3.- Selection of Golden students: student’s evaluation
|
The selected key steps will be applied in a systematic way with five students, previously selected from the class. The most important criterion for this selection is the diversity of the students involved in the group selected. We offer five different criteria, which represent the main issues faced by teachers working with mixed abilities: behaviour problems, academic achievement, interculturality, social success and family background. Although we can choose the most suitable criterion for us, however, it is crucial to keep the diversity within the criteria, and two children must be selected as representative of one extreme, two of the other extreme, and one in the middle. |
Sociogram To rate the social success of your student, sociograms can be used, as it is one of the most popular instruments for developing awareness of your class.  Printing PDF version
|
The sociogram is a useful tool for improving awareness of your students, to see the relationships between them, and how decisions are taken within the group. We offer a questionnaire based on three positive questions: name three peers who you would like to share breaks with, do home-work with and hang out with. By entering the data from your student in the tool we provide, results will be generated, in terms of number of nominations per student and the double nomination they made. | |
The school and me To select the students, some instruments may be useful. Students that are selected under the criterion of behavioural problems may easily be identified, but we can also use an instrument to access school adjustment. “School and I”. Printing PDF version
|
School Adjustment can be evaluated according to three factors: School Satisfaction, Social Success and Academic Success. The School and I Questionnaire consists of 27 items, each one belonging to one or other of the factors. Scores go from -3 to 3; the more negative the score, the more problems, and the more positive the score, the more success.
We provide this tool on the website; if you would like to access the School Adjustment of your student, please use this tool. Either you can enter data yourself, or each student can do it. Once student’s scores are introduced, a list with the scores per student in each factor is provided, as well as a graph of the whole class. To rate academic achievement, we recommend you use their school grades. With this and other information, the teacher must then select a group of 5 students. After 3 or 4 weeks, other students may be selected, until the whole class is on the way to becoming a GOLDEN CLASS, and all the students have received the same golden programme. Do not forget to note down the students' school grades or any other indicators which may be of interest. |
|
It is important to remember that when we select our five golden students, the rest of the class is also benefiting from the programme; however, we concentrate on those children in order to implement the project in a more systematic and deliberate way.
To check the results of our intervention, we recommend using the same evaluation instruments again, at the end of a period of application. A pre-test/post-test evaluation system should be used, with a minimum of three months between the two evaluations, or even more if possible. Comparing results will give you an objective measure of the effects on your class and on each student. We strongly recommend also using the school grades between terms as a useful instrument. In our research, in fact, this was the most important indicator (see impact on students). |
