KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
EDU 574 Assessment of Reading: Clinical Practicum in Reading Diagnosis
I. Course Description: EDU 574 Assessment of Reading: Clinical Practicum in
Reading Diagnosis
This course focuses on the assessment of readers, with emphasis on the clinical,
diagnostic use of the informal reading inventory. Candidates learn how to
administer and interpret assessments and then synthesize data to describe readers’
strengths and needs into a detailed case study report. The report includes
recommendations to promote the student's growth in literacy. Prerequisites:
Foundation Level courses EDU 504 Literacy Curriculum and Instruction: Pre K3; EDU 506 Literacy Curriculum and Instruction: Grades 4-8; EDU 513 Literacy
Curriculum and Instruction: Adolescent to High School; EDU 514 The Reading
Specialist and Intensified Literacy Instruction; EDU 502; or by permission of the
instructor.
3 S.H.; 3 C.H.
II. Course Rationale:
Reading diagnosis is a key responsibility of reading specialists/literacy coaches.
They need to be skilled in their abilities to determine a child’s strengths and needs
through informal assessments such as the informal reading inventory. Supervised
practice and feedback with the informal reading inventory is essential to
developing the candidates’ skills with administering and interpreting this
assessment. Reading specialists/literacy coaches also need to be able to synthesize
data from several sources in order to accurately describe a reader’s strengths and
needs to the parent/guardian(s), classroom teachers, and others whom may work
with the reader. This course is directly aligned with the IRA (International
Reading Association) Standards for Reading Professionals (2010).
III. Objectives/Student Learning Outcomes:
As a result of study and activities in this course, graduate students will be expected to:
A. Interpret major theories of reading and writing development and development to
understand the needs of struggling readers.
B. Demonstrate an understanding of possible causes and implications of
overrepresentation of minorities in remedial reading and special education so as
not to misinterpret behaviors that represent cultural and/or linguistic differences
as indicative of learning problems.
C. Demonstrate an understanding of the literature and research related to assessments
and their uses and misuses.
D. Demonstrate an understanding of established purposes for assessing the
performance of all readers, including tools for screening, diagnosis, progress
monitoring and measuring outcomes.
E. Recognize the basic technical adequacy of assessments (e.g., reliability, content
and construct validity).
F. Administer and interpret appropriate assessments for students, especially those
who struggle with reading and writing.
G. Use multiple data sources to analyze individual readers’ performance and to plan
instruction and intervention.
H. Demonstrate the ability to communicate results of assessments to various
audiences.
I. Demonstrate effective interpersonal, communication and leadership skills.
IV. Assessments:
Assessments based on a subset of the following: Instructional portfolio, quizzes,
reflections, article review and presentation.
V. Course Outline:
I.
Reading and writing difficulties: The impact of diverse factors
A. Cognitive factors
1. Overall cognitive ability
2. Memory
a. Working memory
b. Attention
c. Orthographic processing
B. Language factors
1. English as a second language
2. Language development delays
3. Phonological processing
C. Social-emotional/economic factors
1. Self-efficacy
2. Peer influences
3. Cultural influences
4. Impact of poverty
D. Physical factors
1. Neurological factors
2. Hearing
3. Vision
4. Other health factors
E. Educational factors
1. Lack of effective instruction
2. Using inappropriate materials
3. Lack of funding
F. Family factors
1. Home literacy environment
2. Parental expectations & overall support for the child
3. Cultural
4. Socio-economic
G. Impact of gender
H. Over identification of minority populations
II . Reading assessments
A. Types of reading assessments
1. Screening
2. Progress monitoring
3. Measuring outcomes
4. Diagnostic
5. Observational
B. Uses of reading assessments
1. How to interpret technical adequacy
2. Uses and misuses
3. Ethical standards
III. The Reading Diagnostic Case Study
A. Baseline data
1. Parent/child interviews
2. Purpose
3. Key information needed
