VIDBE-Q Volume 67 Issue 3
designing instruction that provides practice in EF areas. Assessment in areas of the
expanded core curriculum (ECC) could lend themselves well to also assessing EF
skills at the same time, and a repeated assessment after instruction may help in
monitoring progress. The first phase of our current research study is investigating
the correlation between accessible EF tasks and novel tasks that mimic real-life
tasks (i.e., organizing a backpack) and more traditionally used parent ratings on the
BRIEF-2. In the future, we hope to be able to recommend specific tasks that can be
replicated within the classroom that also show rigor in terms of their measurement
qualities. In the meantime, we share a planning process to create informal EF
assessment tasks linked to ECC assessment.
The first step in creating a functional task for assessment is to understand
what EF skills need to be engaged to complete the task. Most tasks will allow you
to observe several EF skills at once. Figure 1 shows a planning form for breaking
down an assessment task into its component parts. Each step of the task is analyzed
for the ECC and EF areas that are being assessed. A basic rubric is used to indicate
the student's current level. The purpose of this planning is to help the teacher not
only identify areas of the ECC that need direct instruction, but also to note patterns
in the use of EF skills at the same time. This form is a work in progress, and is
shared here as an example of the thought process behind the assessment planning.
