Chapter 4
Informal Assessment:
Informing Instruction
Introduction
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Observation and Interview Strategies
Teacher-Made and Teacher-Selected Curriculum-Based Assessment
Specific Skills Assessments
Error Analysis
Informal Reading Inventories
Running Records
Curriculum-Based Assessment
Portfolio Assessment
Readability
Leveled Texts
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Young Children
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Adults
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of English Language Learners
Observation and Interview Strategies
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Kidwatching (Goodman, 1985)
Teachers engage in observation-based assessment every day
Note bits of behavior and make inferences about the behavior
Anecdotal information is available to teachers for analyses of
specific errors or error patterns
Observation and Interview
• Concepts About Print: Emergent Literacy (Clay,
Klesius & Searls)
• Figure 4.1, Text Box 4.1
• Oral reading
• Letter identification
• Word naming
• Writing
• Dictation
Teacher-Made and Teacher-Selected
Curriculum-Based Assessment
Basal Series Assessments
• Figures 4.2 and 4.3
Word Study (e.g., High Frequency Words and
Phonics)
Comprehension
Writing
Summative Assessment of Skills
Specific Skills Assessments
• Definition:
• Designed to give information about specific skills (e.g., for young
readers, aspects of phonological awareness, phonics, or concepts of
print). May be used prior to instruction and throughout school year.
Specific Skills Assessment Examples
• San Diego Quick Assessment (McKenna & Stahl, 2009)
• Consortium on Reading Excellence’s Assessing Reading: Multiple
Measures for Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade, 2nd edition (Diamond &
Thorsnes, 2008)
• The Reading Teacher’s Survival Kit (Miller, 2001)
• Alternative Assessment Techniques for Reading and Writing (Miller, 1995)
• Three-minute reading assessments (Rasinski and Padak, 2005a; 2005b)
provide user-friendly, teacher-based evaluation of word recognition,
fluency, and comprehension.
Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme
Segmentation
• Figure 4.4
• Student segments words presented orally by the examiner
• dog
• /d/ /o/ /g/
• wave
• /w/ /a/ /v/
• that
• /th/ /a/ /t/
Error Analysis
• A technique all teachers use, whether they know the
terminology or not
• A technique for determining patterns or reasons for student
errors or difficulties
• E.g., Ms. Crockett listens to Misha read connected text and notices she
does not attend to punctuation (pause her reading at period noting end
of sentence).
Error Analysis Relies on Task Analysis
• To effectively perform error analysis, teachers must also be
proficient at task analysis.
• Task analysis “involves breaking down a task into the smallest
steps necessary to complete the task” (Overton, 2012, p. 186).
• In other words, teachers must have working knowledge of
various reading processes and the tasks and subtasks that are
necessary for effective reading.
Informal Reading Inventories
• Individually administered assessments
• Three Main Components
• Graded word lists
• Reading passages
• Comprehension questions
• Explicit
• Implicit
• IRIs provide teachers with…
• Reading level – Independent, Instructional, Frustration
• Reading rate
• Instructional Information
• Types of reading errors made
• Types of comprehension errors made
• And more
Betts Criteria For Determining
Reading Level
Level
Word Recognition
Comprehension
Independent
99% 1/100
90%
Instructional
95% 5/100
75%
Frustration
90% 10/100
50%
IRI- Informal Reading Inventories
• Examples:
• Analytical Reading Inventory, 7th Ed.
• Basic Reading Inventory: Pre-Primer Through Grade Twelve And Early
Literacy Assessments, 9th Ed.
• Burns/Roe Informal Reading Inventory: Preprimer to Twelfth Grade,
6th Ed.
• Classroom Reading Inventory, 10th Ed.
• Developmental Reading Assessment K–3/4–8
• Ekwall/Shanker Reading Inventory, 4th Ed.
• Reading & Reader Passages & Reading & Language Inventory Pkg., 5th
Ed.
• Reading Inventory for the Classroom & Tutorial Audiotape Package,
5th Ed.
