Assessment Study
Bradley University ETE 300
Jessica Stanton
10/31/2012
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
Contents
Copy of Permission Form
Summary Paper
Observation Write-up and Observation Notes
Interest Inventory
Sight Word Assessment
IRI – Placement sentences, comprehension forms, miscue analysis
Phonological Awareness Test (PAT 2)
Alphabet Recognition Test
Concepts About Books/Concepts about Print Checklist (CAB/CPC)
Concepts about Print and Word Study Checklist
Writing Development Checklist (Morrow, pgs. 308-309)
Student Writing Samples (3) 1- Independent Writing Work Page following group reading
2- Graphic Organizer – group writing activity
3- Fill-in-blank lesson review – example of copying writing
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
Literacy Assessment Summary - Jake
Jake* is an eight year old boy who is in the third grade at a small, private school. He has
limited interest in reading and reading–related activities, but reads chapter books which he has
access to in both his classroom and his home. Jake admits that he enjoys reader’s theater
activities that are presented in his classroom instruction. Jake is being treated for ADHD, and his
interventions have helped him to improve focus and attention during classroom literacy
activities, according to his parents and teachers. According to Jake’s classroom teacher, he reads
below grade level for fluency and his targeted skills for comprehension, according to his school’s
assessment program, include those involving word knowledge, such as homophones, word
relationships, and synonyms, and comprehension strategies including identifying and explaining
the main idea, using background knowledge to adjust understanding of text, and explaining the
use of supporting details. He has been placed in a “reading recovery” group in his classroom,
according to his classroom teacher, based on his scores on the STAR Reading Assessment used
by his school. Jake’s performance on the Informal Reading Inventory that I used placed Jake at
above grade level reading, which is discussed below in the IRI assessment summary. Jake
receives speech therapy at his school one time per week to help him with some of his speech
sounds and substitutions that he makes in his speech, which are apparent in his oral reading
activities.
I assessed Jake’s literacy development using several standard assessments. Jake has
appropriate alphabet knowledge and can label and identify all upper and lower-case letters of the
alphabet and the sounds they make. He scored 100% accuracy on his first attempt of the preprimer and primer levels of the DOLCH Sight Word Assessment (acquired from
www.apples4theteacher.com), 98% accuracy on the first grade level words, and 100% accuracy
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
on the second and third grade level sight words. Jake demonstrates knowledge of the conventions
of print and concepts about books as illustrated by his score on the CAB/CPC developmental
checklist and my observations of him in reading activities. He communicates excellent
phonological awareness as well by scoring well on the Phonological Awareness Test 2 (PAT 2,
Morrow pgs. 181-183). With his known speech concerns, it was evident to me that Jake was
very deliberate in his speech sounds when participating in the assessment as he made some
sounds much clearer during the assessment activities than in normal conversation speech.
An Informal Reading Inventory was used to determine Jake’s independent reading level.
Placement sentences and reading passages from the Reading Inventory in the Classroom by Flynt
and Cooter were used. The Level 4 placement sentences were the highest level at which Jake
made no errors, so a Level 4 reading passage was administered. Jake was able to answer all but
one of the comprehension questions without aid by recalling specific details and events from the
story. In his oral reading of the passage, Jake read all of the words correctly and omitted only one
of the words. According to the administration protocol, Jake’s score on this level indicated that
this level was the ‘easy’ or ‘independent’ reading level for Jake and that he should be
administered the next level passage, level 5 in order to get a clearer assessment of his reading
ability and instructional reading level. When given the level 5 reading passage, Jake read the
passage fairly quickly during the silent reading portion. When asked to tell what he read about,
Jake did not recall many actual details from the story, and only answered two of the
comprehension questions without assistance. Upon being asked comprehension questions, Jake
recalled details to answer two more of the questions. In the oral reading of this passage, Jake
made multiple errors of mispronunciation, substitution and omission. This passage proved to be
hard for Jake indicating his frustrational reading level being at level 5. In conclusion, Jake’s
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
independent reading level is at a level 4, or 4th grade level as indicated by this particular
assessment, which is higher than the standardized test scores from his classroom testing
indicated.
