Assessment in Reading

1. Assessment in Reading Linda Pearce Literacy Consultant Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative lpearce@ovec.org

2. Assessment Objectives • Understand the importance of formal and informal reading assessments to make instructional decisions • Understand the relationship between reading assessment and individualizing instruction • Become familiar with a variety of formal and informal reading assessments

3. Comprehension- constructing meaning from text Vocabulary Fluency Comprehension Decoding Word Identification Phonics P A Fluency Decoding Phonics P A

4. What is assessment?

5. Assessment is… … the process of gathering, interpreting, recording and using information about pupils’ responses to an educational task. Harlen, Gipps, Broadfoot, Nuttal (1992)

6. Assessment is not… …designed to ‘trick’ or ‘trap’ students and to find out what they don’t know. …assessing behavior rather than quality of work.

7. How do we assess students ?

8. Assessment Ongoing formative assessment of students, which is informal, often daily assessment of how students are progressing under current instructional practices. [quizzes, unit tests, etc.] Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs, which is more formal and provides data that are reported for accountability and research purposes. [CATS, CTBS, etc.]

9. Summative Assessment Standardized Designed to measure the effectiveness of instruction and programs Monitor progress over time Used to inform instruction

10. Formative Assessment Informs teaching and learning Predictor of student success on state assessments Yields greatest impact on student learning Informal Interactive and yields timely results

11. http://ditc.missouri.edu/docs/blackBox.pdf Inside the Black Box Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam Handout 1

12. Inside the Black Box …improving learning through assessment depends on five deceptively simple factors: Providing effective feedback to students. Student’s active involvement in their own learning. Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment. Recognizing the profound influence of assessment on students’ motivation and self-esteem – both crucial influences on learning. Ensuring pupils reflect on their learning and understand how to improve.

13. Typology of Formative Assessment

14. Examples of Formative Assessment

15. Examples of Formative Assessment Performance tasks teacher observation oral presentation culminating event pertaining to content learned

16. Examples of Formative Assessment Written tasks analysis of student work (content notebook, essay, response to text, explanation of strategy use) written explanation of vocabulary/concepts summary of a lecture, discussion, or assigned reading

17. Examples of Formative Assessment Classroom discussions teacher initiated discussion student pairs small groups

18. Examples of Formative Assessment Teacher-student conferences teacher led student led (peer conferences)

19. Examples of Formative Assessment Tests teacher made chapter/unit tests Commercially prepared chapter/unit texts quizzes diagnostic tests

20. Examples of Formative Assessment Student—self assessment checklists rubrics reflection logs inventories (learning styles/interest) Handout 2

21. Why do we assess students?

22. Why do Teachers need to look at different types of assessments? • To identify students in need of more assistance • To determine if students are improving with extra assistance • To set up reading groups and make changes if needed • To provide data for parent conferences • To write and monitor intervention plans • To plan classroom instruction • To complete on-going progress checks

23. Assessment….. ….indicates a need for change of instruction alternative instructional approaches more opportunities for practice re-teaching

24. Assessment Drives Instruction • Monitor student progress • Determine which students need additional/different instruction • Form flexible groups to address needs of students • Change instruction when warranted

26. Now, Let’s look at Reading Assessments 26

27. Four Kinds of Reading Assessments Universal Screening Diagnostic Progress Monitoring Outcome 27

28. Assessment Answers Questions 28

29. Assessment Answers Questions 29

30. Think about the types of assessments you are doing… as we go through the 5 areas of reading be thinking of the types of assessment that might be needed in your classroom to strengthen instruction.

31. Stages of Reading Handout 3 Beginning Readers Transitioning Readers Mature Readers

32. Beginning Readers • Inconsistent application of sound-symbol relationships; Limited sight vocabulary • Slow, choppy reading • Limited meaning vocabulary • Difficulty gaining meaning from print; Few or no strategies for gaining information from texts

33. Transitioning Readers • Consistent application of sound-symbol relationships • Sight vocabulary of several hundred words and growing rapidly • Fluent reading of primary reading material • Meaning vocabulary of several hundred words and growing rapidly • Literal meaning from print and reasonable inferences; Early development of strategies to acquire and use information from texts

34. Mature Readers • Automaticity in word identification • Fluent reading of advanced materials • Rich vocabulary in multiple areas • Comprehension of most passages at a high level; Considerable knowledge through wide reading; Well-developed strategies for acquiring and using information from texts

35. Struggling Readers Students may demonstrate difficulty: • Recognizing sound structure • Developing letter sound knowledge • Understanding the alphabetic principle • Decoding words • Reading words and text fluently • Understanding vocabulary • Relating content to background knowledge • Using comprehension strategies to help remember and understand what is read

36. National Reading Panel 2000 5 Essential Components Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

37. Phonemic Awareness • Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. • It is important because it improves children’s word reading, reading comprehension, and helps children learn to spell.

38. National Reading Panel, 2000 Phonemic Awareness…. • Is a strong predictor of later reading success • Is an important component of beginning reading instruction for all students • Can be taught and integrated throughout the school day • Is highly effective across grade and age levels • Instruction is found to cause improvement in students’ word reading, reading comprehension, and spelling • Focuses on sounds in spoken language

39. Progress Monitoring: Progress monitoring of phonemic awareness helps to: Verify Recognize Identify 39 39

40. Phonemic Awareness Assessment Assessment tasks are auditory tasks Assess students individually Keep assessment periods short and informal Assess various aspects of phonological and/or phonemic awareness Stop if students show signs of frustration 40 40

41. Semantic Skills; understanding the meaning of words and sentences • Phonetic Skills; mastery of sound-letter relationships Oral language Syntactic skills; knowledge of structure and grammar Efficient Phonological Processing Sound System • Phonemic Skills; ability to automatically process speech sounds auditorily Other skills;awareness of phrasing, stress, and patterns

42. Phonological Awareness Continuum Handouts 4, 5 42 42

43. Scaffolding Phonemic Awareness Instruction • Beginning sounds ending sounds middle sounds • VC CV CVC CCVC CVCC CCVCC • Nonsense words may be used. • The duration of a vowel is longer than the duration of a consonant.

44. Do you know this reader?

45. What Lindsey Can’t Do Segment CVC and CCVC words (cab and step) Blend CVC and CCVC words (top and frog) What I Will Do Teach segmenting CVC and CCVC words Phoneme Isolation activity Phoneme Segmentation activity beginning at the VC level Teach blending CVC and CCVC words 1. Phoneme blending activity at the VC level Individual Instructional Plan

46. Phonics • Phonics is the relationship between the letters, (graphemes) of written language and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language. • It is important because it leads to an understanding of the alphabetic principle--the systematic and predictable relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

47. Phonemic Awareness (Auditory) Blending Segmenting Phonics (Auditory + Visual) Blending/Decoding Segmenting ReadingSpelling

48. Phonics Continuum Handout 6

49. In the area of Phonemic Awareness and Phonics, when do we intervene? When student cannot… • name the letters of the alphabet • match consonant and short-vowel sounds to appropriate letters • read real and nonsense words with digraphs, blends, and long vowels • read all single-syllable phonics elements in real and nonsense words • read single and multi-syllabic real and nonsense words

50. Sample Intervention Plan