Agenda
Interactive Approach to Reading
Informal Measures (Intro and Practice Score and Hypothesize)
• DIBELS
• Dominie
• Word/Language Tests (CTOPP, PPVT, TOSWRF, TOWRE)
Formal/Technical Term Understanding (Ch. 2 McKenna)
Judgment Free Writing (Looking at Language in Report Writing)
Informal Reading Report (Based on the Observational Survey)
Formal Clinic Sample and Test Backgrounds
Ten Characteristics of Texts
•
•
•
•
•
Genre
Text Structure
Content
Themes and Ideas
Language and Literary
Features
•
•
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Sentence Complexity
Vocabulary
Words
Illustrations
Book and Print Features
The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-2 – p. 9 – 11
The Continuum of Literacy Learning, Grades K-8 – p. 16 - 17
Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency – p. 160
Models of Reading
• Bottom-up processing (decoding)
• Top-down processing
• Interactive approach
The cat is in the
grass.
The cat is in the
lady’s lap.
Oh no, the cat
is in the tree.
•Peter led Bridget into the waiting room.
•He realized that she was extremely nervous,
so he gently suggested that she sit down.
•Bridget ignored him and began to pace
frantically.
•The other patients watched her warily and
several also began pacing.
•As a scream rang out from the inner office,
Peter angrily forced Bridget to sit down.
•Bridget moved closer to Peter, who leaned
down and tenderly scratched her ears.
Bottom-up Processing
Reader builds meaning from the
smallest units of meaning to
achieve comprehension.
Example
letters  letter clusters  words  phrases 
sentences  longer text  meaning =
comprehension
Top-down Processing
Reader generates meaning by employing
background knowledge, expectations,
assumptions, and questions, and reads to
confirm these expectations.
Example
Pre-reading activities (i.e. activating schema, previewing,
and predicting) + background knowledge (cultural,
linguistic, syntactic, and historical) = comprehension
Aebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second language
classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Interactive Approach
Reader uses both bottom-up and topdown strategies simultaneously or
alternately to comprehend the text.
Example
Reader uses top-down strategies until he/she
encounters an unfamiliar word, then employs
decoding skills to achieve comprehension.
Aebersold, J. & Field, M. L., (1997). From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for second language
classrooms. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Interactive Approach
Knowledge base + bottom-up
strategies + top-down strategies =
comprehension
Which model should be adopted?
The reader must be competent in
both bottom-up and
top-down processing.
Nunes, T. (1999). Learning to read: An integrated view from research and practice. Dordrecht, The Netherlands:
Kluwer.
Assessment Trade-Offs

Norm-referenced



Comparability
Group
administered
Informal


In depth information
Individually
administered
Rule of Thumb
The finer the grain size at which we
monitor a process, like reading or
writing, the greater the likelihood that
we will end up teaching and testing
bits and pieces rather than global
processes like comprehension and
composition.
P. David Pearson, UC
Berkeley
CORE Pages 8-9
Typical Questions
Types of Assessments
Purpose
Formative
Who is at risk?
Who needs close monitoring?
What are a student’s strengths?
weaknesses?
Are other students exhibiting similar
profiles?
Who needs extra support?
How should groups be formed?
Which skills need to be emphasized
Have we accomplished our goals for
a student? a class? a school?
a district?
What aspects of the literacy program
need revision?
Universal
Screening
“First Alert”
Formative
Diagnostic
Formative
Progress
Monitoring
“In-depth
View”
“Growth
Charts”
Summative
Outcome
“Reaching
Our Goals”
Effective instruction is the only solution
• Children differ
• Struggling readers differ
• Intervention designs must be based on
knowledge of these differences
• Figuring out how to best teach each
struggling reader is the essential task
Allington
Fluency &
Comprehension
Progress Monitor
Phonics
Phonemic
Awareness
Phonics, Phonemic
Awareness, Fluency
Vocabulary and
Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
• Is phonemic awareness the same thing
as phonological awareness?
• Is phonemic awareness the same thing
as phonics?
a
m
p
v
s
If you can do it with your eyes closed, it is phonemic awareness!
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
29
Focus on Big Ideas
• Alphabetic Principle: Based on two
parts.
- Alphabetic Understanding: Letters
represent sounds in words.
a m p v s
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
30
Focus on Big Ideas
• Alphabetic Principle
– Phonological Recoding: Letter sounds
can be blended together and
knowledge of letter-sound associations
can be used to read/decode words.
a
m p
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
31
Focus on Big Ideas
• Accuracy and Fluency
– Automaticity with
fundamental skills so that
reading occurs quickly
and effortlessly; e.g.,
driving a car, playing a
musical instrument,
playing a sport
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
32
Focus on Big Ideas
Vocabulary
• Understanding and use of words
- Ability to say a specific word for a
particular meaning
- Ability to understand spoken/written
words
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
33
Focus on Big Ideas
Comprehension
• The process of getting
meaning from spoken
language and/or print.
© 2005c, Dynamic Measurement Group
34
Dominie Reading and Writing Portfolio
My dad loves to fly a kite. He makes it
go high above the trees.
•Reviewing Tests
•Test Protocols
•Materials Picture Walk
Test Name:
Guided Practice
Reactions:
Components Addressed:(NRP)
Data Generated: (Stanines, G.E.s etc.)
Reliability Information:
Validity Information:
Implications for Instruction/Recommendations:
The only way to create fewer
students with limited reading
proficiency is to provide those
students with more and better
reading instruction than that
provided to the other students.”
(Allington, 2009,
p.11)