Trinity Swift
TEDU 566
Professor Cipolletti
March 25, 2015
Case Study Report Spring 2015
Student Background
Ny’Asia is a second grader at Johnson Elementary in Henrico, Virginia. She is eight
years and 5 months old. She was recommended by her teacher to take part in TEDU 566 Reading
and Remediation sessions for assistance in reading and writing. She enjoys spending free time
playing dolls with her sister, play hide and seek with her cousins, writing her own stories,
watching TV and her favorite book is The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss. Ny’Asia has an older
sister, two older brothers, and a Mom and Dad who all reside with her.
Ny’Asia’s percentile ranks for the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey were 56% for
recreational, 51% for academic and a 54% on a full scale based on a 100 point scale; her total
raw score was 60. Ny’Asia loves reading at school and sometimes at home. But when she has
some leisure time, she prefers playing games with family and friends. Over the summer she
enjoys reading new books and making trips to the bookstore and the library. She says her
favorite subject is math because it comes easy to her. Ny’Asia is a little shy when you first meet
her, but she soon opens up and is a very curious and talkative student.
Letter Identification/Alphabet Knowledge
Total Score/54
Confusions
54/54
No confusions
Letters Unknown
All letters recognized
correctly
Ny’Asia was very successful in completing the Letter Identification assessment. She
correctly identified every letter with few to no confusions. Throughout the assessment she
covered her left eye as if she were at the eye doctor. Her explanation for this behavior was that it
helped her see the letters better. Ny’Asia gave an alphabet response for every letter on the
assessment. Not at any time did she give a letter sound or word response. She was very patient
during the process and confident in her answers.
Phonemic Awareness
Yopp-Singer test of Phoneme Segmentation
Score: 19/22
Level of phonemic awareness: strong
Ny’Asia did very well on the Yopp-Singer test. She got most of the word segmentations
correct, missing only three. Throughout the assessment she seemed very comfortable until she
came upon the words fine, grew and that. If she mispronounced a word, I sounded out the correct
response, had her repeat it, and we moved on. When she did struggle it didn’t frustrate her and
she continued sounding out the rest of the words. She took her time in pronouncing out each
word carefully as best she could.
Writing Skills
Ny’Asia was given a few minutes to brainstorm what she wanted to write about. Initially
she had no idea what to write about, she sat and waited to be given an idea or a little more
prompting. Eventually she decided she wanted to write about her family so she had five minutes
to start a drawing. In the picture she drew herself, her sister and her Dad. In the picture she was
smiling and laughing while her Dad held her sister up in the air. As time came close to an end
she had to put aside the picture and begin her writing sample. Ny’Asia started writing. She wrote
one sentence then sat the pencil down. She had to be encouraged to write more. The prompting
continued until she said she had nothing else to write about.
Ideas & Content
1
Organization
1
Voice
1
Word Choice
2
Sentence Fluency
1
Conventions
1
On her writing sample she scored a 7/36 or 19% based on the Six Traits Writing Rubric.
Ny’Asia produced a story that was ultimately a list of events. Two sentences began with “my”
and another two starting with “we”. Sentence structure lacked variety and creativity. She did not
produce a sample that had a clear beginning, middle and end. Her writing had beginning level
ideas where it lacked a central idea and there was little development. Ny’Asia did not focus on a
single event in her writing. There were a few conventional errors in Ny’Asia’s writing that made
it difficult for her sentences to flow, some were confusing to read.
Writing Known Words Assessment
Score: 40 words in 10 minutes (27 correct words)
Ny’Asia was given a total of ten minutes to write down as many words as she could. She
wrote down a total of 40 words in the time allotted and spelled 27 words correctly. There were a
few words Ny’Asia repeated during the assessment. Ny’Asia needed prompting multiple times
during the ten minutes. She would write sentences rather than words at times which is why some
short words were repeated and could not count towards the score of correct words written.
