When to test with LASS 11-15

LASS 11-15 can be used at any time in the school year as soon as concerns arise.

It can also be used after using Rapid as a general screener, with LASS 11-15 used for a more detailed picture of the learning profile of individual students.

The program can be used as many times as required for different students without the recurrent expense of test booklets.

The entire suite of tests takes an estimated 45 minutes to complete. However, a satisfactory test results cannot be obtained if students are not attending to the tasks and attempting to do their best. If the students are becoming mentally fatigued and the amount of effort they are applying diminishes throughout the testing period, it may be appropriate to administer the subtests across more than one session. Many teachers find that three or four tests per student are sufficient in any one continuous session. This may vary according to the concentration level of the student and other factors. Some students in this age range are quite capable of completing all tests in a single session.

In cases where teachers wish to administer all the tests in the LASS suite but are prevented from doing so because of lack of time, there are some useful strategies in the User Manual available in the Downloads section.

If the teacher has good reason to believe that a given result is not truly indicative of a student’s ability because of some hindrance factor, then retesting can be carried out as soon as is convenient.

If the teacher wishes to see if the student has improved as a result of some intervention, then a sensible interval should be allowed before retesting. In general, four months would be recommended as the minimum interval, but this could be less if the teacher had good reason for doing so.

Continuous or repeated retesting at short intervals is not advisable since practice effect would likely improve results independent of abilities.