Assessment of Student Progress in Reading and Writing Tompkins-Chapter 3 5th edition

Determining READING LEVELS INDEPENDENT- CAN READ ON OWN WITH 95-100% ACCURACY INSTRUCTIONAL-CAN READ WITH SUPPORT WITH 90-94% ACCURACY FRUSTRATION-TOO DIFFICULT LISTENTING CAPACITY-POTENTIAL READING LEVEL

READABILITY FORMULAS Method of estimating the difficulty of text or reading level of a text Determined by correlating semantic and syntactic features Leveled Books, FRYE Readability Graph, Lexile Framework

Leveled Books Basal readers traditionally leveled according to grade level equivalent, but may be too broad Fountas and Pinnell’s Text Gradient-levels books on continuum from easiest to hardest (p. 79)

The Lexile Framework (developed by MetaMatrix available through Scholastic) System for leveling books (or matching books to readers) Measures student’s reading level and the difficulty level of the text Lexile levels range from 100-1300 (pl 80) Ex. 6th grade = 850-950

Fry Readability Graph Readability Formula Used to determine if a textbook or trade book is appropriate for a particular grade level See p. 78 for instructions Select 100 word passage Count # of syllables in each word Count # of sentences in the passage Plot on graph

Reading Recovery Early intervention program for struggling readers at the end of the first grade Goal to get them on grade level by 3rd grade Reading Recovery reading levels = 0-26

Informal Assessments Used to guide instruction Not high-stakes (does not determine placement in groups or grade levels)

Monitoring Student Progress Observations Anecdotal Notes Conferences Rubrics Work Samples Portfolios Self-Assessment (Also See Assessment Tools p. 85)

Observation Interaction with students Shadowing-following one student and systematically recording the student’s instructional experiences “Kidwatching”-Ken Goodman Teachers explore: 1) What evidence exists that language development is occurring? 2) What does the child’s unexpected production say about the child’s knowledge of language? Anecdotal records- written accounts of specific incidents in the classroom (p. 82)

Conferences Planning Conferences Reading/Writing Workshop Conferences Evaluation Conferences

Rubrics (p. 64 and p. 84) Rubrics are used to assess a students’ composition (writing), performance on a task, or a project. Teachers establish criteria for scoring each product.

Portfolios Folders, notebooks, web-based files that hold students work. Teacher establish guidelines Students submit work within the guidelines Progress Portfolios Showcase Porfolios

Self-Assessments Involving students in self-assessment requires them to look more critically at their own work and set goals for improvement

Diagnosing Students Strength and Weaknesses Teachers use diagnostic reading assessments to determine a student’s strengths and areas of weakness See page 85

Concepts about Print or CAP Marie Clay Assessment of Basic understandings about print and the way it works Book-Orientation concepts Directionality concepts Letter/word concepts (See p. 113 for example of Scoring Sheet)

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Monitor sound isolation, segmentation, blending, etc. through picture sorts, songs, rhyming words DIBELS-Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (assess phonemic awareness and phonological awareness) The Names Test-Phonics (Cunningham)

Running Records (Marie Clay) To assess word identification and fluency Students read text aloud while teachers make checkmarks noting the words read correctly and the miscues Calculate # of words read correctly (95 %= independent, 90-94%= instructional, and fewer than 90%= frustration level Examine miscues Examine comprehension through retelling (DIBELS >>>Running Records)

Miscue Analysis Miscues= unexpected responses Includes substitutions, repetitions, omissions, mispronunciation Categorize according to cueing systems: semantic (meaning is similar) graphophonic (looks similar) syntactic (grammatically acceptable)

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) Commercial tests to assess reading levels (grade level equivalents) Includes graded word lists, graded passages, and comprehension questions Used to calculate independent, instructional, and frustrations levels

Retellings Students retell a story or expository text after reading the text silently or aloud Student retell story without assistance and then the teacher may ask open ended questions (What happened next?) Teachers analyze retelling for comprehension

Oral Language Assessments Teachers students who speak a language other than English (SOLOM) Five Components on a Continuum Listening, Fluency Vocabulary Pronunciation Grammar

Cloze Procedure Used to: Determine suitability of a textbook or trade book and/or Access comprehension

Cloze Procedure Select a passage of approximately 250 consecutive words from the text or trade book. The text should be one that the students have not read, or tried to read, before. Type the passage using the first sentence intact and deleting every fifth word thereafter. Give students the passage and have them fill in the blanks. Allow them all of the time they need.

Scoring Cloze Tests Score by counting as correct only the exact words that were in the original text. Determine the percentage of correct answers. Less than 44%- Frustration Level (level that is too difficult…thwarts or baffles student) 44%-57%- Instructional Level (level at which the student can read with teacher guidance) 57% or more- Independent level (level to be read “on his or her own”)

Maze Procedure Similar to cloze procedure Students are provided with 3 choices for each deleted word (or each blank) 1) correct word 2) syntactically acceptable but semantically unacceptable 3) both semantically unacceptable and syntactically unacceptable

Authentic Assessment (informal) Takes place during the teaching/learning process Does not measure language as a set of fragmented skills Oral and written language are integrated and whole Contextual/situational Assesses many types of literacy abilities in real and functional ways Continuous process Varied process Should include student’s interests and beliefs Involves self-reflection and self-evaluation

Standardized Tests (Formal) Mandated tests Schools and districts use scores for comparing student achievement with previous years Comparing with national norms and other districts

Purposes To place and classify students To provide accountability To determine who needs extra help or enrichment To create groups Standardized tests often fail to reflect current views of teaching reading and are of little use to teachers day-to-day instruction

Formal Assessment-Norm Referenced Norm-referenced- measure a student’s relative standing in relation to comparable groups of students across the nation or locally Authors seek reliability and validity so that schools can be confident that the tests measure what they intend to measure Results in standard scores—grade equivalents (in years and months) and percentile ranks (position within a set of 100 scores)

Criterion-Referenced Scores are interpreted in terms of specific standards Designed to match the standards or expectations of what students should know at successive points, or benchmarks Advantage: Students do not compete with one another, but try to master certain objectives or criterion Disadvantage: Reading can appear to be merely a set of skills that can be taught and learned in isolation

Is standardized testing YES NO Is standardized testing beneficial to student learning? Conclusion

Standardized Testing Pros --wide-scale testing could bring about need reforms --can be a tool for teaching and learning as well as designing curriculum Cons Biased Teaching to the test Students become “passive” rather than “active” learners Not always accurate representation of what the student can do Not authentic One source of information