Student- and Teacher-Friendly Assessment That Turns Kids into Readers

Presented at the 7th Annual Western CanadianFirst Nations Administrators Education Symposium

Enoch Cree Nation, March 9, 10, 11, 2011

Douglas B. Rogers, Ed.D. Student Learning Assessment and Performance Measures Lead, First Nation Student Success Program,

Kwayaciiwin Education Resource CentreAfter March 31, 2011: Education Director, Baby Steps to Reading

douglasb.rogers@babystepstoreading.com

“The elementary school must assume as its sublime and most solemn responsibility the task of teaching every child in it to read. Any school that does not accomplish this has failed.”

--William John Bennett

Skillists vs Eruditionists

The Philosophical Baby:What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2009.

Look at these observations from Debra Black’s review, “What's Going on in the Brain of a Baby?” in the Toronto Star (Black, August 16, 2009).

Skillists vs Eruditionists

"We've discovered very young children – even babies – have powerful learning mechanisms such as the ability to do statistics, do experiments and use logic. They help them determine what the world is like. One of the basic questions is how do we get truth about the world. Well, we have brains that even as young children are designed to let us find out the truth.”

Skillists vs Eruditionists

“Before I was a teacher, I used to work on a farm giving field trips to classes. I would take classes through the farm, teaching about the animals, the role of the farm, the farm community, etc., and then we would pick pumpkins out in the field and go on a nature hike in the back forest. Since we were just in the greenbelt outside of Toronto, we did get many groups from the city.

Skillists vs Eruditionists

“One day, I had a kindergarten class from downtown take the bus up. I knew right away that the kids didn't have much experience on a farm when they stepped off of the bus, so I tried to make everything really accessible for them. When we got to the cow, I began to talk about it giving them facts about the animal as clues as to its identity, and as I did I noticed one kid's eyes getting big. When I asked if anyone knew what the animal was, he started waving his hand frantically.

Skillists vs Eruditionists

“Now you have to picture the day -- it was October, so a bit chilly and the cow's breath was fogging up. This kid, too, was standing right up near the fence, starring directly up at the cow that towered over him. No one else had any clue, so I chose him. "I know I know! It's a dragon!" he shouted completely wide eyed.”

The Simple View of Reading

Reading comprehension is a product of a person’s

word recognition or reading of single words and

listening comprehension

.

Learning to read is just

learning to understand language we see rather than hear.

  

Coltheart’s Dual Route Theory

Recently, we all used the non-lexical, phonological recoding route to learn to

read a word new to us:

•Tahrir Square

Pre-test of Decoding Mastery

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Reading diagnosis, then, explores

•current reading performance (word recognition and reading comprehension),•listening comprehension, and•related factors that we may have to take into account in reading instruction (e.g., autism, hyperactivity, intellectual deficit, depression, attitude toward school, and so forth).

Determine each student’s current reading ability

Begin a reading diagnosis of a JK student with the

Environmental Print Reading Test

If the student seems to know few or no words, administer the

Knowledge of Text Conventions Subtest

Knowledge of Text Conventions Subtest

word

s

Here is a sentence.

____________________________________________

Once upon a time, three pigs went out into the world. The first pig decided to build himself a house of straw. The second pig decided to build herself a house of sticks. The third pig decided to build herself a house of bricks.

Knowledge of Text Conventions Subtest

• “Point with your finger at a letter that is all by itself.”

•“Point to the word that is all by itself.”

•“Point to a sentence.”

•“Show me where to begin to read here.” [Touch into the middle of the text below the line on the student copy.]

Knowledge of Text Conventions Subtest

 

•“If I read this word first [touch the word Once], show me the words I would read next “

•“When I get here, [Touch the end of the first line], point to where I should go to read more.

Continue with the

Alphabet Knowledge Subtest.

If the student seems to read some words already, administer the

San Diego Quick Assessment: Graded Word List.

San Diego Quick Assessment: Graded Word List, grade 6 list

bridge

commercial

abolish

trucker

apparatus

elementary

comment

necessity

gallery

relativity

Teachers can use the results of the graded word list to identify, tentatively, material students can read easily.

Continue by determining current independent and instructional reading levels by having the student read graduated text, using an informal reading inventory or leveled books.

We analyze oral reading

• to find reading levels,

• to consider how to help the student do better lexical and non-lexical word recognition (Castles, Coltheart, Larsen et al, 2009), and

• to decide how to help the student become a better comprehender

Reading levels

• The highest readability level of text the student can read with at least 98% word recognition is his independent reading level

• The highest readability level of text the student can read with at least 95% word recognition is his instructional reading level

• Poorer performance will frustrate the student.

