Literacy Assessment Support PALS K Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening

1. Literacy Assessment SupportPALS K Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening Adams 12 Five Star Schools PALS Kindergarten Protocol Refresher DLT. 5/28/10 Update

2. Online Learning: Support for Kindergarten Literacy Assessment Purpose: Outcomes: As the result of this session, you will Know the district expectations for reading assessment Be prepared for the District Assessment Day Understand the PALS assessment protocol Have answers to frequently asked questions with regard to PALS • Engage in a self-directed refresher to support the accurate collection of data that • Meets state reporting requirements • Complies with the district assessment schedule • Informs instruction

3. How to Use this Online Learning Opportunity • Gather the materials listed on the right • View this PowerPoint to refresh your knowledge of the PALS protocol • Stop at identified points to view clips from the PALS CD-ROM • Continue viewing until the session is complete • Return to this resource as often as needed (posted on the district’s literacy website) Materials needed from your PALS Kit: • Administration and Scoring Guide (Form B) • Assessment Training CD-ROM Let’s get started!

4. Kindergarten Reading Assessment Overview District Requirements for 2010-2011 • PALS Form B is given in the fall and spring • DRA 1 at mid-year • DRA in the spring (DRA 3 is grade level) Scores are due in ScholarsMart: September 24, 2010 January 21, 2011 May 20, 2011

5. Why does the district require PALS and DRA in K? • The PALS K screening measures a set of skills necessary for successful reading. • It does not provide a measure of strategic reading and comprehension. • When students are assessed with PALS and DRA, the teacher has a more complete profile of students in reading.

6. Purpose of PALS Beginning of the year: • Determine instructional needs of students Mid-year: • Monitor progress from fall screening • Fulfill requirement to monitor below grade-level readers • Determine effectiveness of instruction End of Year: • Determine if a student is reading below, on, or above grade level • Set plans for next school year

7. Contents of PALS K Kit The following materials will be needed when administering PALS tasks: • Administration and Scoring Guide Form A or B (form for current year) • Student Summary Sheet (individual recording form - Form A or B) • Student Spelling Sheet or plain paper • Student Packet (student materials for assessment tasks) • letter charts • COW picture sheet, word list, booklets with fall/spring rhymes • optional word recognition lists • individual rhyme awareness book • sound awareness cards • Pencils, whiteboard, dry-erase marker (add to kit)

8. Basic Screening Principles • Test within the PALS testing window. • Do not pre-teach test items such as words from word lists. • Follow the directions and script in the Administration and Scoring Guide, prompting only as directed. Failure to follow these principles invalidates the screening results.

9. Assessment Window • The District Assessment Day is the first day of the assessment window for administering PALS. • However, the first two tasks (Group Rhyme and Group Beginning Sound Awareness) cannot be given on the same day because the tasks are so similar that students may not fully understand what they are expected to do (see page 14 of Administration and Scoring Guide). • Therefore, you may administer Group Rhyme Awareness the day before the District Assessment Day.

10. An Introduction to PALS • Insert the CD-ROM and click on the PALS K icon. • Click on the “play” arrow to view an introduction to PALS by one of its creators. • Pause the CD when the bar at the bottom of the PALS screen shifts from “Introduction” to “Phonological Awareness.” Otherwise, the CD will play continuously.

11. PALS K Assessment Tasks for All Students Turn to the chart on page 5 of Administration and Scoring Guide. For all students, the following untimed tasks are given: • Section I: • Group Rhyme Awareness • Group Beginning Sound Awareness • Section II: • Alphabet Knowledge: Lowercase Alphabet Recognition • Letter Sound Knowledge: Letter Sounds • Section III: • Letter-Sound Knowledge: Spelling • Section IV: • Concept of Word: Concept of Word (COW) in Text and COW Word List • Section V: (Optional) • Word Recognition in Isolation (recommended for students reading at preprimer level or above)

12. Section I: Phonological Awareness This section measures student awareness of rhyme and beginning sounds. Benchmarks are provided for fall and spring testing (see p. 5 in Administration and Scoring Guide).

