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Reading 5830
Dr. Deitrich
December 3, 2012
Stage of Literacy Growth
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From observations and my relationship with Tyson, I believe he is at the “almost fluent
reading and writing” stage of literacy growth. Attending a private school, with high academic
expectations, has benefited Tyson immensely. His confidence level has increased, which has
made him a more adventurous in his writing and reading choices.
The text lists multiple benchmarks that Tyson has achieved. For example, “grows in the
standard use of English” and “uses new oral vocabulary.” Tyson has begun to expand his
vocabulary and enjoys learning new words and using them in conversation, He enjoys reading
independently, which is evident from my time spent with him, as well as his reading interest
inventory.
At school Tyson reads for many purposes. Like most children, give Tyson a book on
something he enjoys, and he will be more likely to read. He is passionate about trains and will
read any and all books about them. He can recite facts he has read from informational texts, yet
enjoys Thomas the Tank Engine books for pleasure.
Another example of growth has been in writing. Tyson has begun exploring his writing
abilities by writing poems. He has written in response to pieces of art that have moved him and
will continue to learn the writing process as he prepares for the end of year writing assessment at
his school.
Interest Inventory
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I used an interest inventory I found online that I felt would be age appropriate for a fifth
grade student. Having Tyson fill out the inventory also allowed me to gain a sample of
handwriting and spelling. Tyson indicated his favorite subjects are math, science, and social
studies. I was excited to see this since I know these are areas that he struggled with in public
school. This was one more indicator that having smaller class sizes, high expectations, and
providing a climate where all students feel safe and successful, is a huge part of the academic
puzzle.
Tyson is passionate about trains and has a room dedicated to his trains where he spends
time playing with them. He enjoys Cartoon Network and Nick when he watches television. His
family does not receive a daily newspaper, however they do subscribe to a Health magazine.
Tyson shared he wishes he had a subscription to a train magazine! His favorite book is Diary of a
Wimpy Kid and he rated his interest in reading as a 10! He enjoys reading books about science,
history and biographies.
After reading Tyson’s interest inventory, it would be easier to guide Tyson into books
that are on his level and area of interest. I would also be able to make suggestions to Tyson’s
family on what to read as a family to continue to interest in reading.
San Diego Quick Assessment
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Since Tyson is in the fifth grade, but repeated fourth grade for half a year, I began the San
Diego Quick Assessment using the 3rd grade level. He scored a 10/10 or 100% on this list. I
moved to the 4th grade list where he scored a 9/10 or 90%. When he read the 5th grade list, Tyson
scored 3/10 or a 30%. According to the analysis, three or more errors identify the level as being
too difficult. It was due to this analysis that I used fourth grade reading material for the Informal
Reading Inventory.
Three Hundred Instant Word List
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Tyson mastered the First 100 Instant Word list with a score of 100%. On the next level of word
lists, he scored a 92% on first 3rd and an 88% on the second 3rd. This indicated some of the words
were difficult for him, however when looking at what he missed the words were visually similar.
He scored an 88% on the fourth grade list and the scores decreased with each increasing level of
difficulty. The word list scores were as follows: fifth grade score was 76%, sixth grade score was
72%, and the seventh grade score was 36%.
First 100 Words-100%
Second 100 Words- 100%
Third 100 Words-100%
First 3rd Word List-92%
Second 3rd Word List- 88%
Fourth Grade Word List-88%
Fifth Grade Word List- 76%
Sixth Grade Word List- 72%
Seventh Grade Word List-36%
Informal Reading Inventory
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Based on the information I gathered and using the scoring guide and observations, I determined
that Tyson’s instructional level would be at a fourth grade level. The passages for all oral and
silent readings and comprehension questions are included.
Oral Reading: Tyson read one third grade level passage, three fourth grade passages and one fifth
grade passage from the Basic Reading Inventory by Jerry Johns.
Word
Recognition
Level
Independent
Total
Miscues
Oral #1
Word
Recognition
By %
100%
Oral #2
95%
Instructional
4
1
Independent
0
Oral #3
97%
Instructional
2
1
Instructional
3
Oral #4
94%
Instructional
6
0
Independent
1
Oral #5
89%
Frustration
11
2
Frustration
4
0
Significant Comprehension Comprehension
Miscues
Level
Questions
Missed
0
Independent
0
Silent Reading: Tyson read one third grade passage, two fourth grade passages and one fifth
grade passage from the Basic Reading Inventory by Jerry Johns and one fourth grade from The
Jennings Informal Reading Assessment by Dr. Joyce Jennings.