Go easy to make strong readers

• “High levels of reading accuracy produce the best reading growth” (Allington, 2009, p. 46)

How easy are we talking?

“The reading achievement of students who received Reading Rescue tutoring [a program that emphasized lots of easy reading and phonics lessons] appeared to be explained primarily by one aspect of their tutoring experience—reading texts at a high level of accuracy, between 98% and 100%” (Ehri, Dreyer, Flugman, and Gross, 2007, p. 441).

Really, how easy are we talking?

“These findings indicate that high text-reading accuracy during tutoring was the strongest predictor and the only unique predictor of students’ reading achievement at the end of first grade” (Ehri, Dreyer, Flugman, and Gross, 2007, p. 440).

What should a tutor do when a student makes an error or hesitates while

reading aloud?

“When he makes an error, correct it and have him say the word and reread the sentence” (Heubusch and Lloyd, 1998).

What should a tutor do when a student makes an error or hesitates while

reading aloud?

“Every oral reading error should be corrected, not just the ones that alter the meaning” Grossen and Carnine, 1990, p. 18).

What should a tutor do when a student makes an error or hesitates while

reading aloud?

After he reads the passage or short book, study each word misread by talking about how the letters spell the sounds of the word and reading the word several times (Stuart, 2003, p. 3).

What should a tutor do when a student makes an error or hesitates while

reading aloud?

Then the student should re-read the book for further experience reading with high word recognition accuracy (Allington, 2009).

How can we ensure our students do greater amounts of easy reading?

• Match each student with text he can read easily and arrange for lots of reading, including having students read in trios, assigning text that the weakest reader of the trio can read easily.

• Arrange for students to read to a buddy.

• Encourage students to read to parents and volunteers.

How easy are we talking?

• Reading the Secret Life of Bees at 99% word recognition accuracy would mean that in 300 pages you would encounter more than 1000 words that you couldn’t read correctly or only by slowing to decode!

Aren’t we going to easy on these kids? No!

• A child reading the Magic School Bus series—each book is about 40 pages long—with 95% WR accuracy would encounter 250 words that he couldn’t read easily!

• Even at 99% word recognition accuracy, he would still meet almost 50 words hard to read, if he could read them at all!

If the student is independently reading below the fourth grade level, look at progress in learning to read single words.

The teacher may want to assess the student’s progress in learning to recognize automatically the most common words in English (e.g., the words on Dolch’s (1942) Basic Sight Word Test).

First 10 of the 220 words on the Basic Sight Word Test (Dolch, 1942)

• the• to• and• a• I• you• it• in• said• for

Word Wall

The teacher may want to the student’s phonics skills.

  

Coltheart’s Dual Route Theory

Administer the Pretest of Decoding Mastery if you wonder Can the student read words automatically?

Pre-test of Decoding Mastery

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If the student is unable to read the polysyllabic words, proceed to the Fundamental Code Phonics Subtest.

Fundamental Code Phonics Subtest

up

Fundamental Code Phonics Subtest

on

Fundamental Code Phonics Subtest

• 1. m up mup• 2. s up sup• 3. t up tup• 4. f up fup• 5. d on don• 6. r on ron• 7. g on gon• 8. p up pup• 9. h up hup

Variants Code Phonics Subtest

• 46. hammer• 47. glass• 48. letter• 49. cymbals• 50. puppet• 51. tennis• 52. cat• 53. head• 54. arrow

If students show weak phonic analysis skills or limited sight vocabulary, the teacher should assess the student’s phonemic awareness and knowledge of concepts about print, using, for example, the Phonemic Awareness Subtest from the RPT

Phonemic Awareness Subtest: Blending phonemes to recognize words

Say, “I can say words very slowly, sound by sound. Listen to how I can say man very slowly: /m/ . . . /a/ . . . /n/. Could you tell that I said man very slowly? I’m going to say another word slowly. You tell me what word I’m saying slowly. /f/ . . . /u/. . ./n/.” [Student should say “fun.”] “Let’s try some more. I’ll speak a word slowly; you say the word the way we say it when we talk.”