4. Reporting format for parent/child interviews
B. Review testing of receptive vocabulary using the Peabody Picture
Vocabulary Test (PPVT)
1. Purpose
2. Determining age
3. Administration
4. Scoring
5. Reporting results
C. Qualitative Reading Inventory
1. Review administration and scoring:
a. Word lists
b. Oral passage reading
(1.) Choosing a starting passage
(2.) Concept Questions
(3.) Recording miscues
(4.) Comprehension- Retelling and Questions
(5.) Determining passage level
(6.) Choosing next passages
c. Silent passage reading
(1.) Choosing a starting passage
(2.) Comprehension- Retelling and Questions
(3.) Determining passage level
2. Introduce interpretation of QRI
a. Determining levels: Independent, Instructional & Frustration
b. Accuracy vs. Acceptability
c. Miscue analysis
d. Comprehension
D. Written expression assessment
1. Purpose
2. Administration
3. Interpretation of results
4. Reporting results
IV. Diagnostic decision making: Additional assessments
A. Early literacy assessments
B. Word recognition assessments
C. Comprehension supplemental data
D. Assessment for students on/above grade level
V. Related abilities assessments
A. Auditory and visual acuity
B. Auditory and visual memory
C. Auditory and visual discrimination
VI. Diagnostic clinic
A. Obtaining clients
B. Contacting parents/guardians
C. Procedures for clinic testing sessions
VII. Analysis and synthesis of the clinical practicum results
A. Collaboration & data analysis for case reports
B. Case report writing guidelines
C. Writing report conclusions
D. Writing recommendations based on diagnostic data
1. Using resources from professional organization
2. Using resources from prior course work
VI. Instructional Resources
Alt, S.J. & Samuels, S.J. (2011). Reading Fluency: What it is and how it should be
measured? In A. McGill-Franzen & R. L. Allington (Eds.), Handbook of
reading disability research (pp.173 - 181). New York: Routledge.
Applegate, M., Applegate, A. J., & Modla, V. B. (2009). "She's my best reader: She just
can't comprehend": Studying the relationship between fluency and
comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 62(6), 512-521
Applegate, A. J., Applegate, M., McGeehan, C. M., Pinto &, C. M., & Kong, A. (2009).
The assessment of thoughtful literacy in NAEP: Why the states aren't measuring
up. The Reading Teacher, 62(5), 372-381.
Dennis, D. D. (2010). I’m not stupid: How assessment drives (in)appropriate
reading instruction. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 53(4), 283290. doi:10.1598/JAAL.53.4.2
Dunn, L. & Dunn, L (2007). Peabody picture vocabulary test, Form A (5th ed.). New
York: Pearson.
Goodman, K. (2006). The truth about DIBELS. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Gunning, T. G. (2006). Assessing and correcting reading and writing difficulties.
Boston: Pearson.
Leslie, L. & Caldwell, J. (2010). Qualitative reading inventory (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson
Lipson, M., Chomsky-Higgins, P., & Kanfer, J. (2011, November). Diagnosis: The
missing ingredient in RTI, The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 204 - 208. doi:
10.1002/TRTR.01031
Mather, N., Sammons, J., & Schwartz, J. (2006). Adaptations of the Names Test: Easyto-use phonics assessments. The Reading Teacher, 60(2), 114-122. doi:10.1598/
RT.60.2.2
National Center on Progress Monitoring (ND). Progress monitoring tools. Retrieved
from http://www.rti4success.org/progressMonitoringTools
Paris, S. G. (2005). Rethinking policies for assessing children’s reading. Reading
Research Quarterly, 40(2), 184-202.
Pennsylvania Department of Education (n.d.). Standards aligned system. Retrieved from
http://www.pdesas.org/default.aspx
Valencia, S. W., Smith, A., Reece, A. M., Li, M., Wixson, K. K., & Newman, H. (2010).
Oral reading fluency assessment: Issues of construct, criterion, and consequential
validity. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(3), 270-291. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.45.3.1
Valencia, S. W., & Buly, M. (2004). Behind test scores: What struggling readers really
need. The Reading Teacher, 57(6), 520-531.
Wixson, K. K., & Valencia, S. W. (2011). Assessment in RTI: What teachers and
specialists need to Know. The Reading Teacher, 64(6), 466-469. doi:10.1598/
RT.64.6.13
Wright, R. J. (2008). Educational assessment: Tests and measurements in the
age of accountability. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.