1. 1 Effective Assessment for Screening, Progress Monitoring,
and Diagnosis Lynn S. Fuchs and Douglas Fuchs Vanderbilt
University
2. 2 Assessment Process of collecting information for the
purpose of formulating decisions. Formal assessment: Objective
measurements of abilities, skills, strategies Informal assessment:
Based on inferences a professional draws as a function of
unsystematic observations in the relevant context Both are
important. Focus of this presentation: Formal Assessment
3. 3 The Importance of Formal Classroom Reading Assessment
Formal assessment helps the teacher: Identify which students are at
risk for long-term reading problems. Identify which students are
making inadequate progress in response to the core reading program.
For students making inadequate progress, build effective
individualized programs. Diagnose reading strengths and weaknesses
on component skills to differentiate instruction. Provide students
with appropriate reading material. Ensure ALL students achieve
reading success to enhance learning across the subject areas.
4. 4 In This Presentation 1. Draw distinctions between two
formal assessment systems Mastery Measurement General Outcome
Measurement 2. Explain three decisions made on the basis of General
Outcome Measurement Screening Progress Monitoring Diagnosis
5. 5 In This Presentation 3. Differentiate between two
approaches to General Outcome Measurement Curriculum Sampling
Approach Performance Indicator Approach
6. 6 In This Presentation 1. Draw distinctions between the two
major forms of formal classroom assessment Mastery Measurement
General Outcome Measurement
7. 7 MASTERY MEASUREMENT Tracks Mastery of Short-term
Instructional Objectives Determines the sequence of skills in an
instructional hierarchy For each skill, develops a criterion-
referenced test To implement Mastery Measurement, the teacher
8. 8 First-Grade Phonics 1. Letter recognition 2. Linking
sounds to letters 3. Initial and final consonants 4. Short vowels
5. Digraphs and blends 6. Long vowel patterns 7. Other vowel
patterns 8. High-frequency word recognition 9. Decoding
9. 9 Multidigit Addition Mastery Test
10. 10 Problems with Mastery Measurement Hierarchy of skills is
logical, not empirical. Assessment does not reflect maintenance or
generalization. Methods rely on single-skill testing. So , number
of objectives mastered does not relate well to performance on
important criterion measures like high-stakes tests.
11. 11 General Outcome Measurement (GOM) was designed to
address these problems GOM makes no assumptions about instructional
hierarchy for determining measurement (i.e., GOM fits with any
instructional approach) GOM incorporates automatic tests of
retention and generalization
12. Sampling performance on year-long curriculum for each GOM
Avoids need to specify a skills hierarchy Avoids single-skill tests
Automatically assesses maintenance and generalization SO THAT: GOM
scores relate well to performance on high-stakes tests and true
reading success
13. 13 In This Presentation 2. Explain three decisions made on
the basis of General Outcome Measurement Screening Progress
Monitoring Diagnosis
14. 14 What Decisions Do Teachers Make Using GOM Assessments?
Screening Progress Monitoring Diagnosis
15. 15 Screening What Is Screening? Measures students to
identify those in danger of scoring poorly on end-of-year
high-stakes tests and experiencing poor long-term outcomes.
Identifies students early so that intervention is provided well
before the end of the year. Purpose is to improve long-term
outcomes.
16. 16 Screening What Happens During Screening? A tool is
selected. A cut-point is set. Students who score below the
cut-point are designated as at risk for unsatisfactory long- term
outcomes. Conducted once at the beginning of the year or
periodically across the school year.
17. Progress Monitoring What Is Progress Monitoring? Progress
monitoring involves more frequent (e.g., periodic, monthly, or
weekly) measurement of students reading performance. The frequent
assessments are used to quantify the rate of improvement (the
students progress) toward competence in the grade-level curriculum.
Progress monitoring permits the teacher to evaluate the effects of
instruction and, when instruction is producing inadequate results,
the teacher uses the progress-monitoring data to redesign the
instructional program in a timely way, to ensure strong outcomes by
the end of the year.
18. 18 Progress Monitoring What Happens With Progress
Monitoring? Select a measure. Assess students frequently (weekly or
monthly or periodically). For each student, graph scores against
time. For each student, quantify rate of improvement (slope:
increase per week or month or period). Use the information to
inform instructional decisions. Determine whether student is
improving adequately. If not, determine how to build a better,
differentiated program.
19. 19 What We Look For With GOM Progress Monitoring Increasing
scores Indicate the student is becoming a better reader Flat scores
Indicate the student is not profiting from the instructional
program and requires a change in the instructional program
20. 20 Sarahs Reading Progress 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
180 WordsReadCorrectly Sarah Smith Reading 2 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Feb Mar Apr May
21. 21 Jessicas Reading Progress 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
180 WordsReadCorrectly Jessica Jones Reading 2 Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan
Feb Mar Apr May
22. 22 Diagnostic Assessment Tool used to measure a students
strengths and weaknesses and to differentiate instruction. The goal
is to identify productive targets for instruction. Conducted
periodically.
