Diagnostic Reading Assessments

1. Diagnostic Reading Assessments Kim Burke and Stephanie McPeak

2. “Students who have not yet learned to read fluently by the end of third grade are unlikely ever to read fluently.”

3. 2 Ways Reading Is Taught 1. Whole Word Approach (Look – Say) - students learn who words and practice by reading stories 2. Language Code: Phonics -students learn how letters represent sounds and how letters and sounds combine to form words

4. Early Reading Process • Phonemic Awareness • Reader must associate alphabet letters with phonemes. • Reader must read fluently to comprehend

5. Skills Assessed by Diagnostic Reading Tests • Oral Reading • Reading Comprehension • Word-Attack Skills • Word Recognition Skills • Other Reading and Reading-Related Behaviors

6. Oral Reading • Rate of Reading: • Students should be able to read fluently. • Reading fluently allows students to comprehend what they are reading. • Oral Reading Errors: • When examining the rate of a student’s reading errors are considered. • Examples of errors that do not count (self-correction, speech handicaps, and dialectic accents).

7. Errors that Count • Teacher Pronunciation or Aid • the examiner pronounces the word after 10 seconds of hesitation. • Hesitation (2 seconds) • Inversion (example: “house the”) • Gross Mispronunciation of a Word • This is recorded when the pronunciation barely resembles the word (example: “encounter” as “actors”) • Partial Mispronunciation of a Word • The student misses a part or parts of the pronunciation.

8. Omission of a Word or Group of Words: • Skipping a word or words. • Insertion of a Word or Group of Words: • Example: “the dog” may be read as “the mean dog”. The word “mean” is inserted. • Substitution of One Meaningful Word for Another: • The student may substitute a word or phrase with one that either means the same thing, or sounds similar. • Repetition: • The student may say a word or words again and again.

9. Assessment of Reading Comprehension 5 different types: • Literal: understanding information that is “right there”. • Inferential: interpreting, synthesizing, extending the information • Critical: Analyzing, evaluating, and making judgments. • Affective: involves personal and emotional responses. • Lexical: knowing the meaning of key vocabulary words.

10. What Causes Poor Comprehension? • Poor decoding- • Not being able to convert symbols to words inhibits comprehension. • If the student uses all his energy to decode, there will be little left to process meaning. • Not knowing HOW to focus on the meaning (summarizing, determining main ideas, accessing prior knowledge).

11. Word Recognition and Other Reading Related Behaviors • Word Recognition assesses student’s sight vocabulary • Other Reading and Related Behaviors may include supplementary tests on spelling, handwriting or auditory discrimination

12. Assessment of Word-Attack Skills • Associate letters with sounds • Syllabication test • Blending test • Read syllables and students pronounce them • Students read word parts to pronounce words • Students are given alternative beginning, middle and ending sounds and asked to produce words

13. Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation Basic Information: • Norm referenced • Standardized • Administered in a group or individual • Tests reading achievement • Students 4-18 • 11 test levels (each having two forms) • Untimed (takes about 1 to 1.5 hours)

14. Five Components are Assessed(Subtests) • Pre-reading (picture matching, picture differences, and verbal concepts) • Reading Readiness (sound matching, rhyming, print awareness, letter recognition, same/different words, phoneme/grapheme correspondence) • Vocabulary (Word reading, word meaning, and vocabulary) • Comprehension (cloze items and multiple choice) • Oral Language (listening comprehension)

15. Results This test provides a “growth scale value” score that tracks the growth in reading achievement over several years.

16. Reliability Validity This test was found to be a “useful measure of reading skills”. Total test score reliability data are strong!

17. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, Sixth Edition (DIBELS) • Screening and monitoring of progress in beginning readers • Three times a year (K-3) • Seven individually administered tests • Phonological Awareness • Alphabetic understanding • Fluency http://dibels.uoregon.edu

18. 2 Measures of Phonological Awareness • Initial Sounds Fluency • Assesses ability to identify and produce the initial sound of a given word • Phonemic Segmentation • Assesses ability to segment words /r/ /e/ /s/ /t/

19. 2 Measures of Alphabetic Understanding • Letter Naming Fluency • Assesses ability to name upper and lower case letters in 1 minute • Nonsense Word Fluency • Assesses ability to blend letters from nonsense words

20. 3 Measures for Fluency • Oral Reading Fluency • Read grade level material for 1 minute • Retelling Fluency • Retell what they remember • Word Use Fluency • Ability to correctly use specific words in sentences

21. Scoring DIBELS

22. Test of Phonological Awareness • AKA: TOPA 2+ (second edition) • Norm-referenced • Intended to identify students who need supplemental services in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence. • Individual or Group • 5-8 years • 2 forms • (Kindergarten and Early Elementary) **Subtests: Phonological Awareness & Letter Sounds

23. TOPA 2+ Scores • The number correct on each subtest is summed and these can be converted to percentiles. • This test determines age equivalency (5 years 11 months or 5-11)

24. TOPA 2 + Reliability The chapter states that “care should be taken when interpreting the results” The test is found to be reliable overall. Validity “Evidence for validity is adequate”

25. Dilemmas in Current Practice • Curriculum Match • Test-Curriculum Match • Selections of Tests • Use of Generalization