Teachers know assessment is key in planning instruction. BUT, it’s not easy finding time to assess in your already-busy schedule.
I used to sit with each of my students for such a long time, then have to manually input data, look at charts across screens or notes…all times the number of students I had. And if I wanted to group students to work on a particular skill, it took forever to go through all my notes. Sound familiar?
When I came across ESGI, I wished I had known about it sooner. It was so easy to assess any skill I needed and saved me a whole lotta time. All of the data also came in super handy when planning interventions, writing report cards, and during RTI meetings.
So I wanted to share this digital tool with you and give you a link to try it for free.
WHAT IS ESGI?
ESGI stands for Educational Software that Guides Instruction. It’s an EASY digital assessment tool that gives you easy-to-read data and resources for intervention. And guess what? It was created by a kindergarten teacher!
5 reasons I love ESGI:
- It’s user-friendly and can be accessed on any device.
- Easy-to-read data reports that make planning intervention easy.
- It automatically generates parent letters in English AND Spanish!
- Automatically creates individual flashcards for each student based on questions they got incorrect.
- There are over 2,000 assessments to choose from (plus you can create your own).
The assessments cover pre-K through 2nd-grade skills- phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, phonics, vocabulary, math, and everything in between. If you search for shoelace-tying, you’ll probably find one! (OK, maybe not that one…)
I’ve also created one to go with my sight word fluency flashcards. It assesses sight word knowledge in isolation and in context.
Make sure to grab the freebie at the bottom of this post that walks you through the sight word assessment and includes sight word sentences for fluency practice.
3 basic steps to Assess with ESGI
Click, click, done!
- Add students.
- Test Students.
- Download reports, flashcards, and parent letters.
Watch the video below where I walk you through signing up and getting started.
I’ve Assessed. Now What?
After assessing your students, you have access to data you can filter to help you make student groups and plan instruction and intervention.
You can see individual student data over time, class data to see how everyone is performing overall, and group students based on skills they need!
Re-assess as often as you’d like and see graphs that show you exactly how each student is progressing. This is perfect for RTI and for keeping caregivers in the know about their progress.
Automatically-generated Flashcards & Games
This is my favorite part. Any question a student gets incorrect on an assessment can be turned into a flashcard you can print out for practice or email for home study. What a huge timesaver!
You can also make bingo cards if you want to get fancy.
Get Your Free ESGI Trial
Quick story- Just so you know how much I really love ESGI, I actually contacted them last year to ask if I could create a digital sight words assessment to share with teachers who use my resources.
I was so surprised when they not only agreed to allow me to create assessments but asked me to partner with them as an ESGI affiliate! As an affiliate, I can offer you a free trial and discount on an ESGI membership.
So there you go. From someone who used ESGI in the classroom all the time, I can vouch that it is just that awesome.
Click here and use code TEJEDA for these extra perks:
- Extended 60-day free trial (no credit card needed)
- $50 off membership if you decide to keep it
So there you go. From someone who used ESGI in the classroom all the time, I can vouch that it is just that awesome. However, if you do try it out and decide it’s not a good fit, you can just cancel before you’re charged. You won’t lose your data so you can always go back to it. You just won’t be able to add any new data without extending.
FREE SIGHT WORD ASSESSMENT SENTENCES
I created an assessment to test sight word recognition in isolation, as well as in context. You can grab the optional printed sentences below and use it with the ESGI assessment.
Download the sight word sentences and instructions here.
Conclusion
Assessments can take forever, but they don’t have to. All this is seriously SO easy with ESGI. It really does save you time so you have more time to help your students work on the skills they need. It was such a huge help in my classroom. Let me know below if you’ve ever used it or will give it a try!