Ny’Asia was successful in writing words from left-to-right, having correct letter
formation, and recalling sight words. There was a lack of phonological awareness in Ny’Asia’s
words. Many words she thought of could have been altered by adding different endings or
changed into different rhyming words.
Word Knowledge-Spelling Inventory
Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI)
Feature Points: 31/56
Words Spelled Correctly: 9/26
Spelling Stage: Late Letter Name
Known
Using But Confusing
Absent
-initial and final consonants
-short vowels
-digraphs
-blends
-common long vowels
-other vowels
-inflected endings
Giving Ny’Asia the Primary spelling inventory provided information on her orthographic
knowledge, which ultimately provides a starting point for planning instruction. Her spelling
level is Late Letter Name. Ny’Asia did great recognizing beginning and ending consonants as
well as short vowels with the exception of short -e. Ny’Asia missed her first two words with the
digraphs which showed where to begin word work. Her knowledge of short vowels, digraphs:
–sh, -ch, and -th, blends and common long vowels: are used but confused. Whereas other
vowels: –ew, -aw, and inflicted endings: –ed, and -es are absent. After Ny’Asia misspelled her
fifth word in a row, the assessment was complete. Ny’Asia spelled nine words correctly out of
the total 26 words on the list. The words that Ny’Asia did miss, she took her time on. She would
sit and think about the word, try and pronounce it silently and finally write down what she
thought it was.
Reading Skill
Qualitative Reading Inventory: QRI-5
Word Lists Results:
Level
Pre-Primer 2/3
Primer
First
Second
Total Automatic
Identified
18/20=90%
16/20=80%
13/20=65%
11/20=55%
Total Correct
Identified
0/20=0%
3/20=15%
4/20=20%
0/20=0%
Total Number
Correct
18/20=90%
19/20=95%
17/20=85%
11/20=55%
Functional Level
Independent
Independent
Instructional
Frustration
Reading Passage Scores: Oral Reading
Grade
Level / % Automatic
Level / % Total
Passage Name
Pre-k
90%
90%
Spring and
Fall
80%
95%
A Trip
Readability Level
k
1
65%
85%
Mouse in
a House
Pre-primer
3
Primer
One
Passage Type Narrative/Expository
Concepts Familiar/Unfamiliar: %
Level / % Total Accuracy
Narr.
55% F
96% Ins
Narr.
33% U
95% Ins
Level / % Total Acceptability
Retelling % Number of Ideas
# Explicit Correct
-28%
5
Narr.
66% F
91%
Ins
-27%
4
-6%
3
Pre-k
55%
55%
Just
Like
Mom
PrePrimer
2
Narr.
44% U
90%
Ins
-20%
2
Primer
Ex.
66% F
93%
Ins
-22%
3
k
# Explicit Correct w/Look-Backs
# Implicit Correct
# Implicit Correct w/Look-Backs
Level % Comprehension
Level % Comprehension w/LookBacks
Rate WPM/CWPM
Total Passage Level
-0
-100 Ind
--
-1
-83 Ins
--
-1
-66 Fr
--
-2
-80 Ins
--
4
1
1
67 Ins
83 Ins
62/60
Ins
79/72
Ins
130/124
Fr
42/38
Ins
59/55
Ins
Word Lists
On the Pre-Primer 2/3 word list Ny’Asia correctly identified 18 out of the 20 words
automatically, scoring 90%. This score translates to her reaching the independent level. On the
Primer word list she correctly identified 16 words automatically, receiving an 80%, and correctly
identified 3 words without automaticity, receiving a total number correct of 19 scoring a 95%, an
independent level. On the First word list, she automatically identified 13 out of 20 and the total
number correct was 17 out of 20 making it 85%, instructional level. Lastly, on the Second word
list, Ny’Asia automatically identified 11 out of 20 words and received a total number correct
percentage of 55%, frustration.
Ny’Asia most easily identified a majority of the words on the Pre-Primer 2/3 and primer
word lists. She was not as strong identifying words on the First and Second level wordlists. She
sometimes leaves out vowels such as the –e in heard, spelling it hard; or other vowels like the -ai
combination in afraid spelling if afred.
