Assessment review for Part 2 of the Test Professor Norland

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning Chapter 12 “Diagnosing Reading Levels”

It may be necessary to determine the reading level of students in order to place them according to their skill level or ability with reading materials, or be aware they may need assistance. Think about Vygotsky’s ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT, and meeting students where they are at the beginning of a task so teachers can best guide their learning.

If the text is too difficult, or teachers need to provide more background information, modeling, or review vocabulary, it changes the direction of their instruction. Some students can independently handle the text and others need minimal guidance. This is where DIAGNOSTIC TESTING helps.

DIAGNOSTIC TESTING: The Task A research-based strategy called CLOZE is designed to determine the readability of material for readers. (It may resemble Completion test items.) It also looks a lot like the “swiss-cheese” method that is not recommended on teacher-made tests, but it works for Diagnostic purposes. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

DIAGNOSTIC TESTING: The Task The CLOZE strategy relies heavily on an individual’s background knowledge to make sense of a reading passage of 250 to 300 words. Follow these steps to administer a CLOZE reading diagnostic test to a classmate who you feel comfortable doing this activity with and they feel comfortable with you. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Diagnostic test – CLOZE reading 1.Select a text passage of words from a college textbook that you may find to be particularly challenging or average. 2.Make 2 hard copies of the page from the book so you can write on them. 3.On one copy, start by leaving the first sentence alone. Then on the second sentence, you are going to use a black marker to mark out every fifth word so no one can read the words. 4. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Diagnostic test – CLOZE reading 4.Keep marking out every fifth word with the black marker throughout the passage until you have reached 50 deleted words. 5.Leave the last sentence alone with no words marked out. Put a stopping mark at the end of the last sentence. 6.On the second copy, (which will be your teacher copy) make a duplicate of the marked up page. On this one, use a yellow highlighter over the same words so you can still read the word through it. 1. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Diagnostic test – CLOZE reading 7. Normal CLOZE procedures would require the teacher to type out the passage exactly, with spacing and line blanks put in place of the marked out words. The student would be able to write in the missing words. 8. For your practice of this diagnostic test, you will administer the test to a classmate, by having him or her read the passage aloud and respond orally to you instead of writing the answers down. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Diagnostic test – CLOZE reading 9.As the person reads aloud the passage, he or she will “take a guess” as to what the blacked- out words are as you follow along with your highlighted copy. 10.Keep track of every incorrect or missed word that the reader substitutes for the marked out words. 11. For it to count as a correct response, it must be the “exact word”, not a close synonym like using big for large, or the instead of that. 1. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Diagnostic test – CLOZE reading 12.Count the number of correct responses and multiply times 2 (if you had 50 words). 13. Use the scores to determine if the reading material would have been appropriate to give “your student” if it had been class material. Reading at an Independent Level = above 60% Reading at an Instructional Level = 40-60% Reading at a Frustrational Level = below 40% Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Reading at an Independent Level = above 60% Reading at an Instructional Level = 40-60% Reading at a Frustrational Level = below 40% 14. Much of the “scores” indicate if the student has background knowledge in that topic, or if they can handle the level of difficulty of the reading itself. 15. This is all good information for a teacher to base instructional decisions on in the classroom, and provide assistance to readers. Savage, M. K., Savage, T.V., & Armstrong, D. G. (2011). Teaching in the secondary schools(7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENTS may also be considered Formative Assessments as they measure students’ understanding, skills, and prior knowledge of subject areas in progress. -Math diagnostic assessments -Reading, vocabulary assessments These inform teachers to make decisions if students are ready for advanced concepts, ready to move on, or need review or remedial help. Some class placements depend on diagnostic tests.

NORM-REFERENCED TESTS and CRITERION-REFERENCED (Snowman & McCown – Chapter 15)

Cover a wide-range of general objectives Measure the overall achievement of students Usually standardized achievement tests which rank and compare students to other groups. NORM-REFERENCED TESTS

Measures the mastery of specific objectives Test scores are compared to a standard of performance, not compared to other students. Tells the teacher how well students are performing or mastering specific goals. CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTS

Comparison group that is a class or school Comparison group that is a school district Comparison group that is national. NORM GROUPS

STANDARDIZED TESTS – Achievement tests Aptitude tests (Sometimes called Ability tests) Achievement and Aptitude tests are considered Norm-Referenced tests because student performance is compared to other students in the school, district, and nation. NORM-REFERENCED