RICA Key points to remember Ready for the Revised RICA Test Preparation Guide for California’s Reading Instruction Competence Assessment By James J. Zarrillo 2011 RICA in brief Time: 3 hours and 45 minutes 70 multiple choice problems 5 Domains 1. Planning, Organizing and Managing Reading Instruction 10 multiple choice questions 10 percent of the total score. Parts of the RICA 2. Word Analysis 24 1 short response (150 to 300 words) 33 multiple choice questions, percent of the test. 3. Fluency 8 multiple choice questions 1 short response (75 to 125 words) 13 percent of the final score. Parts of the RICA 4. Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background knowledge 15 multiple choice questions, 1 short response (75 to 125 words) 20 percent of the final score. 5. Comprehension 13 multiple choice questions 1 short response (150 to 300 words) 23 percent of the test. One case study assesses all domains requires 20 300 to 600 words percent of the exam. Multiple choice questions computer scored based on the number of correct answers no penalty for incorrect answers, if uncertain, it is better to guess. Major Topics 1. Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness Concepts about print 3. Letter Recognition 4. Phonics and sight words 5. Syllabic and Structural Analysis 6. Orthographic Knowledge/spelling 2. 8. Fluency Vocabulary, Academic Language, Background Knowledge Comprehension: Any Text Narrative/Literary text Expository/Informational text Key Points to Remember Domain One – Planning, Organizing and Managing Reading Instruction All student will meet the content standards Balanced Program Also comprehensive Prevent reading difficulties before they occur Systematic and explicit instruction Domain 1 Differentiated Instruction Teacher makes adjustments to meet needs of individual students Consider: What do they know already? What do they need to know to be successful? How are you going to pace the lessons? How difficult is the skill? What kind of temporary support is needed? How to differentiate for students with IEP or 504? Break lessons into smaller units Hands-on practice with concrete examples Focus on key concepts and skills Reteach concepts, letters and skills lacking Extra practice Use visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile techniques Planning, organizing and managing What are the components of Instructional Delivery? Hook or engagement Presentation Structured and guided practice Independent Practice Reading Assessment What are: entry-level assessments? Before instruction begins If students have needed skills and/or knowledge If student have already mastered skills Indicates which students will need more help Progress–monitoring assessments? During instruction Who is making adequate progress toward standard Formative Results analyzed at both individual and class level Most students not getting it? Re-plan unit Most student are getting it? Accelerate instruction with small groups Assessment Summative Which students have met standard Measure if knowledge/skills have transferred Example: Learned to decode CVVC words Test them with CVVC words not used in lesson Reading Assessment What is in a IRI? Informal Reading Inventory Word Recognition lists, graded reading passages, phonics or structural analysis assessment, assessment of reading fluency, vocabulary assessment and maybe spelling test What is the purpose of an IRI? What student can do in all areas of reading In particular determines student’s reading level What is the criteria to figure out frustration, instructional and independent reading levels? Frustration reading level? reads less than 90% of the words or couldn’t answer 60% of comprehension questions Instructional reading level? more than 90% correct and answer at least 60% of comprehension questions Independent reading level? 95% of words correct and 90% of the comprehension questions correctly Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness What is the difference between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness? Phonemic awareness and phonics? What are some phonemic awareness tasks? Sound isolation: identify what sound is at beginning, middle or end of a word sound identity: set of words that share a sound in the same place, students say what sound that they have in common. Example: lake, light, and low sound blending: teacher says series of sounds and student says what the word is Example /b/, /a/, /t/ Sound deletion and sound substitution: block take away /b/ sound what word do you have? cat change /k/ sound to /b/ what word do you have? sound segmentation: Students isolate and identify the sounds in a spoken word Phonemic Awareness Assessment Start with phonemic segmentation, if fail then test other tasks Example: What sounds do you hear in “hot”? Differentiation Struggling readers – focus on blending and segmenting EL – teach