Reading Passages
The first passage Ny’Asia read to assess her reading level was, “Spring and Fall,” a PrePrimer 3 level narrative. Ny’Asia read the story with 96% total accuracy and received a 55%
familiarity of concepts. She answered five out of five explicit questions correctly and therefore
scored a 100% on comprehension, which is on the independent level. Lastly she received a 28%
retelling the number of ideas. Her total passage level was Instructional reading 62 words per
minute and 60 correct words per minute.
The second passage Ny’Asia read was, “A Trip,” which is a Primer readability level text.
She read the story with 91% accuracy and received a 66% familiarity of concepts. She correctly
answered four explicit questions and one implicit question, scoring an 83% on comprehension,
and ultimately receiving a total passage level of Instructional reading 79 words per minute and
72 correct words per minute.
On the third passage, “Mouse in a House,” Ny’Asia had a total passage level of
frustration. This was a readability level of One and she read the story with 95% accuracy, an
Instructional level, and received a 33% on familiarity of concepts. She correctly answered three
out of four explicit questions and one out of two implicit questions. Overall she scored a 66% on
comprehensions. Ny’Asia was only able to retell 6% of the ideas in, “Mouse in a House.” She
read 130 words per minute and 124 correct words per minute.
Another story Ny’Asia read was a pre-primer 2 level narrative titled, “Just Like Mom.”
She received a 44% unfamiliarity on the concepts of the story. Ny’Asia received a 90% level of
total accuracy. She was able to retell 20% of the number of ideas. In answering the explicit
questions she got two correct, and in answering the implicit questions she also got two correct
getting four out of the total five answers correct. Therefore she received an 80% instructional
level for comprehension. Overall Ny’Asia received a total passage level of Instructional reading
59 words per minute and 55 correct words per minute.
Lastly, Ny’Asia read a primer level expository passage titled, “Who Lives Near Lakes” in
which she was able to look back at the story to answer both implicit and explicit comprehension
questions. She was able to reference the words as well as the pictures. She received a 66%
familiarity of concepts. Her total accuracy was 93% Instructional. Ny’Asia was able to retell
22% of the number of ideas. She answered three explicit questions correctly, and a total of four
explicit questions correctly with look-backs. She answered one implicit question correctly and
still one implicit question correctly with look-backs. Her level of comprehension was 67
instructional, and her level of comprehension with look-backs was 83% Instructional. Overall
she read 59 words per minute and 55 correct words per minute. Ny’Asia’s total passage level
was instructional.
On most passages Ny’Asia did very well answering explicit questions in which she had to
recall information explicitly stated in the text. She was able to recall more ideas in the first two
passages, which were shorter, easier than in the “Mouse in a House” passage which was almost
two pages long. Although the pre-primer 2 passage was one the shortest passage, Ny’Asia
struggled retelling ideas and answering comprehension questions. She looked at the pictures as
she read, and made inferences based on the drawings when answering comprehension questions
and trying to retell parts of the story, but some inferences did not coincide with the story nor the
pictures. On the expository passage, she had difficulty pinpointing correct explicit questions
found in the story. She also had trouble answering implicit questions in the expository text.
Ny’Asia did not enjoy the QRI-passages. After the third story she had to read, she
became bored with the process of answering questions, predicting, reading, retelling and
answering questions about the reading. Some days she did better than others. When she had to
more than one passage in a session she grew weary and asked to play a word game. Although she
did not care for these assessments, she did her best and thought as hard as she could to answer
questions and retell the story.
Listening Vocabulary Knowledge
Score Summary
Student Chronological Age
8:4
Raw Score
120
Standard Score
91
Percentile Rank
91
NCE
37
Stanine
4
Age Equivalent
7:4
Grade Equivalent
1:4
Description
Low Average
According to the PPVT Ny’Asia’s chronological age is eight years and four months. She
received a raw score of 120 and her percentile rank was 91. Her stanine score was four and her
age equivalent came to be 7:4 or seven years and four months. Her grade equivalent is 1.8.