 

1. /m/ . . . /i/ . . . /t/ ____________

Phonemic Awareness Subtest: Segmenting spoken words to hear each

phoneme distinctly Say, “If I say a word slowly, you can hear the sounds that make up that work. If I say no very slowly, /n . . . / . . . /ō/, you can hear the two sounds that we speak to say the word no. Now, I want you to say a word very slowly so I can hear every sound. Say hat very slowly.” [Say, “Good” if the student is successful. Offer one more practice if the student fails.] Say, “I’ll say some more words. You say each word slowly, sound by sound.”

• 6. make ____________

When reading is easy, kids read lots

• Animorphs• Goosebumps• Junie B. Jones• Magic School Bus• Wimpy Kid • Captain Underpants• Choose Your Own Adventures

Determine the Student’s Listening Comprehension Level

The Simple View of Reading

Reading comprehension is a product of a person’s

word recognition or reading of single words and

listening comprehension

.

Learning to read is just

learning to understand language we see rather than hear.

Why do some kids not seem to understand the simplest text?

“Vocabulary experts agree that adequate reading comprehension depends on a person already knowing between 90 and 95 percent of the words in a text. Knowing such a high percentage of words allows the reader to get the gist of what is being said and therefore to guess correctly what the unfamiliar words probably mean” Hart and Risley, cited in Hirsch, 2003, p. 16)

The student’s listening comprehension level is

the highest readability level of text at which the student can answer at least 70% of the questions.

If the student can recognize words automatically, assess how well the student can read to learn: Determine how to help the student read to learn

When the student is puzzled while reading, does he routinely try harder to understand?• Does the student reread puzzling text?

• Does the student skip a few words?

• If still puzzled, does the student seek out material at a more introductory level?

Does the student show an understanding of how to learn effectively?

• Does the student pause in reading to ask questions to check building a mental representation of the passage topic?

• Does the student use a dictionary to clarify the meaning of words in the passage?

• Does the student seek to talk about the material?

• Does the student highlight what he must remember to limit review?

Does the student show an understanding of how to learn effectively?

• Does the student use mnemonic tactics such as creating acronymns (e.g., HOMES for Great Lakes)?

• Does the student use study procedures to preview the text, set questions before reading, try to answer the questions after reading, and review the text for points still not understood?

Does the student show an understanding of how to learn effectively?

• Does the student pay vigilant attention when his teachers teach a guided or directed reading lesson?

• Does the student realize that there are ways other than reading to learn information?

• Does the student read widely on many topics?

• Does the student practice good study habits?

Does the student show an understanding of how to learn effectively?

• Does the student make notes, document sources, make graphic aids, outline, draft, and revise writing as a way to learn?

• Does the student find easier material on the topic?

Can the student locate information?

• Does the student use book parts to learn information?

• Does the student locate information in a dictionary?

• Does the student use encyclopedias and other reference works?

• Does the student use information-retrieval tools (e.g., electronic card catalog, online databases, Internet search engines)?

Can the student interpret graphic aids?

• Does the student read graphs, charts, tables, cartoons, pictures, diagrams?

More about study-reading:

Rogers, Douglas B. (1984). “Assessing study skills.” Journal of Reading, 27, pp. 346-354.

After assessing current literacy performance, consider related factors that you may have to consider to differentiate instruction

Some related factors that you may have to consider to differentiate instruction

• Size of preschool child’s listening vocabulary

• Physical disabilities

• Developmental disorders (hyperactivity, autism, and so forth)

Write a learning plan (LP) for each student• current reading performance (word recognition and reading

comprehension) , • listening comprehension, and• related factors

You’ve explored a comprehensive approach to assessing the reading of students

• assessment of beginner readers,

• the growing word recognition prowess of students,

• limits to students’ ability to comprehend discourse, and

• related factors that educators must consider in planning instruction, including how children feel about themselves and their school. 

If we’ve assessed and taught word recognition well and helped children develop an understanding of more of the world including the topics in the curriculum, they will earn high scores on any literacy test we give them.

Final Exam: Please write the missing words into the summary below.

Capable readers can look at words and understand them as easily as they do when they _____ them. Mostly readers look at a word and connect directly to the word in their _____ vocabulary: They can understand language through their eyes as well as language they hear. When readers see a word they don’t recognize on sight, they can figure out pretty well the _____ form of the printed form. If the word is in their listening vocabulary, they will recognize this word because their brain will have connected the spoken form with the word meaning stored in their _____. Reading is the product of our ability to _____ single words and to _____ them. If students can read the text aloud but can’t summarize it or answer questions, they need to find more _____ materials, either simpler books or other media.