Critical concepts within a comprehensive assessment plan to improve adolescent literacy COI Adolescent Literacy Institu

1. Critical concepts within a comprehensive assessment plan to improve adolescent literacy COI Adolescent Literacy Institute, October, 2008

2. Purpose of this presentation: To discuss the primary types of assessment within a comprehensive plan to improve adolescent literacy outcomes for all students Three questions will be answered about each type of assessment What question is to be answered? Who will use the information? What are the actions that will be taken?

3. What kind of assessments are part of an ideal “assessment-for-instruction” system? 1. Some kind of screening information at the beginning of the year tells who is on track to meet “grade level standards” with normal instruction 2. For students in need of extra help, some kind of additional (targeted) screening that indicates what kind of help they need a. Intensive, comprehensive instruction b. Extra support focused on comprehension and vocab. 3. Some diagnostic tools to help plan instruction for struggling readers 4. Some way to monitor progress during the year, and to guide ongoing instruction

4. Examples of types of assessments used for different purposes: 1. “At risk” screener – Previous year’s scores on grade level summative test –computer adaptive comprehension test, “benchmark test” or other test with high predictive relationship to end of year outcomes

5. The question, The user, The action The Question: Which students are “on track” to meet grade level literacy standards at the end of the year, and which students do not have a reasonable chance of success without extra help? Who uses the data: A school level decision maker or grade level decision team Action taken: “At risk” students take further screen to learn more about the nature of their reading problem

6. Examples of types of assessments used for different purposes: 1. “At risk” screener – Previous year’s scores on GL summative test – computer adaptive comprehension test, “benchmark test” or other test with high predictive relationship to end of year outcomes • Further targeted screen taken by “at risk” students –Oral Reading Fluency passage, individual word reading efficiency, Maze test

7. The question, The user, The action The Question: Is this a student who needs a comprehensive reading intervention, including fundamental instruction in word-level skills (decoding, accuracy, fluency) or, is this a students who primarily needs support for comprehension and vocabulary? Who uses the data: A school level decision maker or grade level decision team Action taken: Some students are assigned to intensive, comprehensive intervention classes, others assigned to classes that focus on comprehension strategies and vocabulary

8. Examples of types of assessments used for different purposes: 1. “At risk” screener – Previous year’s scores on grade level summative test- computer adaptive comprehension test, “benchmark test” 2. Further screen taken by “at risk” students –Oral Reading Fluency passage, individual word reading efficiency, Maze test 3. Further diagnosis for the most “at risk” students –Informal decoding survey, strategy interview, fluency check, etc.

9. The question, The user, The action The Question: What skills and knowledge does this very impaired reader possess? Decoding knowledge? Strategies for identifying words in text? Who uses the data: The intervention teacher Action taken: Students grouped for instruction, and lesson targets identified for students with different skills and knowledge

10. Examples of types of assessments used for different purposes: 1. “At risk” screener – Previous year’s scores on grade level summative test- computer adaptive comprehension test, “benchmark test” 2. Further screen taken by “at risk” students –Oral Reading Fluency passage, individual word reading efficiency, Maze test 3. Further diagnosis for the most “at risk” students –Informal decoding survey, strategy interview, fluency check, etc. Formal Diagnostic Assessments –Individual or group administered

11. The question, The user, The action The Question: What is the level of deficiency of individual reading component skills (compared to a normative sample) Who uses the data: The teacher could use it as an indication of which skills are relatively deficient, usually required to receive special education services Action taken: Students grouped for instruction according to their need, students can be qualified for special education services

12. Examples of types of assessments used for different purposes: 1. “At risk” screener – Previous year’s scores on grade level summative test- computer adaptive comprehension test, “benchmark test” 2. Further screen taken by “at risk” students –Oral Reading Fluency passage, individual word reading efficiency, Maze test 3. Further diagnosis for most “at risk” students – Informal decoding survey, strategy interview, fluency check, etc. Formal Diagnostic Assessments –Individual or group administered 4. Monitoring progress toward instructional goals and obtaining information to guide ongoing instruction – Quarterly “benchmark” assessments, classroom based formative assessment, CBM indices

