Standard 8, assessment. A teacher must understand and be able to use formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the student.

Assessment is constantly being conducted in the elementary classrooms that I am a part of.  Below, a detailed analysis of assessment procedures that I used with a first and third grade student, and background assessment information on these two students and the assessments that are used by the school.  To extend this study in a practical way, ways to fit assessment into the literacy block during a typical fast-paced day could be presented.   

Elementary Reading and Writing Assessments

Reading and Writing Assessments Used within the Classroom and School

·      What sorts of reading/writing assessments are conducted school wide?

Based on discussions with the elementary principal and the coordinator of reading instruction, the tests below are given to K-5 students.  According to the reading instruction coordinator, the school district is in the process of deciding on what direction to go in the assessment of elementary writing.

Kindergarteners undergo a five-word test (nap, kid, log, jet, gum), designed by Words Their Way authors, and if they are able to, a Fountas and Pinnell reading running record.  They also are given a letter identification and letter sounds test. 

First graders are given the Fountas & Pinnell Where-to-Start Word Test, a Fountas & Pinnell running record, and the Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory.

Second through fifth graders take the Where-to-Start Word Test, the Fountas & Pinnell running record and the Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory.  The Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test is administered two to three times a year, and the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) test is given every spring. 

·      How is assessment information shared with faculty and parents?

Assessment information is discussed between teachers at weekly team meetings, and with parents twice a year during conferences, and more often with family members as needed. 

·      What sorts of reading, writing and learning assessments does your cooperating teacher engage in?  These will be both formal and informal assessments.

The cooperating teacher uses the assessments listed above, plus the Dolch sight words tests, and assessment and evaluation of the child’s classroom work.

·      How does your cooperating teacher use this assessment information?  How, if at all, does this vary for different children?

The cooperating teacher uses this information to assign children to small instructional reading groups and spelling groups.  However, the classroom is made up of many different types of groups.  For example, research groups may be composed of children who are interested in a common topic who are at different reading levels.

·      How does assessment work outside the classroom (e.g., Reading Recovery)

One of my focal students, Arnaldo (not his real name), participates in a Reading Recovery small group.  His small group teacher helped the classroom/cooperating teacher complete the assessments described above.  Based on these assessments, the Reading Recovery teacher wrote a detailed reading assessment and plan for Arnaldo. 

Focal Students’ Work in the Classroom

Arnaldo

First grader Arnaldo was assessed at the beginning of the school year by the cooperating teacher and his reading teacher.  He was found to have an enthusiastic and positive attitude.  He was functioning below grade level in reading and writing.  At that time he was beginning to use the first letter in words to determine unknown words.  He knew the sounds of some letters and used them to write words with assistance.  Arnaldo was able to identify 40 upper and lower case letters out of 72.  He was able to identify only 20 letter sounds.  He recognized two Dolch sight words out of 25.  On a dictated sentence exercise he scored 6/37.

Arnaldo needs to learn to identify the sounds of the letters of the alphabet, and he needs to learn to blend sounds together to make words on his own.  He sometimes confuses the order of the sounds as he writes them, but when he is encouraged to attend he makes fewer writing errors.

The assessments helped the cooperating teacher place Arnaldo in an early Letter Name—Alphabetic Stage spelling group, and an “A” reading level. The assessments also helped the reading teacher place Arnaldo in a reading group that could meet his needs.  The assessments provide a full picture of Arnaldo’s reading and writing strengths and needs at the beginning of the school year. 

Tony

Third grader Tony was assessed in early fall of 2011 by his teacher.  His MAP reading test shows that his reading skills declined from the spring of 2011 to the fall of 2011.  His word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension are in the low range.  However, his fall Fountas and Pinnell running record brings to light his accuracy in oral reading (99%), yet also shows his slightly limited comprehension.  The assessment helped the teacher place Tony in an “N” group for independent reading, and a higher “O” group for reading instruction. The teacher gave Tony the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory on September 1, 2011.  He scored in the early syllables and affixes stage.  The assessments paint a somewhat complex picture of this boy.  There seems to be a differential between his oral, fluent reading ability and his comprehension.

 

Assessment and Analysis of Focal Students’ Reading and Writing that I Conducted

Arnaldo

Formal Reading Tests

Arnaldo completed two formal reading tests with me: a Dolch sight words test and a Fountas & Pinnell running record.  He struggled with the Dolch list, so I transferred the Dolch words onto individual cards, which was easier for him. He scored 12/40.  (At the beginning of the school year he knew only two Dolch words.)  Arnaldo satisfactorily completed a Level B Fountas and Pinnell running record (accuracy rate 99%).  This is a good independent reading level for him.  His instructional level should be slightly higher than this (Tompkins, 2010, p. 76), which it is, based on classroom observations.  His text-to-text and text-to-world comprehension was satisfactory on the Fountas and Pinnell test.  He used some context clues, like looking at the pictures, and checking what letter the word begins with (Tompkins, 2010, p. 245) to double-check the words he was saying.  In two months of first grade classroom and reading small group experience, the assessments highlight the improvements Arnaldo is making.

Informal Reading Assessments

Arnaldo participated in two informal reading assessments with me: the “Concepts About Print” (CAP) test (Tompkins, 2010, p. 113), and the “Garfield Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.”  On the CAP scoring sheet Arnaldo showed that he was familiar with holding and using books.   He understands the left-right direction of print.  He had a bit of difficulty with letter/word concepts.  It was hard for him to identify a sentence.  Still, he demonstrated an understanding of the majority of letter/word concepts assessment items (Johnston, 1997, p. 101).   On the Garfield test Arnaldo mostly circled the four-point ‘happiest’ Garfield cartoons.  This may reflect his naturally upbeat personality, but it may also reflect his limited comprehension.  He did not seem to understand the difference between reading at home and reading at school even after we talked about it.

