READING ASSESSMENTS

1. READING ASSESSMENTS By: Joan Verica & Antoinette Talone

2. Why Do We Assess Reading • It is one of the most fundamental skills learned • It is necessary to attain personal independence and satisfaction in life • Early remediation is essential for those who have difficulty learning to read

3. “If a student hasn’t learned to read fluently by the end of 3rd grade- he or she is unlikely to ever read fluently” (Adams, 1990)

4. Diagnostic Reading Tests Used to improve two educational decisions • Children who are experiencing difficulty learning to read -identifies strengths and weaknesses in order to plan appropriate intervention • Eligibility to receive or continue special services

5. How is Reading Taught? • Systematically teaching the • language code • - Letters and sounds • Vs • Look-Say • - Whole-word

6. How is Reading Taught? • Prior to the 1950’s • Whole word 1955 “Why Johnny Can’t Read” Said systematic instruction in phonics produced better readers.

7. How is Reading Taught? Since then, researchers have continued to unravel the ways in which beginners learn to read. The debate continues, however clear evidence indicates the essential role of phonics in reading

8. Skills Measured • These assessments measure the following skills: • Oral reading • Rate of Reading • Oral Reading • Teacher pronunciation or aid • Hesitation • Gross mispronunciation of a word • Partial mispronunciation

9. Skills Measured • Omission of a word or group of words • Insertion of a word or group of words • Substitution of one meaningful word for another • Repetition • Inversion or changing of word order

10. Skills Measured • Assessment of Reading Comprehension • Literal • Inferential • Critical • Affective • Lexical

11. Skills Measured • Assessment of Word Attack Skills • Used to derive the pronunciation or meaning of a word through • Phonic analysis • Structural analysis • Context clues

12. Skills Measured • Assessment of Word Recognition Skills • Ascertain “sight vocabulary” • Assess • Letter recognition • Words in isolation • Words in context

13. Skills Measured • Assessment of Other Reading and Reading Related Behaviors • Oral vocabulary • Spelling • Handwriting • Auditory discrimination

14. Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation GRADE GRADE is a norm-referenced, research-based reading assessment, which can be group administered. It has 11 level: P (pre-K), K (Kdg), 1,2,3,4,5,6, M (middle School), H (high school) and A (Adult) Purpose: GRADE is meant to be a diagnostic tool to see what reading skills students have and what skills they need to be taught. It can also be used to chart progress and monitor growth.

15. Characteristics of the GRADE • Pre-K through post secondary (ages 4-18) • Test time: 1 hour to 2 hours depending on level • Two parallel forms: A and B for pre and post test capabilities. • Separate Listening Comprehension Component at every level • Untimed format - test of power, not speed • Multiple choice question format • Item difficulty differs throughout each subtest - Start easy, finish easy

16. GRADE Subtests Five components of reading are assessed: • Pre-reading • Reading readiness • Vocabulary • Comprehension • Oral Language

17. Pre-reading Picture Matching Picture Differences Verbal Concepts Reading Readiness Sound Matching Rhyming Print Awareness Letter Recognition Same & Different Words Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondence Vocabulary Word Reading Word Meaning Vocabulary Comprehension Sentence Comprehension Passage Comprehension Oral Language Listening Comprehension GRADE Subtests

18. GRADE – Growth Scale Value A numerical anchor that provides a measure of a student’s reading achievement in reference to the entire range of achievement across all grades. • It allows reading progress to be followed over a period of years on the same continuous scale.

19. What do the GRADE reports report? • Performance • Group Score Summary • Individual Score Summary • Parent Report • Reading Progress Report • Diagnostics • Individual Diagnostic Analysis • Group Diagnostic Analysis by Type • Program Evaluation • Group Diagnostic Analysis by Item • Reading Progress Report

20. GRADE Reliability/Validity • Scores can be converted to stanines, standard scores, percentiles, normal curve equivalencies and grade equivalencies. Reliability coefficients for alternate form and test-retest were in the .90 range.

21. GRADE - Costs The cost for classroom sets, Forms A and B, Level p through Level 6 range in price from $230.50 to $323.50. The cost for Forms A and B, Levels M and H is $316.99.

22. Summary Grade is a standardized, norm-referenced test of reading achievement. It can be used with children from 4 to 18 years of age and provides a “growth scale value” score that can be used to track growth in reading achievement over several years. Total test score reliability data is Strong, but the subtest composite reliability data does not support the use of scores for decision making purposes although the validity data suggest that this test is a useful measure of reading skills.

23. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills (DIBELS) DIBELS are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.

24. Characteristics of DIBELS • The DIBELS measures were specifically designed to assess phonological awareness, alphabetic principle and fluency with connected text. • The measures have been found to be predictive of later reading proficiency. Combined, the measures form an assessment system of early literacy development that allows educators to readily and reliably determine student progress. • Time varies from one to three minutes depending on which measure is being administered.

25. Characteristics of DIBELS The DIBELS is a set of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development. It is designed to assess the five major skill areas in early reading identified by the National Reading Panel (2000) and the National Research Council (1998). It primarily assesses three of those: Phonological Awareness, Alphabetic Principle and Fluency with Connected Text.

26. DIBELS Subtests Phonological Awareness Initial Sounds Fluency Phonemic Segmentation Fluency Alphabetic Principle & Phonics Letter Naming Fluency Nonsense Word Fluency Print Awareness Letter Recognition Same & Different Words Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondence Fluency with Connected Text Oral Reading Fluency Comprehension Oral Reading Fluency Retell Fluency Vocabulary Word Use Fluency

27. DIBELS as Indicators DIBELS is designed to be an indicator of a student's progress toward the long-term phonemic awareness outcome of segmenting words. The notion of DIBELS as indicators is a critical one. It is this feature of DIBELS that distinguishes it from other assessments and puts it in a class of assessments known as General Outcome Measures.

28. Reliability/Validity DIBELS is not designed to be a nationally norm referenced test. It is designed to provide local normative comparisons. Single tests are sufficient for screening purposes, however, 3 or 4 tests must be administered for there to be sufficient reliability. Evidence for content validity is excellent and criterion related validity is good.

29. Costs You can download the DIBELS benchmark and progress monitoring assessments for FREE from the download page at this Web site: http://dibels.uoregon.edu/index.php

30. Summary The DIBELS consists of 7 individually administered tests assessing phonological awareness, alphabetic understanding and fluency. Single tests are sufficient for screening purposes, however, 3 or 4 tests must be administered for there to be sufficient reliability.

31. The Test of Phonological Awareness, Second Edition: Plus (TOPA 2+) The TOPA-2+ is a revision of the popular Test of Phonological Awareness. Understanding the relationships between letters and phonemes was not assessed by the original TOPA and is the reason the PLUS was added to the title. It is a norm referenced measure of phonological awareness. It has two versions, a Kindergarten version and an Early Elementary version.

32. TOPA 2+ • Administered individually or to groups • for children ages 5 through 8 years • Test times range Early Elem 15-30 min • Test times range Kindergarten 30-45 min

33. TOPA 2+ Purpose Intended to Identify students who need supplemental services in phonemic awareness and letter sound correspondence. The test measures young children's ability to • isolate individual phonemes in spoken words • understand the relationships between letters and phonemes in English.

34. TOPA 2+ Subtests - Kindergarten • Phonological Awareness • Students select from a three choice array the word that begins with the same sound of the word read by the examiner • Students select from a three choice array the word that begins with a different sound of the word read by the examiner • Letter Sounds − students mark the letter in a letter array that corresponds to a specific phoneme.

35. TOPA 2+ Subtests – Early Elem • Phonological Awareness • Students select from a three choice array the word that ends with the same sound of the word read by the examiner • Students select from a three choice array the word that ends with a different sound of the word read by the examiner • Letter Sounds − students spell 18 nonsense words that vary in length from two to five phonemes.

36. TOPA 2+ Norm The TOPA-2+ was normed on 2,085 students from 26 states; 1,035 for the Kindergarten Version and 1,050 for the Early Elementary Version. The sample is representative of the United States across several key demographic variables

37. TOPA 2+ Reliability & Validity Reliability of internal consistency is sufficient for screening and in some cases for use in making important educational decisions. It has adequatemeasure for determining which students are unlikely to needadditional instructional services in reading

38. TOPA 2+ Summary TOPA 2+ assesses phonemic awareness using beginning and ending sounds and letter sound correspondence at the K and early Elem levels. Overall care should be taken when interpreting the results.

39. Dilemmas in Current Practice • Curriculum match • Test-curriculum match • Selection of tests • generalization