Hinds Feet on High Places

This is a test, just to be sure that everyone can read and post responses.

Merry Christmas

The holidays are my favorite time of the year, and not just because we don't have to go to work/school.
Thanksgiving reminds us that we live in the best country in the world, and that God has blessed with many things people in other countries only dream about.
Christmas reminds us that the God who created the universe loved us so much that He sent his Son to an old stable to born...so that he could live a sinless life, and die for our sins.
Christmas is about love, hope, peace, and joy. The love God showed us, the hope we have in salvation, the peace in the midst of trouble, and the joy of family and friends.
Not to mention all the wonderful food, desserts, and cookies that we only make during the holidays!
I am blessed with a wonderful family, the most awesome friends, a good church, good health, and a job I actually like. What more could a girl ask for?
Merry Christmas!

Pg 165-193 Formal Assessment: Individualized Assessment

This is the chapter that I presented in class. If you need me to write a summary, let me know.

Pg 131-161 Informal Assessment

Informal Assessments described in this chapter “used primarily to determine whether students have mastered certain skills or performing at specified levels on various types of reading tasks” (p. 132).
This information provides valuable information for instructional decisions regarding the effectiveness of instruction or intervention.

Assessment Continuum
Informal (teacher created) to Formal (norm referenced)

Reliability & Validity
Reliability refers to the consistency of the test scores, and is measured from 0 to 1. The higher the reliability rating, the better the quality of the test.
Inter rater reliability refers to the scores assigned to an assessment by multiple scorers (such as TAKS Writing Prompt).
Validity refers to the “extent to which the test assesses what it was designed to assess (p. 134).
Content validity refers to the extent to which a test assesses the content that is being tested. For example a district would list the TEKS assessed on a benchmark to identify targeted skills.
Construct validity refers to the tests ability to assess a particular skill, and is measured with a correlation coefficient.
Treatment validity refers to the extent to which a test provides treatment or instructional information. Does the assessment monitor progress or demonstrate growth after instruction?

Criterion Referenced Assessment
These tests measure specific skills within a domain and are often used to determine PLOP (present levels of performance) and IEP goals and objectives. The initial assessment provides a baseline, and progress can be monitored with additional administrations.

Brigance Inventories
Brigance Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills-Revised

Progress Monitoring
Special Education and RTI require that student progress and response to treatment be documented through Curriculum Based Measures (CBMs) or other criterion referenced materials.
Slope is an important feature of progress monitoring. Student performance scores are plotted on a graph and compared with the class mean or other predetermined levels of performance, such as wcpm at the end of 1st grade.

AIMSweb: Provides a system of assessment and progress monitoring.

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills): assess reading skills of students in grades k-6 and is aligned with the NRP targeted domains
Some experts have questioned the reliability and validity of DIBELS.
Some have also criticized DIBELS because assessments are timed which may lead to an overemphasis on rate and fluency.

Computer Based Assessment of Reading
Total Reader: can be used throughout school years; aligned to lexile scores;
STAR Reading: measures vocabulary and comprehension
DORA (Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment): grade level equivalent scores; measures graphophonics, high frequency words, word recognition, phonics, phonemic awareness, spelling, semantics, and reading comprehension
Lexiles: a measure that is used to describe reading ability; scores range from 200-1,700; helps match ability level with appropriate level text; many basal and trade books use lexile scores;

Pg 102-126

Running Records
First described by Clay in 1993
A student reads aloud from any source; the teacher documents the errors and self corrections; a reading level is determined. A running record assesses word recognition, word decoding skills, and reading fluency.

Easy: 95-100% accuracy
Instructional: 90-94% accuracy
Hard: 80-89% accuracy

Advantages of Running Records
Text difficulty evaluation
Instructional grouping decisions
Progress monitoring
Error Analyses
Was the error related to syntax, semantics, or graphophonic/orthography?

Curriculum Based Assessment
Teacher made assessments usually given at the end of a unit that assesses specific skills to determine mastery.
They can be used to asses reading fluency by measuring rate and accuracy.
A CBM assesses a particular skill and used to monitor progress/development of that skill over time; they can be used to compare student progress to class norms

Portfolio Assessment
Samples of various types of informal assessments (work samples, drawings, reflections, etc) that demonstrate skill progress and achievement over time. These samples are usually graded holistically or with a rubric.
To add to its authenticity, students should be able to select samples and have input into the grading criteria.
They can be sued to document progress in all areas of reading.

