© John Richards 2003 The main purpose of the “Student Participation Rating Scale” is to assist with the informal assessment of a deaf or hard of hearing student’s skills and abilities that are considered important for full participation in an inclusive school classroom.
This rating scale targets the areas of language, social skills and classroom routines – all of which are critical to purposeful participation. Academic progress is not measured as this information can be better provided by the student’s existing Classroom Teacher or through a separate assessment procedure.
Application of the Student Participation Rating Scale: The Student Participation Rating Scale can be completed by one person or any number of people who are familiar with the student being assessed. An ideal group of people to individually complete the rating scale for a deaf or hard of hearing student would be the student’s Parent/s, Classroom Teacher, Education Assistant (or Note-taker or Educational Interpreter) and the Visiting Teacher of the Deaf. A further alternative would be to complete the rating scale as a group whereby discussion could take place to reach an agreement on any items that are difficult to reach a consensus on.
Areas Needing Attention: One of the features of the Student Participation Rating Scale is that it will highlight a student’s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of Social Skills, School Routines and Language which in turn shows the areas that a student may require support to improve his/her potential to successfully participate in an inclusive setting. (eg. shows “barriers” to full participation that might require appropriate “adjustments”.)
Overall “Participation Rating”: The Student Participation Rating Scale can be used globally by completing the optional “Scoring Form” which shows a “participation rating” expressed as an overall percentage. This has not been standardised at this time however in the author’s experience scores greater than 80% suggest the student is experiencing a high level of purposeful participation. Lower scores indicate areas that need attention so as to improve the student’s level of participation.
Parents: A further use of the Rating Scale is that it would be useful to share with parents during initial placement meetings and/or ongoing progress meetings such as Individualised Education Plans (IEP) meetings and Communication Development and Inclusion Plan (CDIP). Educators could use the rating scale to demonstrate the student’s current level of participation combined with existing strengths and weaknesses.
Student Support Time: This Rating Scale can be used to demonstrate where a student would benefit from the support of another person within the classroom who would be additional to the Classroom Teacher. Support roles could include Education Assistant, Note-taker or an Educational Interpreter.
Progress: Annual progress can informally be shown by:-
(i) comparing “Rating Scale” items at beginning and end of year and/or
(ii) by comparing change in the overall percentage score.
Students with other Disabilities: The “Student Participation Rating Scale” can be used with all students with disabilities. To make this Rating Scale suitable for use with other students only one item would require a change of personnel, that is item No.21 that refers to an Education Assistant could be substituted with Social Trainer, Therapy Aide, etc.
(Consent is given for this rating Scale to be used with individual students.)
Student Participation Rating Scale Form (easy to use & print form)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other options for the SPRS form for download:-
Download Student Participation Rating Scale WORD Doc. Download Student Participation Rating Scale PDF Doc
Download (optional) Scoring Form WORD Doc. Download (optional) Scoring Form PDF doc.
( Revised 2016 - by L. Lamotte & J.Richards)
Comments regarding the “Student Participation Rating Scale” are welcomed via email: [email protected]
This rating scale targets the areas of language, social skills and classroom routines – all of which are critical to purposeful participation. Academic progress is not measured as this information can be better provided by the student’s existing Classroom Teacher or through a separate assessment procedure.
Application of the Student Participation Rating Scale: The Student Participation Rating Scale can be completed by one person or any number of people who are familiar with the student being assessed. An ideal group of people to individually complete the rating scale for a deaf or hard of hearing student would be the student’s Parent/s, Classroom Teacher, Education Assistant (or Note-taker or Educational Interpreter) and the Visiting Teacher of the Deaf. A further alternative would be to complete the rating scale as a group whereby discussion could take place to reach an agreement on any items that are difficult to reach a consensus on.
Areas Needing Attention: One of the features of the Student Participation Rating Scale is that it will highlight a student’s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of Social Skills, School Routines and Language which in turn shows the areas that a student may require support to improve his/her potential to successfully participate in an inclusive setting. (eg. shows “barriers” to full participation that might require appropriate “adjustments”.)
Overall “Participation Rating”: The Student Participation Rating Scale can be used globally by completing the optional “Scoring Form” which shows a “participation rating” expressed as an overall percentage. This has not been standardised at this time however in the author’s experience scores greater than 80% suggest the student is experiencing a high level of purposeful participation. Lower scores indicate areas that need attention so as to improve the student’s level of participation.
Parents: A further use of the Rating Scale is that it would be useful to share with parents during initial placement meetings and/or ongoing progress meetings such as Individualised Education Plans (IEP) meetings and Communication Development and Inclusion Plan (CDIP). Educators could use the rating scale to demonstrate the student’s current level of participation combined with existing strengths and weaknesses.
Student Support Time: This Rating Scale can be used to demonstrate where a student would benefit from the support of another person within the classroom who would be additional to the Classroom Teacher. Support roles could include Education Assistant, Note-taker or an Educational Interpreter.
Progress: Annual progress can informally be shown by:-
(i) comparing “Rating Scale” items at beginning and end of year and/or
(ii) by comparing change in the overall percentage score.
Students with other Disabilities: The “Student Participation Rating Scale” can be used with all students with disabilities. To make this Rating Scale suitable for use with other students only one item would require a change of personnel, that is item No.21 that refers to an Education Assistant could be substituted with Social Trainer, Therapy Aide, etc.
(Consent is given for this rating Scale to be used with individual students.)
Student Participation Rating Scale Form (easy to use & print form)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Other options for the SPRS form for download:-
Download Student Participation Rating Scale WORD Doc. Download Student Participation Rating Scale PDF Doc
Download (optional) Scoring Form WORD Doc. Download (optional) Scoring Form PDF doc.
( Revised 2016 - by L. Lamotte & J.Richards)
Comments regarding the “Student Participation Rating Scale” are welcomed via email: [email protected]