23. 23 In This Presentation 3. Differentiate between two
approaches to General Outcome Measurement Curriculum Sampling
Approach Performance Indicator Approach
24. 24 Two GOM Approaches for Representing Year-Long
Performance Method #1: The Curriculum-Sampling Approach
Systematically sample items from the annual curriculum (illustrated
in Math GOM) Method #2: The Performance Indicator Approach Identify
a global behavior that correlates highly with important outcomes
and serves as a proxy for competence with the many skills taught in
the annual curriculum
25. 25 The Curriculum-Sampling Approach The critical skills
that constitute the curriculum are specified. The relative
importance of each skill is determined. For each skill, assessment
items are designed. The items are organized into the test such that
the weight given to each skill on the assessment reflects the
relative importance of that skill. Each alternate form of the test
is created in the same way to represent the annual curriculum with
equivalent difficulty.
26. 26 Example: GOM Curriculum-Sampling Approach The 100-Point
Skills Battery Administered on 3 testing occasions each year At
each testing occasion, the test is a parallel form of equivalent
difficulty, sampling the entire years curriculum in the same way,
but each time with different items.
27. 27 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach)
Grade K Strand Items Weight Format Setting Oral Blending 5 5
Produced One-on-one Rhyming 5 5 Produced One-on-one Segmentation 5
5 Produced One-on-one High-Frequency Word Reading 10 10 Produced
One-on-one Letter Recognition 10 10 Produced One-on-one Letter
Sounds 10 20 Produced One-on-one Phonics Word Reading 10 20
Produced One-on-one Grammar, Usage & Mech. 5 5 Multiple Choice
Group Vocabulary 5 10 Multiple Choice Group Comprehension 5 20
Multiple Choice Group
28. 28 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach)
Strand # Items Weight Format Setting Phonemic Awareness 5 5
Produced One-on-one Phonics 5 5 Produced One-on-one Decoding 10 20
Produced One-on-one High-Frequency Word Reading 25 25 Produced
One-on-one Grammar, Usage and Mechanics 5 5 Multiple Choice Group
Vocabulary 5 10 Multiple Choice Group Comprehension 10 20 Multiple
Choice Group Spelling 5 10 Produced Group Dictation Grade 1
29. 29 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach)
Grade 2 Strand # Items Total weight Format Setting Phonics 5 10
Multiple Choice Group Word Analysis 5 10 Multiple Choice Group
Spelling 5 10 Multiple Choice Group Grammar, Usage and Mechanics 5
10 Multiple Choice Group Vocabulary 5 20 Multiple Choice Group
Comprehension 20 40 Multiple Choice Group
30. 30 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach)
Grade 3 Strand # Items Total weight Format Setting Phonics 5 10
Multiple Choice Group Word Analysis 5 10 Multiple Choice Group
Grammar, Usage and Mechanics 5 10 Multiple Choice Group Spelling 5
10 Multiple Choice Group Vocabulary 5 20 Multiple Choice Group
Comprehension 5 20 Multiple Choice Group
31. 31 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach)
A (gradually-increasing) screening cut-score is applied at each
assessment occasion. Students scoring below the cut- point are
identified as at risk for reading difficulties. Interventions are
designed. The 3 scores collected across the school year are graphed
to represent student progress for each student in the class. At
each assessment occasion, the strand scores are used diagnostically
to identify strengths and weaknesses for differentiating
instruction.
32. 32 Screening Cut-Points for 100-Point Skills Battery Gr K
Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Benchmark 1 10 10 10 10 Benchmark 2 40 40 40 40
Benchmark 3 85 85 85 85
33. 100-Point Skills Battery (Curriculum-Sampling Approach) A
(gradually-increasing) screening cut-score is applied at each
assessment occasion. Students scoring below the cut- point are
identified as at risk for reading difficulties. The 3 scores
collected across the school year are graphed to represent student
progress for each student in the class. Students whose progress
falls short are provided differentiated instruction or
intervention. At each assessment occasion, the strand scores are
used diagnostically to identify strengths and weaknesses for
differentiating instruction or providing intervention.
34. 34 The Performance Indicator Approach to GOM Assessment
Tasks that potentially serve as an overall indicator of reading
competence at a grade level are identified. Research is conducted
to determine which task relates best to the important, long-term
outcomes. Alternate forms for that best task are created so each
alternate form is different but is equivalent, representing the
same level of difficulty for that task.
