Pg 1-23

Pg 1-23
What is the role of assessment in instruction?
Assessments, whether informal CBMs or TAKS, should provide information about a student’s strengths and weaknesses. That information should then be used to guide instructional planning.
What do teachers need to know about reading assessment?
Teachers need to have an understanding of the ELA TEKS for the grades they work with, and know what tools are available or can be made to measure progress on these skills.
Purposes of Assessment
1. Instructional Planning-which skills has the child mastered, what areas of weakness need to be targeted, which learners can be grouped together effectively
2. Progress Monitoring-is the child making progress towards mastery, is progress being made when compared to baseline data
3. Accountability-is the student, class, and school meeting the state and federal criteria
4. Eligibility for Special Education-assessment is one of the tools used to determine eligibility for services, what IEP goals and objectives does this child need
What is reading?
-getting meaning from print
-comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, phonics, phonemic awareness (5 Areas Identified by the NRP)
Phonemic awareness is the understanding that speech is made up of discreet sounds (auditory skill).
Phonics is the understanding that sounds are represented by letters (auditory and visual skill)
While Adams & the NRP support phonics instruction for young children, there are those support a whole language approach.
The authors of the text also included orthography as an essential component of reading. Orthography, knowledge of the letter system, influences a child’s automatic recognition of words and reading fluency.
Fluency is the ability to read with automaticity and accuracy. Fluency is receiving more attention because poor comprehension may be a result of poor fluency.
Vocabulary are the words we understand when we read, speak, or listen. Poor vocabulary can also result in poor comprehension.
Comprehension is our understanding of what we read. This is the focus of most reading instruction in the upper grades. Strategies that can be used to improve comprehension include metacognitive or self monitoring strategies, graphic organizers, various types and levels of questioning, story maps, cooperative learning groups, and direct instruction.