Readability
Readability is determined by word difficulty, sentence complexity, and paragraph length.
Common Readability/Grade Equivalent Scores
Dale-Chall
Fry (count the average number of syllables in a word and the number of words in a sentence)
Flesch
Harris-Jacobson
SMOG (count 10 sentences from the beginning, middle, and end; count every word of 3 syllables or more; calculate the square root of the number of polysyllabic words counted; add 3 to the square root or 1 as suggested by Harris)
Spache
Flesch Kincaid (used by Microsoft Word to determine readability)
Leveled Texts
Fountas & Pinnell leveling system
Reading Recovery books are rated from A to Z
DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment)
These systems are helpful so that the ability of the reader matches the difficulty level of the text.
5 Finger Rule (ask a child to read a page, counting each error; 5 or more errors means the book is too difficult)
90% Rule-if a child can read 90% of a 100 word sample, the text is at an appropriate level

Matching ability level to difficulty level of text is an important factor in a child’s motivation to read.

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Young Children
McGill-Franzen Schedule for Kindergarten Literacy Assessment
-measures 8 critical skills that must be acquired in kindergarten through observations at the beginning, middle, and end of year
Letter sound association
Phonological awareness
Print concepts
Phonemic segmentations and representation
Word reading
Word writing
Text reading
Text writing

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Adult Learners
Put reader at easy to reduce sensitivity

Purposes for Adult Assessment
-identify goals, strengths, and weaknesses
-progress monitoring
-chart learning over time

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of English Language Learners
4 Kinds of ELL
-new with limited school experiences
-new with formal school experiences
-dual language exposure
-long term

Teachers need to assess:
-language use
-knowledge
-experiences
-narrative
-relationships
-Aesthetics and ethics

Pg 69-102 Informal Assessment

Pg 69-102 Informal Assessment
Informal Assessments are criterion referenced and measure a specific skill and are usually teacher created.

Observation & Interview
Most common type of classroom assessment
Modified Concepts about Print Test measures the literacy skills of beginning readers

Teacher Made & Teacher Selected Curriculum Related Assessment
Basal Reading Series assessment materials may evaluate phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension
Advantages: selected and developed skill strands, controlled text difficulty, suggestions for material use, and “built in assessment strategies
Disadvantages: limited range and variability of the literature

Specific Skills Assessments
San Diego Quick Assessment-word recognition ages 5-16
Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation
Reading Teacher’s Survival Kit
Alternative Assessment Techniques for Reading & Writing
Rasinski & Padak assessments

Error Analysis
“determining patterns or reasons for student errors” (p. 80)
Task analysis a key component of error analysis that helps determine where the child is having difficulty. Task analysis is identifying the discrete concrete steps or prerequisite skills that necessary to master a skill. If a child is reading laboriously, can the teacher determine the cause or lacking skill that needs to be addressed?

Informal Reading Inventories (IRI)
A specific and comprehensive assessment that usually includes a graded word list, and texts that assess oral and silent reading comprehension.
Measures rate and accuracy through miscue analysis
The primary purpose of an IRI is to “inform instruction, plan for grouping, and identify skills to target” (p. 82).
Qualitative Reading Inventory-4
Students are first assessed by a word list that will determine their level and fluency at that level (independent, instructional, or frustrational). Students are then asked to read a text aloud and are asked comprehension questions.
IRIs are quantitative (reading level, word recognition, and comprehension scores) and qualitative (evaluation of types of miscues, retelling of the story).
Most common miscues are: omission, insertion, substitution, reversal, helper supplied word, repetition, lack of prosody, hesitation, mispronunciation, and self correction.

Pg 57-67

How Do We Know Whether a Student has a Reading Disability?
If a student fails to respond to quality instruction and interventions, they may be referred to special education for a full and individual evaluation to determine if there is a learning disability.
LD is the most prevalent of the 13 special education disability categories, and was typically measured as a discrepancy between IQ and achievement. However, this method of identification is no longer the primary source for a determination of disability. States can also use RTI to determine a LD.
The book lists 7 LD categories including basic reading and reading comprehension, but reading fluency was also added with the reauthorization.
The authors define a learning disability as “a pattern of intra-individual strengths and weaknesses” (p. 59).
The authors discuss the attributes of dyslexia-difficulty with word recognition usually accompanied by poor spelling, that are the result of weak phonological processing skills-despite average or above average intelligence and ability.
Note: in Texas, dyslexia is serviced under 504 and not special education

How Do We Distinguish ELL Challenges from Disabilities?
ELL are the fastest growing population in the US, and schools are accountable for their progress under NCLB. Teachers need to understand that ELL difficulties may be the result of the non-native language and not a learning disability. If an ELL is suspected of having a LD, the full and individual evaluation must include the native language, and rule out language factors.
Best practices are discussed-such as native language performance, comparing performance to similar ELLs, the students BICS and CALP, verbal vs non verbal tasks, and response to instruction.

Low Literacy Adults
Non-native English speakers make up a large portion on low literacy adults.
Estimates show that 11 million adults in the US are non literate.

The Literacy Instruction Pie
Effective teachers know how to use data to make instructional decisions.
Reading instruction should include:
Word Analysis
Fluency
Reading/Writing Connection
Vocabulary
Comprehension
The amount of time and complexity of task will vary depending on the grade or ability level of the learner.