Classroom strategies for developing Jake’s fluency skills would include using repeated
readings of text and dialogue retellings in order to address issues with omissions and insertions
when he reads text, as suggested in Table 2, pg. 16 of the Administration and Scoring Procedures
of Reading Inventory in the Classroom. Ongoing review of vocabulary words and using text
containing these words helps to build a vocabulary base and develop fluency and comprehension
skills. For more difficult words that may arise in reading material just beyond Jake’s independent
reading level, working with Jake on breaking the words down into manageable parts during
teacher-guided reading will give him a tool to use when he encounters this issue when reading
independently. Encouraging Jake to take his time and slow down his reading pace may be helpful
when he attempts to read material slightly above his independent reading level. Activities based
on parts of stories, point of view, and literal and non-literal language will help support Jake’s
understanding of the craft and structure of text (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.4, 3.5 and 3.6).
Providing opportunities for Jake to compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories
will build on his integration of knowledge and ideas gained from reading (CCSS.ELALiteracy.RL.3.9).
Jake can work on his fluency and comprehension skills at home as well. Reading more
frequently and by reading books that are slightly above his level will challenge him to use skills
he is developing in his classroom work. Parents can be encouraged to ask Jake to retell stories
that he has read independently and to ask him questions that will encourage him to review and
organize what he has read. Using a computer activity that asks Jake to read a passage and answer
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
questions about it may help him to improve his test-taking skills in regards to reading
comprehension, and will incorporate his interest in technological devices.
Using samples that I collected of Jake’s writing and samples displayed in his classroom,
as well as by observing him participating in classroom writing activities, I was able to complete a
partial writing development checklist (Morrow, pgs. 308-309) to evaluate characteristics of
Jake’s writing development in the classroom environment. Jake demonstrates the use of writing
for varied genres including narrative and expository writing, as well as for a variety of functional
purposes including lists and letters. Jake’s writing is legible, but with large print, not always
calling attention to the space in which he has to write what he needs to write (see writing sample
2). Jake includes capitalization where appropriate, and writes from left to right. He leaves spaces
between his words some of the time, but is inconsistent with his use of correct punctuation. Jake
copies words as well as writes independently. Jake uses some conventional spelling in his
writing when he is writing words he has seen modeled, sight words, and high-frequency words,
but also uses phonetic spelling for words he is less familiar with. According to the stages of
spelling development on page 304 of Morrow, Jake uses phonetic and transitional spelling, as
well as some conventional spelling. In writing sample 1, Jake used phonetic spelling when he
wrote the words ‘built,’ ‘college,’ and ‘famous.’
To support Jake’s writing skills, a variety of writing opportunities should be offered
throughout his school day, not only to complete work in a work page format, but to allow for
ample writing practice for a variety of purposes. All genres should be approached in the
classroom to give Jake exposure to not only narrative writing, but descriptive and persuasive
writing, expository writing and poetry. A classroom strategy that could be used to help Jake
develop his writing skills, that would also tie into making story comparisons, would be to ask
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
Jake to compare two books by the same author and write a persuasive paragraph about why
someone should read his favorite of the two books. Narrative writing can demonstrate a student’s
awareness of the parts of a story by asking them to write using a setting, theme, plot and
resolution. Jake can use his creativity to write his own stories involving themes that interest him.
*Student name has been changed to protect confidentiality.
Jessica Stanton
ETE 300 – Assessment Study
References
Morrow, L. M. (2012). Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write
(7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Higher Education
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School
Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts and literacy in
history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Authors.
Flynt & Cooter. (1997). Reading inventory for the classroom, (3rd ed.) Columbus, OH: Merrill
Publishing Company.