phonemes that aren’t in first language Concepts of Print What are the four concepts about print? Words are talk written down and print carries meaning Knowledge of the differences between letters, words and sentences Directionality – English is read right to left and top to bottom Book handling skills What is the shared book experience? Big books: intro, teacher reads book and students join in on the predictable text, discussion of the book before, during and after, books is reread on following days Goal: discover good books, reading books is fun, teach concepts of print Assessment – informal by teacher uses picture books, crayon, paper Differentiation Reteach key concepts like directionality EL take advantage of transfer from home language Letter Recognition What is the difference between Letter recognition? Letter naming? Letter formation? What is Language Experience Approach? Environmental Print? Print-rich environment? What is instruction like? Associating names and things with letters, songs, ABC books, practice writing upper and lowercase letters, tactile and kinesthetic methods, systematically introduce visually and auditorily similar letters. Assessment Letter recognition – teacher names letter, child points Letter naming – teacher points, child names letter Letter formation – Isolation teacher names letter, child writes Context – assess writing sample Differentiation Struggling readers – tactile and kinesthetic methods EL – similarities between L1 and English General Phonics Terms Alphabetic principle = words are made up of letters that represent sounds Phonemes = sounds – smallest unit of speech that distinguish one utterance or word from another. Graphemes = letters Vowels = clear passage way from voice box to mouth 2 letters sometimes represent vowel sounds – sky Long when say their name bake bite Short – pet, bit, cot, but R controlled vowels neither long or short Consonants = airflow is obstructed in some way by mouth, teeth or lips More terms Morphemes = smallest meaningful part of a word (cats or apple) Onset = part of the syllable before the vowel Rime = the vowel and everything else in a syllable Letter-sound correspondence = association of common sounds with each letter or letter combinations in a written word Phonograms = rimes that have the same spelling Word families = words that share the same phonograms Phonics and Sight words Definitions: What is phonics? Which words do we teach as sight words? What is decodable text? Instruction High frequency words (as, the, of), irregular spellings (dove, great), ones kids want to know, (dinosaur, Burger King), ones introduced in content-area lessons, (insect, butterfly) Direct instruction: Whole to part (both phonics and sight words) Assessment Decode in isolation: for both, read list of target words Decode in context: analyze results of oral reading Differentiation Struggling Phonics use concrete examples use 3d letter tiles Sight words – more practice with high- frequency words EL – Highlight language differences. Explicitly teach letters that represent new sounds not in L1 Phonics terminology Digraph Consonant /ch/, /th/, /sh/, Vowel /oa/, /ea/ Blend Two letters, one sound Two letters, two sounds /dr/, /bl/, /gr/ Diphthong Two letters, one glided sound /oi/, /ow/ Syllabic Analysis and Structural Analysis What is Syllabic analysis? Structural analysis? Morpheme? Affix? Suffix? Prefix? Instruction Whole to part part to whole lessons for structural analysis Syllabic analysis – teach common syllable patterns Example: divide between the two words in a compound word or never divide a consonant digraph Assessment Structural analysis: Isolation – read aloud nonsense words Context oral reading with lots of words with prefixes and suffixes Differentiation Strugglers –focus on key skills EL – explicitly teach common English roots and affixes Orthographic Knowledge/Spelling What is orthographic knowledge? Instruction Assessment Multisensory techniques: visual – use of color, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile and mental imagery Isolation – spelling tests, Context – analysis of writing samples Differentiation Strugglers: more tactile and auditory study activities EL: Teach common English roots and affixes. Stages of Spelling Development Precommunicative stage – uses symbols, but shows no knowledge of letter-sound relationships Semiphonemic spelling – child begins to understand sounds are assigned to letters, single letters to represent words, sounds, and syllables ex: u for you Phonetic spelling – use a letter or group of letters to represent every speech sound that they hear, systematic and easily understood ex: kom for come Transitional spelling – begins to use the conventional alternative for representing sounds, visual representation and understanding of structure of words Conventional spelling – knows English orthographic