Ny’Asia’s basal set was at age seven where she had zero errors. She went up to set twelve in
which she reached the ceiling set rule, she had nine errors. Set twelve is where ages fourteen to
sixteen would start. Her PPVT-4 standard score of 91 put her on a low average based on the
graphical profile. During the PPVT Ny’Asia became bored. Although she was encouraged she
seemed to grow tired of the lengthy, repetitive process. The timely assessment though, did not
affect her responses. She continued to provide the correct answers and took her time to think
about replies she wasn’t quite sure about.
Summary of Assessments
On the letter recognition assessment for alphabetic knowledge, Ny’Asia did very well. At
no point in time were there any confusions or words unknown. She recognized each letter
correctly, without any assistance or hesitation. When asked to tell what each item was, she gave
all alphabet responses. At no time did she give a letter sound or word response.
On the Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Awareness, Ny’Asia was able to break most
words apart correctly. She scored a 19 out of 22 words, which means she has strong phonemic
awareness. When given directions, and provided three practice items, Ny’Asia was confident
throughout the entire test. After being given the correct response, when she did break apart
sounds incorrectly, she understood why her response was incorrect. She was always sure to say
the sounds in the word and not the letters.
Ny’Asia’s writing sample was a list of events that involved her family. She decided she
wanted to write a story about her family, but was not able to focus on a single event. Her ideas
were not cohesive, nor were they organized or fluent. There were multiple conventions and
choices of wording that made the sample difficult to read. Although she had many great ideas,
she did not have any set direction in her writing. Often times she asked for help to spell certain
words. She also required a lot of encouragement and scaffolding to keep writing and think of
ideas.
On the spelling inventory, Ny’Asia used but confused short vowels, digraphs, blends,
common vowels, other vowels and inflected endings. When we reached number sixteen on the
list, she had missed five in a row and I stopped the assessment. A few times during the test she
would change her mind and erase a word. She also took extended periods of time sounding out
and trying to visualize certain words like “wait” and “fright.” Although she got frustrated at
times she always spelled the words as best they could or as close to how they sounded when she
said them aloud.
Ny’Asia received independent on the pre-primer 2/3 word list, instructional on both the
primer and first passages and frustration on the second passage. She cruised through the preprimer 2/3 and primer lists. On the primer list she automatically identified 16 out of 20 words.
Three words she identified correctly and one she did not identify. As the test became more
difficult it took her longer to identify words which slowly brought down her percentages. On the
second word lists she missed a total of nine words. Although she missed this many, many of
them were very close in spelling.
Most of Ny’Asia’s scores for the reading passages seemed to be on the instructional
level. Based on comparing her word recognition and comprehension I found that she tested on a
total passage level of instructional for the pre-primer 2 and 3, the primer and the level one
passage. The most consistency I found was in her total accuracy of the stories, which depends on
her miscues during reading. She did very well reading the stories and was almost always able to
self-correct herself based on context clues.
Where Ny’Asia struggled most was with implicit comprehension questions. She
struggled when she was able to look-back at the text for her expository passage was she able to
answer the implicit question correctly as well as when she was not able to look-back in her
narrative passages. Implicit answers are answers not explicitly stated in the context which may
be why Ny’Asia struggled with them. An implicit question can be answered based on a clue in
the passage.
Even though Ny’Asia reached her highest passage level of instructional on a primer
narrative, I have found that this does not reflect the leveled texts she is able to read in our
tutoring sessions. I understand not all assessments are perfect and sometimes don’t provide the
most trusted results. I think besides giving the assessment a lot of other things can affect a
student’s score. In the beginning of tutoring we began with level A books now we are moving on
to level D books.