Comprehension Level
Silent #1 (3rd grade)
Independent
Comprehension Questions
Missed
1
Silent #2 (4th grade)
Instructional
4
Silent #3 (4th grade)
Instructional
3
(4th grade)
Instructional
3
Instructional/Frustration
4
Silent #4
Silent #5 (5th grade)
Miscue Analysis
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I scored a fifth grade reading passage from the Basic Reading Inventory by Jerry Johns. This was
the passage that Tyson had the most miscues with. When looking at the information gathered
from the Johns’ text and comparing it to whether the miscues were meaning (M), structure (S), or
visual (V), I found that when he made substitutions, they were visual. All insertions were correct
in regards to meaning and structure. Both of the significant miscues changed the meaning of the
sentence. Tyson did not self-correct on any of the errors in this passage. The total number of
miscues was eleven for a word recognition score of 89%. 3/10 questions were answered
incorrectly where there was a miscue for a score of 30%. 6/10 questions were answered
correctly for a percentage of 60%.
Percent of miscues-89%
Percent of correct responses-60%
Percent of miscues that interfered with comprehension-30%
Pioneer
House
Building
Substitutions Insertions Omissions Reversals Repetition Meaning
change
(significant
Miscues)
5
4
2
0
3
2
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Cold Read and Practiced Read Results
Tyson was given a cold read, which he completed in 1 minute and 41 seconds. The passage had
228 words and he answered 5 of the 8 questions correctly for a score of 62% accuracy on
comprehension. He read a 100 word passage for the practiced fluency and he read it in 53
seconds and answered all the questions correctly. The results showed that when he had time to
read the passage, his comprehension improved.
Fluency (cold read)- 88 words per minute
Fluency (practiced read)- 100 words per minute
On the cold read he read 88 words per minute and would fall in the emerging category for a 4th
grade student in the middle of the year.
On the practice read he read the 100-word passage in 53 seconds and would fall in the
established category. (114 words per minute)
DIBELS Next Fluency Guide
ORF
BOY
MOY
EOY
Established
90+
103+
115+
Emerging
70-89
79-102
95-114
Below
0-69
0-78
0-94
Results Diagnostic Checklist of Speech Problems
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When analyzing the results from the checklist of speech problems, the information that stood out
was under vocabulary problems in regards to the repetitions of phrases. One of Tyson’s biggest
problems when reading aloud was repeating either a word or a phrase. He would often hesitate as
though unsure of what he was reading, though he would often say the word or phrase correctly.
His tone was mostly monotonous and he read with little expression and rapidly.
I know Tyson had an IEP at one time for language and the problems he had on the speech
checklist likely stem from his lack of confidence in reading and his language issues.
Results from Diagnostic for Oral and Silent Reading
Oral Reading
The results for the oral reading diagnostic checklist indicate Tyson makes errors in all areas of
word recognition with the exception of reversals. Hesitations and repetitions are the two areas
with the most errors.
In the manner in which Tyson reads, the two areas he exhibits are head movement, moving left
to right as he reads the words, and having a monotone voice. Tyson showed little expression as
he was reading.
Out of the four oral reading passages, Tyson comprehended at the independent level on the two
fourth grade passages that were non-fiction. It was interesting to me that these were the two
passages he had the most miscues on, other than the fifth grade oral passage. The majority of the
miscues were insertions and did not affect his comprehension.
Silent Reading
Tyson’s silent reading comprehension score indicated he did not comprehend as well when he
read silently. One passage of the three were non-fiction and it was the one he missed the most
questions on.
Head movement was the only noticeable trait observed during silent reading.
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Results of Reading Attitude Survey
The reading attitude survey indicates that Tyson enjoys reading and values books as gifts. He
read for enjoyment, but not for long periods of time. He has books that he would like to read,
particularly if they are about trains. He has recently shown an interest in reading more historical
non-fiction, such as biographies of presidents. Tyson is undecided or shows no real opinion
about setting aside a time for reading in school or on summer vacation. Overall the survey
aligned with the results of interest inventory Tyson completed.