system and its basic rules understands how to deal with prefixes, suffixes, silent consonants, alternative spellings and irregular spellings recognizes incorrect forms The student’s use of the word “squaro” is most likely an example of what kind of spelling? A. Phonetic B. Semiphonetic C. Precommunicative D. Invented Which of the following words contains a consonant digraph? A. shirt B. trunk C. pajamas D. extra Fluency What are the three key indicators of fluency and what do they mean? Accuracy, rate, and prosody Instruction Monitored oral reading with teacher: model, practice and feedback Lots of re-readings, Reader’s Theater, poetry Assessment Accuracy – oral reading teacher records errors Rate – times oral reading to calculate words correct per minute Prosody- Oral reading – assess for appropriate pitch, response to punctuation characterization Differentiation Strugglers: more oral practice, use text at students’ independent reading level, more word identification instruction, EL – phrase-cued reading, echo reading Vocabulary, Academic Language, Background Knowledge What is the differences between students’ listening, speaking, writing, sight and meaning vocabularies? What does word consciousness mean? playing with words: Word of the day, idioms, puns, poetry, etymology What is the difference between technical academic language and nontechnical academic language? What is background knowledge? Instruction Small group of words: Contextual redefinition One important word: semantic map Small group of related words: semantic feature analysis Teach nontechnical academic language Assessment Test: each target word in a sentence &/or multiple choice definitions Differentiation Strugglers: focus on essential words to understand the text, reteach, concrete examples, visual, kinesthetic and tactile activities EL : Cognates, concrete examples, knowledge of English morphemes Vocabulary Research Based Principles Instruction must fit age and ability Provide examples of how target words are used in context: sentences and paragraphs Must have repeated exposure to the words Involves: Direct instruction of specific words Teaching independent word-learning strategies Developing word consciousness Reading widely and lots of independent reading Comprehension: any text What is Literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension? Literal comprehension: use story maps Inferential and evaluative: Question classification/Answer Verification Text structure and what are some common types? Instruction: Before, During and After Before: activate Background Knowledge During : Strategic reading Strategies: visualizing, paraphrasing, clarifying, predicting, generating questions, summarizing, adjusting reading rate Use Gradual Release Model. Reciprocal teaching After: Variety of formats KWL or PreP, Vocab instruction, preview the text – Picture Walk, Setting a purpose for reading Summarizing and retelling, sharing personal perspectives, making connections, visual/ graphic representation of what was read Assessment To figure out the reading level: reading passages in IRI, Reading Record Assess the others: ask questions using a taxonomy such as QAR also use retells Differentiation Strugglers: reteach reading strategies, access to grade level texts EL: reteach, more practice and concrete examples Comprehension Narrative/Literary Text What is narrative text? Genre and what are some common genres? Elements of a story grammar? Instruction Teach story elements, literal comprehension, use story maps, story grammar outlines Narrative Analysis and Literary Criticism Identify structural elements of plot Compare and contrast motivations and reactions of character Evaluate the setting Identify recurring theme Analyze figurative language Assessment Analysis of discussion and writing: types of connections, writing activities Differentiation Strugglers: Focus on key elements of story grammar EL: clarify cultural context of story Comprehension of Expository/Informational Texts What are Expository texts? Content-area literacy? What is the difference between skimming and scanning? Instruction prereading: Graphic organizers During and after reading: study guides: based of text structures, key questions study guide, three-level study guide, data retrieval chart, interactive notebooks with foldables Assessment Using text structures Using text structures: complete a graphic organizer Differentiation Strugglers: increase scaffolding on written assignments EL: build background knowledge with L1 resources Key strategies Graphic organizers Word sorts Language Experience Approach Case Study Look at all the data and make notes Looking for 3 strengths/needs Site evidence and tell where you found it Better strength or need can be found in more than one source 3 paragraphs Two Instructional strategies or activities Each must clearly help the student 2 long