The first step in effective remedial instruction is to have the student complete a diagnostic exam. The diagnostic exam will reveal areas of strength or weakness in subject area skills. Ideally, an English diagnostic should test thoroughly the student's skills level in the following areas:
•Spelling, capitals, and punctuation
•Verbs, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs
•Sentence structure, sentence punctuation, and clarity
A diagnostic in the subject of math should test proficiency in the following skills:
•Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
•Mapping skills and graphing skills
•Measurement and basic geometry
After assessing the student's weaknesses in core skills, lesson plans and practice exercises should be designed to specifically target those areas. Interspersed throughout the lessons and practice exercises, formative assessments should be given to check the student's progress. Formative assessments can be quizzes, oral questions and instructor observations. If a formative evaluation reveals that a student has not grasped a concept, the instructor can craft a specific review activity or design a different instructional strategy. Formative assessments also provide students with valuable feedback about their progress.
The final step in competent remedial teaching is the delivery of summative assessments. These are various types of tests given to students at the end of the remedial period to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction. The intent of a summative assessment is to appraise the student's competency level after a remedial instruction is complete. Summative evaluations reveal whether or not students have mastered the specific core competencies and establish whether or not there are areas where additional work is needed.