Results from Phonological Awareness
Tyson scored a 3/5 on the word level portion of the phonological awareness pretest. He did not
differentiate when clapping for each word rather he clapped three times for each sentence.
On the syllable level Tyson also had difficultly and scored a 2/5. He tapped the table one time for
each word and did not differentiate for each syllable.
Tyson did well on the phoneme level of rhyming of the pretest, scoring a 4/5. He missed one, but
self corrected after that part of the test had been completed. He also did well on the phoneme
level of matching, scoring a 5/5.
Tyson’s overall score was a 14/20 and indicates his areas of weakness are word awareness and
syllable awareness.
Results Listening Capacity and Story Retelling
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The story that was used for this portion of the assessments was The Polar Express, The Magic
Journey, by Chris Van Allsburg. The book is based on the movie and the reading level is a grade
5 equivalent.
I chose this book because I knew Tyson has an interest in trains and knew he would enjoy
listening to the story.
Based on the information gathered, Tyson did well on the retelling of story. He was able to make
connections to the text and his passion for trains as well as his excitement for Christmas and the
anticipation of Christmas morning. He was able to retell information directly from the text and
information inferred, as in the first question asked.
Tyson showed good use of vocabulary and was animated during his retelling of the story, adding
more details to the answers given than in previous assessments.
Retelling Checklist for The Polar Express












It was Christmas Eve.
The train caused house to shake.
The boy was bold to pull the brake.
It is difficult to stop a train.
Important to stop train before tunnel because the girl and hobo were on top of
train.
If they had stayed on top of the train, they could have gotten hurt.
There were hundreds of artic caribou.
Elves were in town square waiting on Santa.
They decided to take tunnel where they heard the bells sounding.
The boy could not hear the bell because he did not believe in Santa.
Santa gave the first gift of Christmas to the boy.
Lonely boy got a surprise of a new home for Christmas.
Retelling Checklist for The Polar Express
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1. What made the boy think it might have been Santa Claus when the house began to shake?
Because it was Christmas Eve! That is why he was looking at the clock. He thought
the sleigh was on the roof
2. Why was it bold that the boy pulled the emergency brake?
He was bold because you should never pull the brake! It is difficult to stop a train and
the engineer would not be happy or the conductor.
3. Why was it important to reach the engine before the train reached the tunnel?
They needed to reach the engine to get to the girl and the hobo and the boy were on
top of the train. If they stayed there, then they would have gotten hurt since the tunnel was
narrow.
4. What caused the girl to stop the train?
The girl stopped the train so they would not crash into the artic caribou on the tracks.
There were hundreds of them!
5. Where were the elves when the train pulled in to the North Pole?
The elves were in the town square waiting on Santa!
6. How did the girl decide which tunnel to take?
The girl heard the bells and followed the sound, but the boy could not hear them!
7. What could the boy not hear and why?
Haha! I just said that! The boy could hear the bells! He did not believe in Santa!
8. What did the boy want as the first gift of Christmas?
He wanted to give the Lonely Boy a nice warm home with food and gifts.
Running Record Summary
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Title: Pioneer House Building
Summary of Reading Performance:
Total # of words: 100
Total # of Errors: 11
% of Accuracy: 89%
Reading Level : Frustration Level
Summary of Observation:
1. What did the reader do when unknown words were encountered?
 made an attempt
The reader made an attempt in these ways:
 used letter/sound knowledge
 used structure (syntax)
 tried it again
2. How often did the reader attempt to self-correct when meaning was not maintained?
 Seldom
3. When the reader did self-correct, which cues were used?
Tyson made no self-correction when reading this passage.
Results from Cloze Reading
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In the cloze reading there were 24 answers that needed to be supplied. I used a non-fiction
passage on Orville and Wilbur Wright. The information from the cloze reading indicated this
passage was on Tyson’s instructional level.
# Answers to
be supplied
24
Exact
Answers
(11) 46%
Similar
Answers
(5) 21%
Not Correct
Answers
(8) 33%
Cloze Score
46%
Reading
Level
Instructional
Results from Maze Reading
There were 21 answers that needed to be supplied in the maze reading. Tyson did better on the
maze reading as indicated in the chart.