paragraphs Describe what the teacher will do and what the student will do Explain 2 paragraphs Write about connections between student’s area of need and activity Explain the underlying rationale for activity Practice Multiple Choice question 1. As Jack is reading a text sample, he reads “The dog ran to the horse” rather than what the text actually states, “The dog ran to the house”. What type of strategy would be the most effective to use with this student? A. Praise the student for reading so well B. The word read in error is written on a flashcard and Jack practices the word over and over. C. After Jack finishes the reading, he should be given some time to retell what he has just read. If Jack does a good retelling, and the word in error didn’t disrupt the meaning of the text, there is no need to go back over the error. D. After the student has read the text sampling, the recorder asks the student to look at the sentence again, reads the sentence as Jack read it and then asks the question: “Does that make sense? Let’s look at the word carefully, letter-by-letter”. Practice Multiple Choice question 2. Jill is having difficulty in hearing rhyming words. During an informal evaluation, her teacher found that Jill couldn’t tell that “fish and dish” were rhyming words. When the teacher tried several other rhyming and non-rhyming word pairs verbally, Jill couldn’t discern the rhyming pairs Her answers were all “No, they don’t sound the same.” What instructional strategy would be the best to meet Jill’s needs? A. Jill should read several books that have rhyming patterns. B. In a small group of other children who also need more experience in rhyming patterns, the teacher’s directed-teaching instruction will follow a game format. The games will vary in the usage of rhyming words. C. The instruction should be based on worksheets that have the student match rhyming words across columns as an independent activity. D. Jill should have spelling words that are sets of rhyming words so that she can concentrate on the letters. Her spelling words should be written repeatedly in order so that Jill will be able to see the letter patterns n each of the spelling words. Her spelling test will then be conducted at the end of the week to make sure that she can spell and write all the words, as she recognizes each of the words, as the test is conducted orally by the teacher. Practice Multiple Choice question 3. As you listen to a student read, you are evaluating his/her reading behavior. What characteristic would be most representative of an effective reader? A. Phonics and a good sight vocabulary are evident in the student’s reading. B. The student self-corrects one of every three errors made during the reading of the text. C. Rather than attempt to utilize any reading strategy, the student omits unknown words. D. The student is able to predict good substitutions for unknown words. Practice Multiple Choice question 4. One of the easiest phonemic awareness activities is: A. blending B. rhyming C. segmentation D. sound addition and substitution Practice Multiple Choice question 5. In the word transportation, recognizing the root, prefix and suffix is an example of: A. orthography B. phonetic analysis C. structural analysis D. none of the above Practice Multiple Choice question 6. The alphabetic principle is the idea that: A. spelling is learned through alphabetical lists of important words. B. children are intuitively aware of letter-sound correspondence. C. children must recognize letters of the alphabet before entering school. D. letters represent sounds in words. Practice Multiple Choice question 7. Roberto, a first grader, is learning sight words, and his phonics skills are improving every day. His ability to rhyme words indicates that he has some level of phonemic awareness. Roberto knows most of his letters and sounds. Yet, when reading orally, he uses little expression, pauses frequently, and reads word by word. An effective teaching strategy for Roberto is: A. reading easy text B. reading on his instructional reading level C. phonics mini lessons D. an interactive writing lesson Practice Multiple Choice question 8. Roberto, a first grader, is learning sight words, and his phonics skills are improving every day. His ability to rhyme words indicates that he has some level of phonemic awareness. Roberto knows most of his letters and sounds. Yet, when reading orally, he uses little expression, pauses frequently, and reads word by word. To develop Roberto’s level of phonemic awareness, use” A. word banks B. Elkonin boxes C. Language Experience Approach D. Journal writing Practice Multiple Choice question 9. Maria, a quiet shy seven-year-old, has just moved to the United States, and you are monolingual teacher. The first day in your second grade class, you notice that she is “reading” a Little Red Riding Hood book during DEAR