35. 35 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach Example: At 2nd
grade, students read a 2nd-grade passage aloud for 1 minute. The
score (number of words read correctly) represents the students
overall reading competence. This serves as a direct measure of
passage reading fluency, but more importantly, it functions as an
indicator of overall reading competence. Students who score poorly
when reading text aloud in a fixed time are the same students who
have poor skill with Decoding Word recognition Vocabulary
Comprehension Measures have been validated to reflect overall
reading competence at the various elementary grades.
36. 36 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach Kindergarten
Letter-Sound Fluency Teacher: Say the sound that goes with each
letter. Time: 1 minute p U z u y i t R e w O a s d f v g j S h k m
n b V Y E i c x
37. 37 Kindergarten Letter-Sound Fluency Alternate-passage
stability (3 weeks): .92 - .94 Criterion validity with WRMT: .58 -
.71 Predictive validity with CBM (Fall 1 to Spring 1): .68
Predictive validity with CBM (Fall K to Spring 1): .54 Predictive
validity with TerraNova (Fall 1 to Spring 1): .53 Predictive
validity with TerraNova (Fall K to Spring 1): .43
38. 38 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach Grade 1
Word-Identification Fluency Teacher: Read these words. Time: 1
minute. two for come because last from ...
40. 40 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach Grades 2-3:
Passage Reading Fluency Number of words read aloud correctly in 1
minute on end-of-year passages
41. 41 Jason Fry ran home from school. He had to pack his
clothes. He was going to the beach. He packed a swimsuit and
shorts. He packed tennis shoes and his toys. The Fry family was
going to the beach in Florida. The next morning Jason woke up
early. He helped Mom and Dad pack the car, and his sister, Lonnie,
helped too. Mom and Dad sat in the front seat. They had maps of the
beach. Jason sat in the middle seat with his dog, Ruffie. Lonnie
sat in the back and played with her toys. They had to drive for a
long time. Jason looked out the window. He saw farms with animals.
Many farms had cows and pigs but some farms had horses. He saw a
boy riding a horse. Jason wanted to ride a horse, too. He saw rows
of corn growing in the fields. Then Jason saw rows of trees. They
were orange trees. He sniffed their yummy smell. Lonnie said she
could not wait to taste one. Dad stopped at a fruit market by the
side of the road. He bought them each an orange. Passage Reading
Fluency
43. 43 These GOM Performance Indicators Produce accurate,
meaningful information about students academic levels and their
rates of improvement. Are sensitive to student improvement.
Correspond well with high-stakes tests. When used to monitor
progress and inform instructional decisions, result in improved
student outcomes.
44. 44 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach A
(gradually-increasing) screening cut-score is applied at each
assessment occasion. Students scoring below the cut- point are
identified as at risk for reading difficulties. The 3 scores
collected across the school year are graphed to represent student
progress for each student in the class. At each assessment
occasion, the strand scores are used diagnostically to identify
strengths and weaknesses for differentiating instruction.
45. 45 Grades K-1 Benchmark Cut-Offs for Fluency Assessment
Grade K Grade 1 Benchmark 1 0 15 Benchmark 2 12 40 Benchmark 3 30
75 Type of Measure Letter Sounds High-Frequency Word
Identification
46. 46 Grades 1-3 Benchmark Cut-Offs for Passage Reading
Fluency Gr 1 Gr 2 Gr 3 Benchmark 1 N/A 79 99 Benchmark 2 47 100 120
Benchmark 3 82 117 137
47. 47 The GOM Performance Indicator Approach A
(gradually-increasing) screening cut-score is applied at each
assessment occasion. Students scoring below the cut- point are
identified as at risk for reading difficulties. The 3 scores
collected across the school year are graphed to represent student
progress for each student in the class. At each assessment
occasion, the strand scores are used diagnostically to identify
strengths and weaknesses for differentiating instruction.
48. 48 GOM Assessment Systems Can rely exclusively on
curriculum-sampling measures Can rely exclusively on performance
indicators Can integrate the curriculum-sampling and performance
indicator approaches
49. 49 Major Advantages Curriculum Sampling Maps nicely with
high-stakes tests Provides strand scores for diagnosis of strengths
and weaknesses Performance Indicator Takes less time, so can be
administered more frequently, which is necessary for designing
differentiated instructional programs
50. 50 Integrating Curriculum Sampling Approach with
Performance Indicator Approach Curriculum sampling - Used with all
students periodically (3 times per year) For students who evidence
risk on curriculum-sampling approach, performance indicators -
Administered on weekly, with scores graphed against time. - This
allows the teacher to monitor the effects of instruction more
carefully for at-risk students and use the data to build more
effective programs.