SPC ED 587
Reading Methods MR/SD
Assessment: Part I
September 6, 2006
Before Beginning Assessment
• Ensure maximum access to
print/picture/logo/writing materials, etc.
– Positioning
– Assistive technology needs
– Sensory issues that require modification of
materials (e.g., increasing size of print or
picture)
Organizing Assessment: Areas to
Evaluate
• Student’s language level (if appropriate)
– Intentional communication? Symbolic communication?
• Symbol recognition (if appropriate)
– Might include sight words or be limited to concrete objects,
photographs, or picsyms
• Listening & Speaking vocabulary
– E.g., Observation; Peabody Picture Vocabulary (ask SL/P)
• Phonological awareness (if appropriate)
– E.g., observation, Dibbles, Yopp-Singer
Organizing Assessment: Areas to
Evaluate
• Student’s understanding of print & attitudes
toward reading/literacy activities
– E.g., Concepts About Print; Early Literacy
Checklist; Parent & Student Interviews
• Word Recognition Skills
– Automatic and mediated word recognition
– Phonological awareness; phonemic
awareness; letter name/sound knowledge;
single words; connected text
• E.g., running records w/ miscue analysis, Informal
Organizing Assessment: Areas to
Evaluate
• Reading & Listening comprehension
– E.g., Informal reading inventories; Gray Oral
Reading Test; story re-telling checklists; story
grammar maps
• Reading fluency
– E.g., CBM procedures using fluency norms
• Writing (composing text)
– E.g., rubrics or classroom based assessments
• Attitudes toward literacy
– E.g., Reading attitude surveys; observations,
interviews
Evaluating What Students
Understand
About Print
• Examples: Concepts About Print
Checklist of Early Literacy
Checklist for Assessing Early Literacy Development
(D. Katims, 2000)
Name:
Category/Item
Attitudes Toward Reading & Voluntary
Reading Behavior
Voluntarily looks at or reads books
Asks to be read to
Listens attentively while being read to
Responds with questions and comments to stories
read to him or her
Concepts About Books
Date:
Always
Sometimes
Never
Attitudes Toward Literacy
• Parent and student interviews
• Observation
Phonological Awareness
• Example: Yopp-Singer
• Also see reading for next week (Copeland
& Calhoon for additional ways to assess
with students with complex communication
needs)
Reading (Word Recognition) Levels
• Independent level
– Recognize minimum of 99% of
words/comprehend 90%
• Instructional level
– Recognize minimum of 95% of
words/comprehend 75%
• Frustration level
– Recognize less than 90%/comprehend less
than 50%
• Listening comprehension level
– Comprehend 75% of material read to her/him
Example of Assessment
of Single word reading
Word Recognition
• Running Records – method of
assessing oral reading skills
– Looking at student’s errors (and analyzing
to see what types they are):
– self-corrections,
– Repetitions and re-readings,
– hesitations, and
– requests for help
Running Records
• Use material at student’s instructional
level
• Record student performance on top
line/text on bottom line
• Calculate % of errors
• Can also examine comprehension w/
running records by using re-tellings,
summarizing, etc.
• Miscue analysis – method to examine
types of errors student is making (using
info from running record)
– Use materials at independent or
instructional level
– List errors made and categorize according
to type of error
The statuerelated)
[student] answered the question.
• Semantic (meaning
The
boy walked tomorrow
• Graphophonic
(visual, [through]
phonic) the door.
was as light as a father [feather].
•ItSyntactic
• Self-corrected
• Nonword
– Calculate % for each type of error
Words
Text
Child
grumble
grumbly
always
SelfCorrection
Meaning
Visual
Syntax
Similar
Meaning?
Graphophonic
similarity?
Grammatically
acceptable?
X
-
didn’t
did not
X
X
X
I’ll
I
X
X
X
move
make
X
X
scarf
cafr
X
of
or
X
my
me
scarf
self
taken
take
scarf
scafer
that
they
may
maybe
X
still
sit
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Analysis: Seth overrelies on visual cues and rarely self-corrects errors.
Tompkins, G. (2007). Figure 3-2 Miscue analysis of Seth’s errors. (p. 79(
Informal reading inventory
(IRI) –
• Assess student’s reading level and
reading and listening comprehension
– Graded Word Lists (single words)
– Graded Reading Passages
• Reading comprehension
• Listening Comprehension
Interpreting IRI
• Difference between listening and instructional
levels
• Difference between instructional/frustration
levels
• Differences between word recognition and
comprehension
• Word recognition in context vs. in isolation
• Reading strategies used
• Reading rate, hesitations, repetitions
• Background knowledge
• Type of comprehension questions student
answered/missed
Alternate Ways to Assess
Reading Comprehension
• Re-telling (with/ or w/o picture support)
• Think-alouds
Reading Fluency
• Calculate rate (# of correctly read
words/time)
• Also observe phrasing (chunking),
hesitations, prosody (stress and
intonation)
Assessing Writing
• Teacher-made rubrics and checklists