Rational for Reading Assessments for RE 4030, Dr. Trathen

NC- North Carolina Specialty Area Standards

Standards Area : Standards for Elementary Teachers

Standard 1: Elementary teachers have a broad knowledge and understanding of the major concepts in English Language Arts and Literacy.

Indicator 1: Teachers know the developmental stages of language acquisition.

Indicator 4: Teachers understand the elementary school child’s social, cultural, linguistic, cognitive, and affective backgrounds as they relate to the ability to develop effective communication processes (listening, speaking, reading, and writing).

Standard 7 : Elementary teachers use developmentally appropriate strategies to design and deliver instruction in all areas of the elementary curriculum.

Indicator 3: Teachers promote new learning by using students’ prior knowledge, misconceptions, and interests when designing lessons.

Indicator 6: Teachers modify instruction and assessments to meet the needs of individual students.

Indicator 7: Teachers develop and use a variety of formal and alternative assessment strategies as an integral part of instruction and learning appropriate for assessing individual, peer, team, and collaborative skills.

Standard 16: Elementary teachers develop as leaders in their schools and communities by staying informed about educational policy issues and supporting professional development. Elementary teachers participate in co-curricular activities, provide leadership in student and curriculum involvement, and connect these activities to the development of citizenship ideals in their students.

Indicator 4: Teachers participate in the selection of textbooks and resource materials that augment the elementary curriculum such as atlases, maps, children’s literature, and software.

Context:

I ( name ) completed reading assessments in RE 4030 under the advisement of Dr. Woodrow Trathen in the _______of 2007 as a Block II requirement. I did these reading assessments with a student from Ms. ______________ ________ grade class at ________Elementary School in _______, North Carolina. First, I administered the ASU Word Recognition Inventory (ASU Reading Clinic, 2007). This individual assessment is appropriate for students who can read, and the flash presentation of the graded words provides teachers with information about students’ instructional reading levels. I also administered an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI, Woods & Moe, 1980) with the same student. The IRI is a series of graded passages that student read orally; instructional reading level is derived from analysis of student performance on these passages.

The student was told what the assessments were for and that they did not impact his grade. I told the student to relax and read the words on the WRI as they were flashed and then the IRI passages. The student was also aware that I was using a tape recorder to record the session and a stopwatch to time it. The student was very comfortable and participated satisfactorily. After each passage, I asked five comprehension questions that were used to measure how well the student understood the text. I took the results from the WRI and combined it with the student's oral IRI reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension to assess the student’s instructional reading level. These assessments helped me to determine what my student’s instructional reading level is, as well as independent reading level.

In summary, I gave the assessments, scored them, interpreted instructional reading levels for the student based on the scores, and projected instructional implications based on the data.

Impact:

The ASU Word Recognition Inventory provides teachers with information about the automatic word recognition of graded lists of words. In the flash presentation, data indicate the instructional reading levels of children. These data are highly correlated with reading data gained from Informal Reading Inventories. Teachers can use the data to target appropriate material for instruction in reading and to measure gains in reading ability across time.

These reading assessments are a great way for teachers to identify at what instructional and independent levels their students are reading. This information can be used to choose the most valuable and effective texts for your students throughout the year. Matching students’ reading material to their appropriate instructional levels will make it easier for them to fluently and successfully read and comprehend a text, while keeping their frustration at a minimum. In addition, I hope this will encourage and motivate my future students to read. Students are more likely to enjoy reading and do it on a regular basis if the reading material is on their appropriate level and they can understand exactly what they are reading. Because I was able to administer these reading assessments while in the field, I feel much more prepared to give individual assessments to students in the future. I feel confident in my ability to explain the process to the students and maintain a low-stress environment for them. These reading assessments are important because I can get a clear and accurate description of rate, accuracy and comprehension, and I can see at what level each child in my class is reading.

I hope to use these assessments in my student teaching and future classrooms in order to determine students’ knowledge of the reading process to better match materials and instruction to individual student needs. 

Alignment:

This reading assessment aligns with NCDPI Standard 1, Indicator 1. The ASU Word Recognition Inventory yields data about reading stages in elementary school readers. In the IRI, I am required to interpret a student’s oral reading rate, oral accuracy, and comprehension of a text to determine at what developmental reading stage I believe the child to be reading. Knowing this level allows teachers to change their activities according to each of their student’s developmental needs. These assessments also align with Standard 1, Indicator 4 by providing data about elementary school children’s linguistic and cognitive knowledge that will influence their ability to learn new information.

The Reading Assessment Assignment also aligns with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Standard 7, Indicator 3: Assessment data is used to target and promote student learning. Additionally, data from the ASU Word Recognition Inventory and IRI are used to modify instruction to better meet the needs of individual students (Standard 7, Indicator 6). This is accomplished when teachers select appropriate materials and instruction to match students’ developmental levels in reading ability. Standard 7, Indicator 7 is met by teachers using these assessment tools as an integral part of teaching, to gather information about what students know before designing and delivering instruction with an eye toward providing instruction that matches a student’s zone of proximal development.

NCDPI Standard 16, Indicator 4 is also met with these reading assessments. After completing the assessments and confirming an appropriate level for the student, I then chose an assortment of children’s literature that was properly suited for both the student’s instructional reading level and independent reading level. I used Web resources that were available to me so that I could successfully choose books on the student's level. I plan to use these assessments and Web site in my own classroom because it will benefit me and my students.