Research Foundations and EGRA Protocols or Why these measures?

1. Research Foundations and EGRA Protocols or Why these measures? Sylvia Linan-Thompson

2. Purpose of Assessment in a Prevention-oriented System • Intervene early and strategically during critical windows of reading development • Identify need, allocate resources, and design and modify instruction • Develop and promote a comprehensive system of instruction • Address reading failure and reading success from a school-wide, systematic perspective

3. Research • Why now? • Early predictors • Consistently strong measures of future reading growth are measures of phonemic awareness and fluency in naming letters of the alphabet. • Evidence that phonemic awareness predicts to later reading ability within and across languages (Francis, 2006; Ziegler & Goswami, 2005). • Oral reading fluency

4. Research • Easy to measure • Reading measures to identify first grade students who need intensive early intervention are valid (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1998; Good & Kaminski, 2003). • For their use to be sustainable, measures must also be quick to administer and score and provide information about students’ academic skills useful in planning instruction (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2007). • To be valuable, the data have to be used.

5. Research • Can be changed with interventions • We have evidence that changing instruction can change students’ trajectories

6. PSF MEANS OVER TIME AND ACROSS GROUPS

7. LNF MEANS OVER TIME AND ACROSS GROUPS

8. NWF MEANS IN MAY AND SEPTEMBER ACROSS GROUPS

9. Cohort I – Historical Control Cohorts II & III Combined K at-risk n=141 K at-risk n=142 Fall 1st no riskn=24 Fall 1st no riskn=70 Fall 1st at-risk n=60 Fall 1st at-riskn=38 New 1st at-risk n=62 New 1st at-risk n=86 Winter 1st at-risk n=10 Winter 1st at-risk n=41 Winter 1st at-risk n=30 Winter 1st at- risk n=20 Winter 1st at-risk n=34 Winter1st at-risk n=15 Total continued at-risk = 81 Total continued at-risk = 69

10. What are the components of early reading? • Letter knowledge/ Alphabetic principle • Phonemic awareness • Vocabulary • Accuracy and fluency with connected text • Comprehension

11. Components of early literacy should be included in the curriculum and instruction. And, the components should be assessed by the measures we use.

12. In addition to identifying what we want to assess, what else should we consider when identifying measures?

13. Factors to Consider • Testing economy: How much do you get? • Efficiency: What do you get for the effort? • Task difficulty: Which skills will you measure? • Developmental validity: How well will they hold up over time?

14. Testing Economy • How much information will you get from the battery of tests? • How many measures do you need to cover a construct? • Is it necessary to measure every aspect of a construct?

15. Testing Economy • Letter knowledge • Letter names • Letter sounds • Upper case • Lower case • Different fonts • Automaticity

16. Efficiency and task difficulty • Do you need to measure every letter in the alphabet or just the most difficult? • What do you gain and lose?

17. Developmental Validity • Will there be a floor effect? • Will there be a ceiling effect? • Will the criterion change with the age/grade of the student?

18. Letter Knowledge • With a finite construct like letter knowledge we can expect a ceiling effect.

19. Assessment: What are we measuring? Sub-skill Mastery Advantages • Monitors student growth on specific skills • Closely linked with curriculum • Helps monitor toward short-term objectives Example • Assessments included in reading curriculum • Chapter tests

20. Assessment: What are we measuring? General Outcome Advantages • Curriculum independent • Measures student growth towards long-term outcomes • Assesses for retention and generalization Example • EGRA

21. Assessment Type: Screening • Brief assessment that focuses on critical reading skills strongly predictive of future reading growth and development • At the student level you can identify children likely to need extra instruction. • At the school level you can identify gaps in instruction.

22. Assessment Type: Diagnostic • Longer measure that provides a more in-depth analysis of a student’s strengths and weaknesses.

23. EGRA • Set of 8 measures in 7 domains

24. Reading components and EGRA Protocols

25. Why these areas? • They are predictive of later reading difficulty. • They are easily measured. • Instruction in these areas has an impact on student outcomes. • If these areas are addressed, we can change trajectories.

26. Why fluency? • Fluency measures assess not only whether or not a child knows something, but whether they have integrated the knowledge and can process the information automatically. • To be successful readers, basic reading competencies have to be automatic.

27. Letter Knowledge • Accuracy in naming letters • Letter naming • Accuracy in identifying sounds of letters

28. L i h R S y E O n T 10 i e T D A t a d e w 20 h O e m U r L G R u 30 g R B E i f m t s r 40 S T C N p A F c a E 50 y s Q A M C O t n P 60 e A e s O F h u A t 70 R G H b S i g m i L 80 L i N O e o E r p X 90 N A c D d I O j e n 100

29. Phonemic Awareness • Accuracy in segmenting sounds in words • Phoneme segmentation

31. Alphabetic Principle • Accuracy in mapping sounds to print • Fluency in mapping sounds to print • Non-word reading • Dictation

32. wub dod ik vus nux 5 ul zel bef wab hiz 10 min ras bub jaf duz 15 tam af ked ig el 20 loz ep yat ol tob 25 uf ral ep bab vif 30 tig dev dop zac gok 35 lut sig zop mig zut 40 wof ib jud zek vok 45 ruz huf sa ak jep 50

33. Oral Reading Fluency • Accuracy in reading decodable words and irregular words. • Fluency is reading decodable and irregular words. • Word reading • Short passage

34. Comprehension • Listening comprehension • Reading comprehension • Ability to answer literal questions • Short answer • Yes/no

36. Summary • EGRA are • Screening measures • Curriculum independent • As a set, measure long-term growth • Focus on the critical areas of reading and • Data can be used to change trajectories