13. Section I, Part A: Group Rhyme Awareness Task Turn to page 10 in the Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. Locate the materials used in this task: • Student Booklet • Student Summary Sheet Then return to the CD-ROM and click “play” to view the first part of “Phonological Awareness.” Pause following this screen “…do not administer Group Rhyme Awareness on the same day...” and continue with the PowerPoint. What are the key points? • This task can be administered individually or in small groups and can be given the day before the District Assessment Day. • Do not give this task on the same day as the Group Beginning Sound Awareness. • Students who score below the benchmark on Group Rhyme Awareness must be given the Individual Rhyme Awareness task.

14. Section I, Part B: Group Beginning Sound Awareness Task Turn to page 14 in the Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. Locate the materials used in this task: • Student Booklet • Student Summary Sheet Then return to the CD-ROM and click “play” to continue viewing more of the section on Phonological Awareness. Pause after the teacher scores this section and continue with the PowerPoint. What are the key points? • This task can be administered individually or in small groups. • Do not administer Group Beginning Sound Awareness on same day as Group Rhyme Awareness. • Students who score below the benchmark on Group Beginning Sound Awareness must be given Individual Sound Awareness.

15. Section I, Part C: Individual Rhyme Awareness Key Points: To administer the task: Assemble materials: Individual Rhyme Awareness Booklet (in Student Packet) Student Summary Sheet Administration and Scoring Guide Follow directions exactly as on pp. 18-21. Use the individual (not the group score) in determining the student’s summed score. Enter the individual (not the group score) into ScholarsMart. This task is given to students scoring below the benchmark on Group Rhyme Awareness. Turn to page 18 in the Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. Return to the CD-ROM and click “play” to continue viewing. Pause after the teacher is shown recording the student’s response to this task and continue with the PowerPoint.

16. Part I, Section D: Individual Beginning Sound Awareness Key Points: To administer the task: Assemble materials: Beginning Sound Awareness Picture Cards Student Summary Sheet Administration and Scoring Guide Follow directions exactly as on pp. 22-23. Use the individual (not the group score) in determining the student’s summed score. Enter the individual (not the group score) into ScholarsMart. This task is given to students scoring below the benchmark on the Group Beginning Sound Awareness. Turn to page 22 in the Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. Return to the CD-ROM and click “play” to continue viewing this section. Pause when the bar on the PALS screen shifts to the next section, “Alphabet Knowledge,” and continue with the PowerPoint.

17. Section II: Alphabet Knowledge(Lower-Case Alphabet Recognition) • Turn to page 24 of Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. • Locate materials needed: • Lower Case Alphabet Recognition Sheet from Student Packet • Student Summary Sheet for recording • Pencils • When giving the test, follow the directions for prompting and recording exactly.

18. Lower-Case Recognition Task in Action • Go to the CD-ROM to continue viewing if paused or click “Alphabet Knowledge” in the menu. • Pause when the bar on the PALS screen shifts to the next section, “Letter-Sound Knowledge,” and continue with the PowerPoint. • What are the key points? • Self-corrections are acceptable. Hint: Recording what a student substitutes provides a window into the thinking behind the response and can be useful in planning instruction.

19. Section III: Letter-Sound KnowledgePart A: Letter Sounds • Turn to page 25 of Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. • Locate materials needed for this task: • Letter Sounds Sheet from Student Packet • Student Summary Sheet for recording • Pencils • When giving the test, follow directions for prompting and recording exactly.

20. Letter-Sound Task in Action • Go to the CD-ROM and press “play” if paused to continue viewing or click “Letter-Sound Knowledge” in the menu. • Pause when the CD shifts to “Spelling” and continue with the PowerPoint. • What are the key points? • The short vowel sound is the correct response for the Letter-Sound task. • See the specific prompt on page 25 of the Administration and Scoring Guide for a student offering a long vowel sound.

