if it didn't apply to my current situation I most likely zoned it out.

A Survey Level Assessment is a set of informal tests or probes to pinpoint the exact skills your student has (or doesn't have) in order to write the Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) as well as to set goals and collect data on progress.

I can assume if you've been a special education teacher for any amount of time, that you've worked your tail off trying to find some type of system that allows you to identify missing skills and track data.

And if you're just starting out in your career...well...I know you are going to be looking for a system to identify missing skills and track data.

Either way, I'm so glad you found this post because it is going to save you so much time and energy.

<<<Less of this......And.....More of this>>>> 

The thing with a Survey Level Assessment is that it is informal. There is no right or wrong way to assess what a child knows. This is the system I have used for years to help me write stellar IEPs, set goals and collect data on student progress. If you have a similar system or a completely different system that produces the same end results...you can stop reading here. Not really...keep reading to see if there's something new you can learn.

Let's start with a scenario:

Jack is a 3rd grade student who was just referred for an evaluation after receiving interventions through a tiered support system. Parents agree that Jack struggles with reading but feel he is pretty good at math. You give Jack a formal achievement test (such as the WJIV) and the school psychologist administers the DAS. After looking at the data from those tests, talking with the classroom teacher and the parents, it is decided that Jack will qualify for special education services as a student with a learning disability in reading. As you are writing the IEP, you realize you don’t know specifically what Jack knows and doesn’t know. The achievement test tells you he is low in broad reading, reading fluency and reading comprehension...but what exactly does that mean? Where was his instruction interrupted? Does he know all of his sounds? Can he read the words but just at a slower pace? Can he comprehend sentences? So many unanswered questions.

Now, you CAN write an IEP based on the information you got from the formal assessments and I'll be quite honest...I have done this many a time. But those unanswered questions bother me. I want to get as good of a picture of Jack as I can. I want to know everything he knows and see exactly where he gets stuck. The more information I have, the better I can teach to his individual level.

So, in order to get a better picture of what Jack does and does not know, it’s best practice to give him a Survey Level Assessment.

Below are the steps I use to easily administer a survey level assessment.

Step 1: Decide on a starting point

Unless you have strong knowledge that the student is significantly below grade level, I have found it best to start 1 grade level below the student’s actual grade level and work from there. Within some of the reading I have done, it is suggested to start at the student’s current grade level. I just feel that they have wouldn’t have qualified for special education if they were on grade level, so why put the child through skill tests that you know are going to set him up for failure right off the bat.

Step 2: Gather the materials you will need to complete the SLA. 

This is the part that gets time consuming. In the early years of doing this, my co-worker and I created a notebook full of AimsWeb probes and CBM probes and used these to get our data. This is still an okay way to do things if you have them on hand. The benefit of using these is that they have normed scores and you can get some good comparative data to use when comparing your student to a grade level peer. 

And then we thought we would try and go digital and use easyCBM. There's a free version (called Lite) and a paid version (called Deluxe) where you can track student data. But as much as I liked their assessments and the intent of the program, I just didn't find the platform very user friendly. 

Sooooo.... I developed my own system. I created a Survey Level Assessment for K-5th grade that has everything you need to easily administer probes for the primary skills in each grade level. You can find those materials here.

Step 3: Give the probes

You can do this in one quick sitting with the student. These probes are meant to be short and sweet so that you can get a good feel of what they can and can't do. Don't stress the student out by calling them tests. Just tell the student they are going to do a little bit of work so you can see what they know and what they don't know so that their teachers know how to help them better. 

If you want the test to be timed, then time it. Just make sure to time it each progress monitoring session so that you have a valid comparison.

I don't time my probes normally because often students with a learning disability are slow workers but when given time can figure things out.

Step 4: Write Your IEP

Use the information you just gained by summarizing it into paragraph form and including it in the academic sections of the IEP. Below are 2 examples of a detailed PLAAFP and the goals that I would write that correlate to the information collected. Within my system, there is a Summary page where you can enter the information to easily obtain percentages. You will also want to get the students input on what they would like to have included in their IEP. 

You now have all the data you need to write an amazing academic Present Levels of Performance section on the IEP.  All you have to do now is progress monitor those goals using the same system and BAM! You are now an organized special education teacher.  😊

Finding systems and procedures and implementing them into your program is a must if you want to make it in this field for long. They make life so much easier and keep sanity levels from dropping too low. If you are interested in using my system, you can find it here.

If you enjoyed this post and think your teacher friends will, too, please share it on your favorite social media platform.

P.S.  Need help learning how to build a relationship with your paraprofessionals? Get the free 10 Steps to Building a Cohesive Special Education Department

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