Organizing Comprehensive Literacy Assessment: How

to Get Started, Part I

September 10,2008

Before Beginning Assessment

• Ensure maximum access to print/picture/logo/writing materials, etc.– Positioning– Assistive technology/aug com needs– Sensory issues that require modification of

materials (e.g., increasing size of print or picture)

Organizing Assessment: Areas to Evaluate

• Language level*• Early or Emergent literacy: Understanding

of print• Phonological & phonemic Awareness• Word recognition skills: automatic

mediated• Reading fluency• Listening & reading comprehension• Writing (composing text)• Attitudes toward literacy

Organizing Assessment: Areas to Evaluate

• Language Level*– Level of language or communication (intentional?

Symbolic?)– Mode of communication (e.g., speech, sign, PECS, other

or combination– Vocabulary level (e.g., Peabody Picture Vocabulary)

• Listening (receptive) and speaking (expressive) vocabulary

• Early or Emergent Literacy: Understanding of print– Symbol recognition (if appropriate)– Might include sight words or be limited to concrete objects,

photographs, or picsyms – E.g., Concepts About Print; Early Literacy Checklist

Evaluating What Students Understand About Print

• Examples: Concepts About Print

Checklist of Early Literacy

Organizing Assessment: Areas to Evaluate

• Phonological & Phonemic Awareness (if student is in early stages of reading)– E.g., observation, Dibbles, Yopp-Singer, . . .

• Word Recognition Skills: Automatic & Mediated– Letter name/sound knowledge; single words;

words within connected text; includes phonics skills (decoding)

– E.g., running records w/ miscue analysis, Informal Reading Inventories (IRI); standardized instruments, such as W-JR or Brigance; CBM; GDRT

Organizing Assessment: Areas to Evaluate

Reading (Word Recognition) Levels

• Independent level – read without support– Recognize a minimum of 99% of words/comprehend 90%

• Instructional level – read with support– Recognize a minimum of 95% of words/comprehend 75%

• Frustration level – too difficult even with support– Recognize less than 90% of words/comprehend less than

50%

• Listening comprehension level– Comprehend 75% of material read to her/him

Word Recognition: Phonics

Examples of Formal and Informal assessments– The Abecedarian Reading Assessment

(can provide this upon request)– Grey Diagnostic Reading Test– Sections of the some of the Brigance tests– Informal Word Recognition skills test

Running Records

• Are a method of assessing oral reading skills; can determine reading level and do miscue analysis to determine strategies student is currently using– Can also examine comprehension w/ running

records by using re-tellings, summarizing, etc.

• Can be a part of an Informal Reading Inventory OR can use weekly as a separate informal measure of student progress

• Don’t require special materials• Use a set of symbols to record students’

performance

• Use material at student’s instructional level; try to use a passage of at least 100 words

• Record student performance (using set of symbols) on top line/text on bottom line

• Calculate % of words read correctly: mispronunciations, omissions, additions, substitutions, reversals count as an error;– # of words read correctly/ total # of words x 100

= % read correctly (accuracy)

Running Records

Miscue Analysis – method to examine types of errors student is making (using info from a running

record) to determine which strategies for word recognition a

student is applying

Miscue Analysis

• Looking at a student’s errors and analyzing them to see what types they are: – Mispronunciations

– Omissions

– Substitutions

– repetitions and re-readings,

– Self-corrections

– Hesitations, and

– Requests for help

Types of miscues• Semantic (meaning related)

– Kim lives on an island far out in the sea (ocean).

• Graphophonic (visual, phonic)– Kim likes (lives) on an island far out in the open

(ocean).

• Syntactic– The boy walked tomorrow (through) the door.

• Self-corrected

• Calculate % for each type of error

Words Meaning Visual Syntax

Text Child Self-Correction

Similar Meaning?

Graphophonic similarity?

Grammatically acceptable?

grumble

grumbly X

always -

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 X X

scarf self X

taken take X X

scarf scafer X

that they X X

may maybe X

still sit 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(

You Try It:

• Listen as Natalia reads. Code her reading on the handout provided.

• Then– Calculate her reading accuracy– Categorize her miscues– Determine what strategies for word

recognition she is using; what area(s) might you focus on with her to improve word recognition skills?

Organizing Assessment: Areas to Evaluate

• Reading Fluencye.g., CBM procedures using fluency norms, phrasing, words correct per min, . . .

• Calculate rate (# of correctly read words/time)

• Also observe phrasing (chunking), hesitations, prosody (stress and intonation)

Reading Fluency

• Word by word reading Reads in phrases

• Too slow or too fast Appropriate pacing

• No expression Appropriate expression

• Not aware of punctuation Aware of punctuation

• Poor sight word recognition Automatic sight word recognition

Next Week

• Continue examining areas of literacy assessment and types of assessments within each area.

• Read – Jennings et al. Chapter 5 (2006)– Winn & Otis-Wilborn (1999)

You will need this background for class discussion and small group activities.

• Begin outlining the assessments you will use for the student you will be working with on the literacy project.