PALS Mid-Year is a more flexible tool than the fall and spring assessments, in that not all tasks have to be administered.  All features of the online system are functional during the mid-year window, and as of January 2019, the system will indicate which tasks are recommended during mid-year assessment, so that a full set of diagnostic data will be generated. However, if you choose not to administer all of the recommended tasks, individual task scores will still appear on reports, so you can make the choice to progress monitor only certain skills at this time of year, as your local policy allows.

Mid-Year tasks that have the word RECOMMENDED next to them on the score entry page are the tasks that were required in the sequence used for fall.

• • The PALS Online System will not require any tasks at mid-year.  All tasks will be considered optional by the online system, even if recommended, so an icon will appear next to a student’s name as soon as any task score is entered to indicate that the student has been at least partially assessed.
  • Remember that to diagnose a student’s IORL and enable the Grouping Function using PALS Plus, the system looks for a spelling score and a score for the reading passage that is equivalent to the highest word list on which the student can automatically recognize at least 15 words.
  • If an IORL is not listed for a student on your Class Summary, look at the student’s score entry page to make sure that all recommended tasks have been administered.