Mary Clare Freeman is a bilingual special educator who talks about the effective use of formal assessments in working with English Language Learners to understand what students know/learn and how they learn, as well as monitor their individual progress.  She provides an example of a particular student, Marlon, to illustrate how she used assessment information to inform her instruction and monitor his progress. 

Q1: As a bilingual special educator, you have particular knowledge regarding the importance of differentiation for English Language Learners in your classroom. Describe why assessment is particularly important for this growing population of children as well as some of the challenges in assessing these children. [transcript]

Q2: Please reflect on a specific instance when you effectively used assessment and progress monitoring to enhance the teaching and learning of an English Language Learner. What tools did you use? How did you use assessment to plan the environment and instruction as well as evaluate the progress of the child over time? [transcript]

About the Speaker

Mary Clare Freeman is a special educator at UNC Hospital School in North Carolina Children’s Hospital in Chapel Hill. As a North Carolina native, Mary Clare received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has taught in under-served settings in multiple states. Assessment and progress monitoring are vital aspects of Mary Clare’s work with diverse populations.