21. Section III: Letter-Sound Knowledge Part B: Spelling • Turn to pages 26-27 in the Administration and Scoring Guide.Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. • Locate materials needed for this task: • Student spelling sheet or plain paper • Student Summary Sheet • Pencils for students • Whiteboard and dry-erase marker for teacher demonstration • Administration and Scoring Guide pages 26-28 • When giving the test, follow the directions for this task carefully. You may need to say to a student who hesitates to write: “Pretend you know some of this word. What would you write?”

22. Spelling Task in Action • Go to the CD-ROM and press “play” if paused to continue viewing or click on “Letter-Sound Knowledge” in the menu. • Pause when the bar on the PALS window shifts to “Concept of Word” and continue with the PowerPoint. • Key scoring points: • Bonus points are earned for the perfect spelling of an entire word. • Reversal (mirror image) of a single letter is accepted and eligible for the bonus point (except when the reversal is another letter as in b/d or p/q).

23. Section IV: Concept of Word (COW) • Turn to pages 29-30 in the Administration and Scoring Guide. Read the directions to familiarize yourself with this task. • Locate materials needed for this task: • Make sure you are using the materials for the correct form of PALS • COW picture sheet, word list, and booklet from Student Packet • When administering this part of the screening, follow the directions exactly as on pages 29-30. Do not add any additional prompts.

24. COW Task in Action • Go to the CD-ROM and press “play” if paused to continue viewing or click on “Concept of Word” in the menu. • Pause when the bar on the PALS window shifts to “Word Recognition in Isolation” and continue with the PowerPoint. • What are the key points? • Students must know the rhyme by heart before COW is assessed. • Teach the rhyme using the picture prompts in the Student Packet (see “Preparing for Assessment Day” at the end of this PowerPoint). • Do notpre-teach the words from the COW word list. • Include only the word list score when calculating students’ summed scores.

25. Section V: Word Recognition in Isolation This task is optional. It is recommended for students who are reading at the preprimer level or above. This task is useful to assess students who are already reading at the time of entry into Kindergarten. View this section of the CD-ROM if you will be administering this portion of the PALS K screening.

26. What is grade level? The following scores are added for a student’s Summed Score: • Rhyme Awareness (group or individual) • Beginning Sound Awareness (group or individual) • Alphabet Recognition • Letter Sounds • Spelling • COW Word List Summed Score Benchmarks

27. Preparing for the District Assessment Day • Beginning with the first day of school, use the picture prompts only to practice the COW rhyme for the correct form of PALS (see published District Assessment Schedule). • Practice often and throughout the school day to ensure the rhyme is very familiar by the District Assessment Day. • Prepare testing materials for the Individual Beginning Sound Awareness task. • Read and refer to the PALS K Administration and Scoring Guide which also provides step-by-step instructions for administering and scoring each PALS task. • Assemble all materials. • Set up a testing schedule for students. • On testing day, begin slowly to ensure that you are following the protocol procedures. Don’t worry! You’ll gain fluency as the testing continues.

28. Beyond Assessment Day: Using Information from PALS to Guide Whole Group Instruction Information gained through the PALS K screening can be used to inform instruction in both classrooms and intervention. Teachers can use data to address strengths and needs of individual students in: • hearing and identifying rhymes • hearing and matching letters to sounds • identification of letters • knowledge of how print and words work: directionality, letter formation, identifying first and last Shared Reading, Small Group, Modeled Writing, and Shared Writing are times in the day when these skills and strategies can be taught and practiced.

29. Taking a Look . . . Taking a look at what students know and what they need to learn enables teachers to analyze student strengths and needs. Then instruction can be focused and organized for maximum student learning. Using data gathered through assessments, instruction can be orchestrated with time and intensity to best facilitate students’ reading growth.