• Stieglitz Reading Inventory, 3rd Ed.
Example:
Qualitative Reading Inventory, 5th ed. (QRI-5)
• Individually administered assessment for pre-primer–high school
• Reading Level
• Progress Monitoring
• Planning Instruction/Intervention
• Several Assessment Options
• Word Lists
• Passages
• Measures of Comprehension
QRI-5
Area of Reading
QRI-5 Assessment
• Sight-Word
Recognition
• Fluency
• Word Lists
• Comprehension
• Retell
• Questions
• Oral Reading Passages
QRI-5: Jesse, a 1st grader
• Figures 4.5 through 4.10
WCPM =
Number of words (correct)
__________________
X 60
=
_________
Number of seconds read
Formula 4.1 Determining Words Read Correctly Per Minute (WCPM)
QRI-5 at-a-Glance
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Publisher: Leslie & Caldwell, 2011
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Ages/Grades: Pre-primer – High School
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Administration Time: Varies
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Administration Format: Individual
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Reliability:
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Alt. Forms - .80 and up
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Inter-rater- .98 and up
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Diagnostic- .87
Validity: Not reported
How to Do an IRI
• Figure 4.11
• Select six to eight passages from a reader or other target material
• Develop six to eight comprehension questions per passage (include
factual, interpretive, etc.)
• Mark the number of words per passage
• As child reads, note miscues, observe interest level
• Administer until comprehension drops to 75% or 15 miscues per 100
words
Miscue Analysis (Goodman)
• Definition
• A systematic system of analyzing student reading errors to determine
skill strengths and weaknesses
• A miscue is a reader’s variation from print
• Based on two important concepts:
• Everyone miscues
• Miscues do not equal errors
Overview of Miscue Analysis
• Two ways to count miscues:
• Total Accuracy – count all miscues
• Total Acceptability – count only miscues that change or distort passage
meaning
• Define miscues according to the directions found in the
assessment instrument being used if possible (McKenna & Stahl,
2003)
• If no directions are given, or the analysis comes from informal
assessment taken from the curriculum, score the six following
miscues:
• (a) omissions, (b) insertions, (c) substitutions, (d) reversals, (e) helper
supplied words, and (f) repetitions.
• Mark all miscues, even if they are not being scored.
Types of Miscues and How to Code Them
Type of Miscue
Omission
Description
Reader skips one or more
words
Scored
yes
Coding
over the hill
over hill
Insertion
Reader adds one or more
yes
big
words
over theˆ hill
over the big hill
Substitution
Reader replaces a word
yes
a
(or phrase) with another
over the hill
word (or phrase)
over a hill
Reversal
Reader switches order of
yes
~
words
over the hill
over hill the
Helper-supplied
Reader does not attempt
yes
H
word
the word; teacher gives
over the hill
help
over the _____
Repetition
Reader repeats one word
yes
R
or consecutive words
over the hill
over the the hill
Self-correction
Reader re-reads within a
no
there SC
few seconds to correct an
over the hill
error
over there the hill
Hesitation
Reader pauses but reads
no
P
the word correctly
over the hill
over the (pause) hill
Lack of prosody
Reader ignores
no
П
punctuation
. . . over the hill.
He ran…
over the hill he ran.
Note. Text is printed in nonitalics. What student reads is printed in italics. Coding is
printed in bold.