On the PPVT Ny’Asia received a standard score of 91. The standard score tells the
distance of the student’s raw score from the average for students of the same age. A standard
score of 100 is average for her age. Therefore she was nine points away from the average score
of students who are her age. Although she is only nine points from the average of most students
her age, on the graphical profile she received a low average score.
Recommended Instructional Plan
Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Awareness-(phonics)
Ny’Asia missed three words on the Yopp-Singer test: fine in which she pronounced it /f//i/-/nd/ (she misheard fine for find) instead of /f/-/i/-/n/, grew in which she pronounced it /gr/-/oo/
instead of /g/-/r/-/oo/, and that in which she pronounced it /th/-/at/ instead of /th/-/a/-/t/. My first
recommendation for instruction, related to the words she missed, would be to practice breaking
more sounds apart. There are many games and activities that help students practice
pronunciation. I would use sound boxes and coins. Clapping out sounds or jumping for each
individual sound could also be a fun way for my student to practice words that are tough to
segment.
Writing Skills-(writing)
My next steps in helping Ny’Asia on her writing would be to help her learn how to
organize a short story. We would discuss how to choose a main idea, and from there create a
beginning, middle and end that coincide with the main point of the story. Different prewriting
strategies could facilitate such instruction. Using a web could help her narrow down the focus of
her story writing. Hamburger writing would enable her to create a beginning, middle, and end
when writing a story.
After instilling the basics of having a main idea, and the beginning, middle and end parts
of a story, I would work with her on sentence variety. All of her sentences began with either
“my” or “we.” In order to incorporate different beginnings for sentences we could read short
stories together that have numerous beginnings, none alike, or read a story written by a friend
who is strong in using sentence variety.
Word Knowledge-(phonics & vocabulary)
After administering the spelling inventory I would recommend that Ny’Asia first practice
with short vowels until she masters them. I would not practice with short vowels for a long time,
but completing a word sort, or word game online that caters to short vowels would be a great
way to quickly practice and make sure she recognizes how and when short vowels are used.
When she masters short vowels, I would move on to digraphs. There are so many
digraphs, so based on the ones she did not correctly recognize on the assessment, I would start
with those. There are many ways to work on digraphs, I find that when students are able to
manipulate the letters on their own it is very effective. Magnet letters are great to use on a white
board, as well as scrabble letters, in which you could call out a word and have the student create
it on their own. As you choose words, you could differentiate the placement of the digraphs.
Word Lists-(spelling, phonics)
Based on Ny’Asia’s word lists, I would recommend that instruction begin at the first
instructional level which is the primer level. Based on her scores I would start testing her on
reading passages at the primer level. Multiple words in the word lists are again seen in the QRI-
passages. I would provide her a highlighter so that as she reads these passages and these words
reappear she will become more familiar with the spellings. I would specifically provide a list of
words found on the word lists that she missed. She could also be instructed to look for rhyming
words -- and highlight them with a different color highlighter-- this way she can recognize
patterns and sounds in her mind so that when she comes upon a familiar word, she will have no
trouble writing it correctly.
Reading Passages-(comprehension)
In working on comprehension with Ny’Asia I would suggest asking her more implicit
questions using different texts; maybe texts she enjoys reading or that spark her interest. Doing
so will allow her to understand she has to use clues in stories and passages to answer questions
and that they won’t always be easy to find or recognize. K-W-L charts would be a great tool to
use for practice of comprehension and especially implicit comprehension. I would also continue
moving up in book levels as she is able to independently read stories on her own with fluency.
Listening Vocabulary Knowledge-(vocab)
Based on Ny’Asia’s PPVT scores, I would recommend word games in which her
vocabulary can be enhanced. There are numbers vocabulary games online and many others you
can create on your own. I would advise playing a guessing game. I would have picture cards in
which the student would draw and have to guess what word goes with their card. A guessing
game will make the student come up with the word on their own. It is a bit of a challenge as
compared to the student having to match the word to the picture. The guessing game will force
the student to use their prior knowledge and make conclusions based on what they have in front
of them.