13. Progress monitoring for adolescents- Alternative approaches: 1. Benchmark tests administered monthly or quarterly

14. Benchmark, or interim, assessments: Typically standards-based assessments that mimic the year-end accountability assessment Currently very popular with district and school leaders Used for identifying students “at risk” for performance below standards on year-end summative measure Useful for evaluating impact of instructional programs Teachers typically do not find useful for guiding instruction Are usually standardized within a school, or across a district No systematic research currently available indicating their impact on student performance

15. The question, The user, The action The Question: Is this student on track to be successful on the year-end, standards-based, high-stakes test? Or, which of a set of critical reading standards has the student mastered? Who uses the data: Grade level leaders, classroom teachers, school administrators Action taken: Student is assigned to receive extra assistance, teacher may be provided extra support, professional development may be provided in areas (or on standards) where not much progress is being made

16. Progress monitoring for adolescents- Alternative approaches: 1. Benchmark tests administered monthly or quarterly 2. Classroom-based formative assessments that reflect immediate instructional goals, and are tied to the curriculum sequence

17. Classroom-based formative assessment: The strongest support for use of assessment to improve instruction comes from studies of classroom-based formative assessments Characteristics Involves short-cycle, very frequent (daily) assessment Can take a variety of forms – projects, discussion, questions, quizzes Has well defined targets Provides enough detail to suggest next steps Followed by appropriate feedback and instructional adjustment Involves students in self and peer assessment

18. The question, The user, The action The Question: How is this student doing in mastering the lesson objectives? What elements of thinking, or skill are weak in relationship to specific literacy standards. What kind of errors does this student typically make when writing a paragraph summary? Who uses the data: Classroom teachers Action taken: Student is provided feedback designed to help improve performance, further explanation and modeling is provided, additional practice is assigned, along with corrective feedback, concepts are taught again

19. Progress monitoring for adolescents- Alternative approaches: 1. Benchmark tests administered monthly or quarterly 2. Classroom-based formative assessments that reflect immediate instructional goals, and are tied to the curriculum sequence CBM Mastery Oriented assessment These are assessments that attempt to measure students mastery of steps required for a more complex skill like making inferences

20. Progress monitoring for adolescents- Alternative approaches: 1. Benchmark tests administered monthly or quarterly 2. Classroom-based formative assessments that reflect immediate instructional goals, and are tied to the curriculum sequence CBM Mastery Oriented assessment 3. Curriculum based measurement – general outcome measures

21. Curriculum-based measures (CBM): Most of the work on CBM measures in reading has focused on the development of reading skills in young children Fluency based measures have been developed as general indices measuring the development of critical reading skills Typically, these fluency based measures have not been tied to a specific curriculum or instructional sequence—they monitor the growth of general outcomes such as reading fluency or decoding fluency

22. Curriculum-based measures (CBM): Not appropriate for use as general indicators, to monitor growth in grade-level literacy skills in middle and high school Should be useful to monitor growth of students receiving interventions in word-level reading skills and lower level comprehension Oral Reading Fluency Maze selection tests May also be useful for beginning of the year screening to identify students in need of instruction in word-level reading strategies

23. The question, The user, The action The Question: Is the intervention being provided to this student sufficiently powerful to accelerate growth in basic reading ability? Who uses the data: Intervention teachers and school-level intervention supervisors Action taken: Adjust the intensity of instruction (change time or group size), change the instructional program, continue with program as currently implemented, move to more specialized instructor

24. Progress Assessments Screening and informal diagnostics Standards based accountability measures End of year Beginning of year 1. General Screening 2. Targeted Screening 3. Informal Diagnostics Throughout the year End of year “high stakes” test • Classroom Based Formative Assessment including CBA Mastery assessment • Benchmark Assessments • General Outcome CBM Formal and informal diagnostic measures can really be given anytime during the year, whenever the need arises

25. Questions/Discussion