time. She is looking at the pictures but seems to be unfamiliar with the story. When you ask her to read a page of text in English, she stumbles over simple words such as “the” and “my”. You point to “red” and ask her to tell you the word, but she is unable to sound it out. To improve her phonics skills, you could use all of the following except: A. an interactive writing lesson B. reading to her C. language experience approach D. mini lessons Practice Multiple Choice question 10. Maria, a quiet shy seven-year-old, has just moved to the United States, and you are monolingual teacher. The first day in your second grade class, you notice that she is “reading” a Little Red Riding Hood book during DEAR time. She is looking at the pictures but seems to be unfamiliar with the story. When you ask her to read a page of text in English, she stumbles over simple words such as “the” and “my”. You point to “red” and ask her to tell you the word, but she is unable to sound it out. When you gave Maria the Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation, she scored 2 out of 22. To improve her phonemic awareness you should: A. ask her to identify rhymes in poems and songs B. use magnetic letters to identify CVC words C. use Elkonin boxes to segment sounds D. Ask her to tell you what word you would have if you take away the first sound and substitute another sound. Practice Multiple Choice question 12. First grader, Jessica wrote this sentence: I like too ride mie bike wid mie friend on Sundae ( I like to ride my bike with my friend on Sunday) At what stage of spelling are most of her incorrect spellings? A. prephonetic B. semi-phonetic C. phonetic D. transitional E. conventional Practice Multiple Choice question 13. . First grader, Juan wrote this sentence: The beg bk dog r re djrs. At what stage of spelling are most of his incorrect spellings? ( The big black dogs are very dangerous) A. prephonetic B. semi-phonetic C. phonetic D. transitional E. conventional Practice Multiple Choice question 14. A student who recognizes about 95% of the words and understands 75% A. has almost no chance of understanding what she/he is reading B. is reading at the frustration level of comprehension. C. is reading at the instructional level of comprehension D. is reading at the independent level of comprehension Practice Multiple Choice question 15. The most important factor affecting a student’s level of reading comprehension is A. the phonics program she/he had during the primary grades B. the expectation level of the reader C. the amount of reading the student has done D. the student’s training in grammar Practice Multiple Choice question 16. Morphology is the study of A. structure and forms of words B. sounds of words C. phonemes D. metacognition Short Answer 1. Mrs. Russo, a first grade teacher, has noticed that in her guided reading group (which is below grade level) one of her students is having a difficult time with high frequency word identification. What type of assessment would be best to determine this student’s word identification knowledge? What would be good strategy to use with this student? Short Answer 2. Kim Nguyen is able to read her second grade social studies text; however, she is unable to explain what she has read. Name one skill she probably has and describe an instructional strategy that could increase her comprehension. Short Answer 3. Your goal as a third grade teacher is to facilitate reading comprehension. What is one strategy you could use to prepare children to comprehend Mr. Popper’s Penguins and why would it be effective? Short Answer 4. You are a fourth grade teacher and your students are reading the novel Island of the Blue Dolphins. You have a group of three RSP students reading at the secondgrade level and four ELL students. What strategy would you use to facilitate student understanding of the story elements? Short Response 5. Gregory is a second grader. He’s a very active child in and out of the classroom. He enjoys games very much, but has a difficult time attending to his work. His running record is not at grade level. His wpm score is 30. His comprehension is fine in the area of detail, and he does really well with the inferential questions about the story. He doesn’t do well with main ideas. During a recent retelling, Gregory stated: Gregory: The story was a bout a chair, and a girl, and a spaceship and a dragon. And it was a good story. Teacher: Why is there a chair in this story? Gregory: It’s just a chair and the girl likes it so it’s on every page. I have a special chair that I like too, it’s just right for me…like in the Three Bears story! What strengths and needs do you think Gregory has? What strategies would you use to improve his reading progress? How will these strategies help? Strategies Don’t waste time thinking about how you are doing on the test Just answer the questions