When comparing the results from the Cloze and Maze reading procedures, Tyson was more
successful using the Maze procedure where multiple-choice answers were provided. When
reviewing the results of the Cloze procedure, he did well on the area of the similar answers,
which indicated he was comprehending what he was reading.
# Answers
to be
supplied
21
Exact
Answers
Similar
Answers
Not Correct
Answers
(19) 90%
(1) 5%
(1) 5%
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Writing Observation
Tyson’s writing showed evidence of being strong in directionality of top to bottom and left to
right. On the writing portion of the rubric, Tyson showed strong evidence of letter formation and
the ability to use a variety of letters, numbers and words. He also knows how to write his first
and last name, but does not always do so on his writing. He shows strong evidence of lettersound relationships. When scoring Tyson’s writing using the conventions writing trait, his
teacher gave him a score of 4 on his writing about Abraham Lincoln. He showed little evidence
of using the organization trait in his writing and his teacher commented on her inability to
decipher some of his writing.
Looking through his entire writing portfolio, the indication was that Tyson was not a willing
writer if he was told what to write. When he was given the opportunity to write about what he
was interested in or asked to respond to a piece of artwork, his writing took on a different quality.
I was unable to obtain the writing he did in response to the artwork at Harvill Gallery, but I was
impressed not only with his ability to write in response quickly, but thoughtfully as well.
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Summary
Tyson is a fifth grade student at Tabernacle Christian School (TCS) in Clarksville, TN.
He began TCS in January 2012 after leaving the public school system. Tyson should have been
in sixth grade this academic year, but when he began attending TCS, he was placed in a fourthfifth grade combined class and he repeated the fourth grade year to catch up academically.
Tyson is in the “almost fluent reading and writing “ stage of literacy growth as indicated
by the benchmarks I have observed. Tyson’s vocabulary has begun to expand and his writing has
improved as well. He reads for multiple purposes and enjoys reading a diverse selection of books
for pleasure.
The interest inventory allowed me to gain a perspective on Tyson’s likes and dislikes in
regards to entertainment, academics, and reading materials available to him. His favorite book is
not what I expected since he is so passionate about trains! However, that is the point of the
interest inventory, to find out what the student likes and be able to guide them into books on their
level and areas of interest.
Tyson mastered the third grade list of the San Diego Quick Assessment as indicated by
his score of 100%. He scored a 90% on the fourth grade list and a 30% on the fifth grade list.
Using this information I used fourth grade reading passages for the Informal Reading Inventory.
Tyson mastered the First 100 Instant Word list with a score of 100%. On the next level of
word lists, he scored a 92% on first 3rd and an 88% on the second 3rd. This indicated some of the
words were difficult for him, however when looking at what he missed the words were visually
similar. He scored an 88% on the fourth grade list and the scores decreased with each increasing
level of difficulty. The word list scores were as follows: fifth grade score was 76%, sixth grade
score was 72%, and the seventh grade score was 36%.
There were five oral reading samples and five silent reading samples given for the
Informal Reading Inventory. One of the oral reading passages was on the third grade level and
the data showed the word recognition by percentage to be 100%. Three of the oral passages were
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on the fourth grade level and the data indicated that the word recognition level was on an
instructional level. The scores for word recognition by percentage were, 95%, 97% and 94%
respectively. The significant miscues were minimal. To ensure I was assessing at the correct
level, I completed a fifth grade passage with Tyson and he scored an 89% for word recognition,
which is the frustration level. In the area of comprehension for the Informal Reading Inventory,
oral-reading passages one, two and four were scored at an independent level and passage three at
an instructional level. The fifth grade passage (oral reading #5) was at the frustration level with
four questions missed. Silent passage one was a third grade passage and scored at an independent
level for comprehension with all questions answered correctly. Silent passages two, three and
four were scored at an instructional level and were fourth grade passages. Silent passage five was
a fifth grade passage and was scored bordering on an instructional/frustration level.
The running record and miscue analysis was completed on a fifth grade non-fiction
passage. The reading level was frustration with a total of eleven errors for a score of 89%. I
observed that Tyson made an attempt to read unknown words in the text by using letter/sound
knowledge, syntax, and tried it again. He did not self-correct when he made an error. The miscue
analysis showed there were two significant miscues for meaning change. He made five
substitutions, four insertions, two omissions, and three repetitions.