Table 4.3
Total words in passage—miscues
%age WC =
Total words in passage
= ____
Formula 4.2 Determining Percentage of Words Correct in Passage
Comprehension
Percent Correct
=
Total number of questions—errors
Total number of questions
=
Formula 4.3 Determining Percentage of Comprehension Correct
____%
Frequency of Different Miscues
• McKenna and Stahl (2003)
• About half of 1st graders’ miscues are omissions
• Insertions only account for about 10% of all miscues
• Substitutions become more common, while omissions become less
common as students mature
• In 1st grade, letter reversals (no/on) are common, but these typically end
by 2nd grade
Running Records
Administering and Scoring Running
Records
• Figure 4.12 Scoring the Running Record
• Figure 4.13 Quantifying the Running Record
• Figure 4.14 Worksheet for Summarizing the Running Record
Running Records and
Curriculum-Generated CBM
Figure 4.15
Use passages from curriculum
Student reads orally
Both can generate oral fluency score (wcpm)
Contrasting Running Records and
Curriculum-Generated CBM: Figure 4.15
• CBM
• Focuses on accuracy and
speed
• Types of errors not
emphasized
• Typically used to monitor
progress toward end-ofyear goals
• Running Records
• Types of errors are noted
• Can denote progress in
instructional materials
• Inflection and
comprehension can be
addressed
Curriculum Based Assessment
• Examples:
• Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) of Oral Reading Fluency
(Deno & Fuchs)
• Portfolio Assessment
• Running Records (Marie Clay)
• Miscue Analysis (Goodman)
Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)
of Oral Reading Fluency
(Deno & Fuchs)
• May be derived from content and materials actually used in the
classroom
• Yields measures of reading rate (speed), accuracy, or both
• Can be used to show progress over time
• Allows direct assessment of progress in the curriculum
• NRP areas addressed are fluency and comprehension
CBM for Assessing and Scoring
Oral Reading
• Words correct per minute: Formula 4.1
• Number of words correct/Number of seconds read X 60 = WCPM
• Directions for Teacher-Constructed CBM
• Figure 4.16
• Examiner times and records errors
• For a reliable measure, use three passages and take median score
Average Reading Fluency Rates
• Table 4.7
• Typical 1st grader at mid year
• 47 wpm
• Typical 5th grader at mid year
• 139 wpm
• Adults: 250 wpm?
• Silent versus oral
• Type of reading material, purpose of reading
Portfolio Assessment
• Can contain samples of various informal assessments
• A student’s work is collected over time and evaluated
according to prescribed criteria
• Is considered authentic, ongoing, multidimensional, and
collaborative (between student and teacher)
• What to include should be based on curricular and
instructional priorities and related to school and system goals,
but also tied to specific student needs
Portfolio Assessment
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Pros
Can track progress over
time
Realistic examples of
everyday products
Collaborative evaluation
Personal significance
Involve parents
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Cons
Difficult to score
reliably
May take up
considerable space in the
classroom
May be time-consuming
and expensive
May not convey well the
typical work of the
student
Readability and Leveled Texts
• Readability Formulas
• Fry Readability: Figure 4.19
• Leveled Texts
• Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Levels
http://www.fountasandpinnellleveledbooks.com/
• Reading A-Z Website
http://www.readinga-z.com/
Special Considerations in the Informal
Assessment of Young Children
• Consider background knowledge and experiences
with letter-sound associations
• Phonological awareness
• Print concepts
• Phoneme segmentation/representation
• Word reading & writing
• Text reading & writing
• McGill-Franzen, 2006
• Schedule for Assessment Figure 4.20
• Student Profile Sheet Figure 4.21
Special Considerations in the Informal
Assessment of Adults
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Text Box 4.2
Identify individual strengths & weaknesses
Progress monitor
Troubleshoot
Assess learning over time
Use authentic materials
Build on oral vocabulary
Special Considerations in the
Informal Assessment of English
Language Learners
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Text Box 4.3
Demonstrate, use samples
Use authentic materials
Link assessment to instruction
Assess progress over time
Assessment at a Glance: Informal
(Classroom) Assessment
• Table 4.9
• Measures of Informal Assessment that Inform Instruction
Summary
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Observation and Interview
Teacher-Made and Teacher-Selected Curriculum-Based Assessment
Specific Skills Assessments
Error Analysis
Informal Reading Inventories
Running Records
Curriculum-Based Assessment
Portfolio Assessment
Readability
Leveled Texts
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Young Children
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Adults
Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of English Language Learners