Formal Writing Tests

Arnaldo’s writing was assessed using two formal writing tests: the Words Their Way (WTW) Spelling Inventory Feature Guide and the 6+1 Traits.  On the WTW test it is evident that Arnaldo is still struggling to hear short vowel sounds.  He is hearing the short ‘a’ and ‘o’ sound.  When I encouraged him to break the word down he heard individual sounds more readily.   From this assessment it appears that Arnaldo is still in the early Letter Name-Alphabetic stage.  Because there wasn’t recent classroom writing work to look at, I used a piece of classroom writing from September 27 and applied the 6+1 Traits assessment.  On ideas and content I gave Arnaldo a 1, because he was just beginning to think about what he wanted to talk about (“I need more time to think.”  Culham, 2003, p. 266).  On word choice I gave him a 3 because his words were correct but not descriptive.  On conventions he received a 1 because he does not yet have control of this area.  On organization he received a 1 because the writing piece is not yet shaped.  I gave him a 3 on voice because his personality comes through a bit.  On sentence fluency he received a 1 because of his very beginning level.   

Facilitating Arnaldo’s Progress

Arnaldo benefits from small group and one-to-one reading and writing assistance based on the following formula: read to, read with, talk to, write with.  The Cunningham chapter in Gambrell (2007) contains additional phonological awareness activities that I will volunteer to teach in the small group setting, for example, the “making words” game that splits the word ‘cartoon’ into many small words that students come up with.  Further, because I also work with Arnaldo in the classroom, I can assist him with Words Their Way sorts in the early Letter Name-Alphabetic stage (Bear et al., 2008, pp. 129-150) that compare short vowel word families and examine CVC families.      

Tony

Formal Reading Tests

Tony completed two formal reading tests with me: a Dolch sight words test and a Fountas & Pinnell running record.  He executed the Dolch third grade test flawlessly.  He found these words to be “immediately recognizable,” according to Pearson et al. in Gambrell (2007, p. 46), rather than “arduously analyzable,” a skill that should free him to understand more of what he is reading.  His accuracy rate was 99% on his Fountas and Pinnell running record.  (I gave him his Fountas and Pinnell on September 20 at the request of his teacher.)  Tony is proud of his fluent reading ability and his decoding skills.  Within the text, his comprehension and recall of details is very good.  Tony’s text-to-text understanding, an area that requires higher-level thinking according to Tompkins (2010, p. 261) was good.  But when Tony is asked to think beyond the text, to draw parallels between what he has read and his life experiences, he loses interest, and his score reflects that.

Informal Reading Assessments

Informal reading assessments that Tony did with me include the “Motivation to Read Profile,” and the “Garfield Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.”  Tony’s “Motivation to Read Profile” is revealing.  He consistently rates himself as a pretty good reader, but does not generally give the activity of reading high marks.  This survey appears to accurately assess his feelings about reading.  When Tony took the “Garfield” survey he frequently sighed about how long it was.  On this measure his recreational reading score is only slightly above his academic reading score.  Tony did not come close to a total score of 80; rather his score was 49/80. 

Intrinsic motivation seems to be key for Tony (Tompkins, 2010, p. 277).  Tony seems to be boy who would benefit from being given more choice in his reading and writing assignments.

“Students want to have a say in which books they read and which topics they write about.  By making choices, students develop more responsibility for their work and ownership of their accomplishments” (Tompkins, 2010, p. 279).

Formal Writing Assessments

Formal writing assessments that I did with Tony included the 6+1 Traits rubric and the Words Their Way spelling assessment.  On the 6+1 Traits assessment, I assessed Tony to be a 1 in ideas/content; a 5 in word choice; a 3 in conventions; a 4 in organization (“The middle makes sense, but it plods along” Culham, 2003, p. 267).  I gave him a 3 in Voice, and a 3 in sentence fluency.  His low ideas/content score reflects the lack of details and information.  As a third grader he could have written more.  However, I gave him a 5 in word choice and a 4 organization because of his specific vocabulary, and the clear flow of his piece and the sequential illustrations that accompany his writing.  On the Words Their Way spelling test, Tony scored a little higher in early November than he did in early September.  Of the final ten words in the Syllables and Affixes stage, Tony spelled three out of seven correctly.  Because he spelled some of these correctly, he could probably handle the challenge of the middle level of this stage, rather than the early level.  He appears to be crossing into the Syllable-Junctures phase of the Syllables and Affixes stage (Bear et al., 2007, p. 34).  Tony has strengths as a speller. 

Facilitating Tony’s Progress

I believe Tony is in need of a large dose of academic, non-fiction reading.  When Tony and I have explored other topics, such as the Greek gods and goddesses, he utters humorous and curious insights, and readily writes and draws about Zeus and Athena, for example.  Soon I hope to help Tony with a Montessori research project of his choosing on rocks and minerals.  This is the perfect medium for reading interesting non-fiction material, developing vocabulary, creating idea webs, outlining main areas of inquiry, and organizing, writing and illustrating a research report.   

Bibliography

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2007). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary and spelling instruction.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cullham, R. (2003). 6+1 traits of writing: The complete guide grade 3 and up.  NY: Scholastic Professional Books.

Gambrel, L., Morrow, L. M., Pressley, M. (2007). Best practices in literacy instruction.  New York: Guilford Press.

Johnston, P. (1997). “Concepts about Print,” Knowing literacy: Constructive literacy assessment. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Tompkins, G. (2010). Literacy for the 21^st century: a balanced approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.