The cold read passage was 228 words and he read it in one minute and forty-one seconds
with three out of eight questions answered incorrectly. For the practiced timed fluency of 100
words he read the passage in fifty-three seconds and answered all ten of the comprehension
questions correctly.
The result from the checklist for speech problems indicated that Tyson’s area of concern
were under vocabulary for repetition of phrases. His tone was monotonous and not expressive.
The diagnostic results from the oral reading implied that the errors mad were all in the area of
word recognition with the exception of reversals. Hesitations and repetitions were the two areas
with the most errors. Both non-fiction passages of oral reading showed he scored at the
independent level for comprehension. The diagnostic results for the silent reading passages
indicated he did not comprehend as well when he read silently.
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The reading attitude survey showed Tyson values getting books as gifts and enjoys
reading, especially if it is a book on a topic is interested in. He has books he would like to read
and has begun to show an interest in historical non-fiction. Overall the result aligned with the
results of the interest inventory.
Tyson scored a 3/5 on the word level portion of the phonological awareness pretest. He
did not differentiate when clapping for each word in the sentence. He also struggled with the
syllable level with a score of 2/5. He did well on the phoneme level of rhyming scoring a 4/5 and
a 5/5 on the phoneme level of matching. The overall score was 14/20.
The listening capacity was assessed using a book Tyson would enjoy, The Polar Express,
The Magic Journey. Tyson did well on the retelling and comprehension portion of the
assessment. He was able to make connections to the text due to his passion for trains, as well as
his excitement over Christmas. He exhibited good use of vocabulary and was animated during
his retelling of the story.
The cloze reading was more difficult for Tyson as indicated by his score of 46%. The
reading level was instructional with eleven (46%) answers supplied exactly correct, five (21%)
answers similar, and eight (33%) not correct. Tyson had an easier time with the maze reading
where there were multiple-choice answers. In comparison, he answered nineteen (90%) of the
twenty-one exactly correct, one (5%) similar, and one (5%) not correct.
Tyson’s writing showed evidence of being strong in directionality of top to bottom and
left to right. On the writing portion of the rubric he showed strong evidence of letter formation,
ability to use a variety of letters, numbers and words, and can write his first and last name. When
comparing the scoring for two writing traits as assessed by his teacher, Tyson showed strong
evidence using the convention trait as indicated by his score of four and little evidence was
apparent using the organization trait as indicated by his score of a one.
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Conclusion
Tyson had difficulty when reading orally as evident by the number of miscues he
exhibited on each oral passage. The largest numbers of miscues were in the area of repetition, as
seen, for example, on oral reading passage number two. The errors were two insertions and two
omissions, and four repetitions. This difficulty was further evident by the results from the
diagnostic speech checklist where the answer to question six, “…vocabulary problems such as
the repetition of phrases” was yes. The diagnostic for oral reading showed he read in a
monotonous voice, as did the speech checklist. An additional indicator of the difficulty reading
orally, and which aligned with the results of the informal reading inventory, was the word
recognition error checklist on the diagnostic for oral reading. Tyson exhibited all of the errors
with the exception of reversals.
In the area of comprehension, Tyson was able to comprehend at a higher rate when he
read orally instead of silently. His timed practiced fluency test, the story retelling, and the
comprehension scores for oral reading show his strength in this area. For example, the practiced
fluency passage showed a 100% on comprehension and the retelling was expressive and he
answered all the questions correctly.
Tyson had difficulty with word level and syllable level of the phonological awareness
pretest. He scored a 3/5 and 2/5 respectively. This could be seen in the difficulty with the word
lists that had difficult, multisyllabic words on them. He did well with the phoneme level of
matching, scoring 5/5, and this strength could also be seen as the errors made on the running
record for four words were a visual error.
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Recommendations
Based on the information gathered from the testing results, the following areas will be
highlighted to strengthen this students reading and improve his areas of need.
Comprehension
Read aloud
Vocabulary
Phonics
More text specific vocabulary student harvests
on own, writing
Writing, word work, expressive reading aloud
Phonemic Awareness
Syllable work, writing
Fluency
Supply texts of areas of interest, read aloud