Reading Specialist
KSDE Assessment 7
Comprehension Check
Assessment 7, Standard 1
Administered in CI 736—Organizing a Reading Program
Must score a “Proficient” or higher
Exemplary=90-100%
Proficient=75-89%
Developing=65-74%
Unacceptable=0-64%
Name:_________________
This assessment allows you to demonstrate your knowledge of the foundations of reading and
writing processes and instruction. Please provide/select the best answer.
Multiple choice = 4 points, short answer and T/F = 2 points, essay = 5 points
1. Which of the following facilitate increased motivation and/or participation in reading?
a. providing a variety of reading materials
b. reading aloud to students
c. using appropriate music to inspire interest through lyric analysis
d. all of the above*
2. Students who can read but do so infrequently can be divided into two groups:
a. lazy students, unmotivated students
b. students who are poor readers, students who can read well but choose not to*
c. disfluent readers, readers with poor phonemic awareness
d. none of the above
3. A number of current theories suggest that ____ and ____ are major determinants of
motivation and task engagement.
a. knowledge and skill
b. self-perceived competence and task value*
c. IQ and interest
d. None of the above
4. Auditory discrimination ability is developmental and may not be fully achieved until a
child is __ years old.
a. 3
b. 8*
c. 22
d. 14
5. Students have four vocabularies. These include:
Reading Specialist
KSDE Assessment 7
a. listening, speaking, reading, writing*
b. listening, spelling, drawing, retelling
c. speaking, listening, singing, poetic
d. none of the above
6. Reading comprehension requires:
a. Motivation
b. mental frameworks for holding ideas
c. good study strategies
d. all of the above*
7. Which of the following instructional strategies is effective at promoting oral language?
a. read stories and books
b. talk to your students
c. help students expand their statements
d. all of the above*
8. The survey portion of the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) assesses two specific
dimensions of reading motivation:
a. self-concept as a reader and value of reading*
b. quantity of time spent reading and reading level
c. oral reading fluency and phonemic awareness
d. vocabulary and comprehension strategy use
9. A Knowledge Rating Guide can help students
a. understand to what degree they initially know a specific word
b. expand their background knowledge of the words
c. Both A & B*
d. None of the above
10. Vocabulary self-collection is a strategy that encourages students to find words from their
environments.
a. True*
b. False
11. Assessment practices should be teacher-centered and unidirectional.
a. True
b. False*
12. The view of reading has shifted from that of a word recognition task to that of a meaningmaking process.
a. True*
b. False
13. Of the three major strategies for deciphering new words, knowledge of letter-sound
correspondences (i.e., phonics) appears to be the LEAST crucial
a. True
b. False*
14. Students with difficulty in reading often do not apply all of the word identification
strategies they have learned.
a. True*
b. False
15. Fluent oral reading refers to reading that is:
_______________________________________________________________________.
Reading Specialist
KSDE Assessment 7
16. What are the skills identified by the National Reading Panel as being critical to successful
reading? List and describe each one.
17. How are reading and writing similar? How might instruction in one impact skill in
another?
18. Some people argue that phonics is the way to teach reading. Why is phonics only part of
an effective reading program? Explain.
19. You have a student who demonstrates proficient phonemic awareness yet struggles with
acquisition of phonics knowledge. How would you help him/her make the transition?
What activities/strategies would you use?
20. Mr. Antonelli has a group of fourth graders who are reading at early second grade level.
He notices that they often substitute words that make sense but don't match phonetically
(e.g., "woman" for "lady"), and make random guesses for longer, multi-syllabic words.
When encouraged to sound out words, these students rarely attempt to decode the word
beyond the initial sound. What other information do you want to know about these
readers? How should Mr. Antonelli further assess these students? Based on the
information provided, what instructional plan would you recommend?
21. Carrie, a first grade writer, wrote this in her journal: Mi greemssc iz kmig fr a sit. E gtz to
ssssep in mi rmm. (My grandmother is coming for a visit. She gets to sleep in my room.)
Discuss what information you can glean from Carrie's spelling (e.g., phonics skills). Then
suggest three instructional strategies or activities that are appropriate for her.
22. Explain how teachers can effectively select words for vocabulary study.
23. Teng is a second grade ELL who reads slightly below grade level. You are more
concerned with his style of reading than his reading level. He reads slowly, word-by-
Reading Specialist
KSDE Assessment 7
word, without inflection. What does this word reading style tell you about Teng as a
reader? What would you do to help Teng?
24. Mrs. Larson wants to provide more independent reading time for her sixth graders. Why
is this important? What might she do? How would she assess her program's
effectiveness?
25. Mr. Fuentes is an eighth grade social studies teacher. He wants to emphasize vocabulary
in his content area classroom, but he is not sure what to do. How should he choose words
to study? What activities should he use? How can he assess his students' learning of these
words?
26. Explain why it is important to assess attitudes towards reading and what you would do if
a student in your classroom displayed negative attitudes towards reading.
27. Describe how you would teach the writing process to elementary students? How would
this instruction differ if you were teaching the writing process to secondary students?
28. How can writing be used as an assessment of a child’s phonics skills? What other insights
can writing provide regarding a student’s reading skills?
29. What are some instructional strategies you can use to promote a child’s use of voice and
word choice in his/her own writing?