Using the NC K-2 Literacy Assessment to Drive Personalized Literacy Instruction

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Using the NC K-2 Literacy Assessment to Drive
Personalized Literacy Instruction

• Closing the Gap Conference
• March 28, 2006
• Pledger Fedora
• Marnie Ginsberg

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Agenda

• A light-hearted moment
• An Evidence-Based Reading Model
• Linking Assessment to the Model of Reading
• Demonstration of How to Use a Reading Assessment
  Database
• Demonstration of How to Use a Paper-and-Pencil
  Assessment
• Troubleshooting Guide for Driving
• Personalized Reading Instruction
• Two Strategies for Struggling
• Readers

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Our Ambitious Goal

• For every K 1st grade teacher to be an expert
  reading specialist, leading every student to
  success in reading.

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Have you ever had a student who felt like this
about reading?
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Making the Case for Early Intervention

• Conventional wisdom--Theyll close the gap
  later.
• Not true!--The gap actually widens.
• Juel (1988) study
• 88 of 1st grade students who were below grade
  level at the end of 1st were still below grade
  level in 4th grade.

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So what does a reading specialist ask herself?

• Based on my understanding of what reading is and
  how reading develops, what is Jalens most
  important instructional need right now?

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An Evidence-Based Reading Model

Word Identification
Comprehension
Comprehension
Vocabulary Word Meanings
Fluency
Comprehension
Motivation and Engagement
(based on Snow, Burns Griffin, 1998 NICHD,
2000)
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Early Components of Word Identification
Alphabetic Principle
Segmenting (A Phonemic Awareness Skill)

Word Identification
Blending (A Phonemic Awareness Skill)
Phonics Knowledge
Sight Word Knowledge
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What Does the Research Evidence Indicate about
Reading Instruction?

• The core message concerning reading
  instructionreading instruction should
  integrate attention to the alphabetic principle
  with attention to the construction of meaning and
  opportunities to develop fluency.
• --from Preventing Reading Difficulties in
  Young Children, 1998, p. vii.

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What does this integration mean?

• Integration means precisely that the
  opportunities to learn these two aspects of
  skilled reading should be going on at the same
  time, in the context of the same activities, and
  that the choice of instructional activities
  should be part of an overall, coherent approach
  to supporting literacy development, not a
  haphazard selection from unrelated, though
  varied, activities.
• --Preventing Reading Difficulties in
  Young Children, p. viii.

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There are three potential stumbling blocks that
are known to throw children off course on the
journey to skilled reading.

• The first obstacle, which arises at the outset of
  reading acquisition, is difficulty understanding
  and using the alphabetic principle--the idea that
  written spellings systematically represent spoken
  words. It is hard to comprehend connected text
  if word recognition is inaccurate or laborious.
• The second obstacle is a failure to transfer the
  comprehension skills of spoken language to
  reading and to acquire new strategies that may be
  specifically needed for reading.
• The third obstacle to reading will magnify the
  first two the absence or loss of an initial
  motivation to read or failure to develop a
  mature appreciation of the rewards of reading.
  --Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young
  Children, p. viii.

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What is the fundamental, most pressing literacy
need for most struggling K-1st learners?

• Visual word recognition can flourish only when
  children displace the belief that print is like
  pictures with the insight that written words are
  comprised of letters that, in turn, map to speech
  sounds. --Preventing Reading Difficulties in
• Young Children, p. viii.

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What is the fundamental, most pressing literacy
need for most struggling K-1st learners?

• An essential part of the process for beginners
  involves learning the alphabetic system, that is,
  letter-sound correspondences and spelling
  patterns, and learning how to apply this
  knowledge in their reading.
• --Report of the National Reading Panel, p.
  2-89.

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Word Identification Development
Automatized Word Identification More
Sophisticated Word Identification
Strategies More Complex Phonics
Knowledge Word Identification
Strategies Blending Segmenting Letter-Sound
Knowledge Alphabetic Principle
Sight Words
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Some Findings about Phonemic Awareness from the
National Reading Panel

• Effect sizes on phonemic awareness were larger
  when children received focused and explicit
  instruction on one or two PA phonemic awareness
  skills than when they were taught a combination
  of three or more PA skills.
• Instruction that taught phoneme manipulation with
  letters helped normally developing readers and
  at-risk readers acquire PA better than PA
  instruction without letters.
• Blending and segmenting instruction exerted a
  significantly larger effect on readingdevelopment
  than did multiple-skillinstruction. -- p.
  2-4.

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K-1 Targeted Reading Instruction Continuum
1st
K
Most Teacher Support
Less Teacher Support
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Why is continual assessment in reading important?

• Continual assessment in reading provides access
  to specific, essential information about
  students developing strengths and needs in
  reading

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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment
Word Identification
Comprehension
Comprehension
Vocabulary Word Meanings
Fluency
Comprehension
Motivation and Engagement
NC K-2 Lit Assmt Running Record
(based on Snow, Burns Griffin, 1998 NICHD,
2000)
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Ongoing Running Records
Jalen 3/27/06 The Island D vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvLeopa
rd vvv Retelling 2
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Ongoing Running Records
Jalen 3/27/06 The Island D vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvLeopa
rd vvv Retelling 2
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Ongoing Running Records
Jalen 3/27/06 The Island D vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvLeopa
rd vvv Retelling 2
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Ongoing Running Records
Jalen 3/27/06 The Island D vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvLeopa
rd vvv 95 Retelling 2
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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment
Phonics Knowledge NC K-2 Lit Assmt Assessment
of Letter Knowledge (Sounds)
Phonemic Awareness Skill NC K-2 Lit Assmt
Phonemic Awareness Inventory, Segmenting Words
into Phonemes

Word Identification
Phonemic Awareness Skill NC K-2 Lit Assmt
Phonemic Awareness Inventory, Blending Onset-rimes
Phonemic Awareness Skill TRI Word Work-Recording
Sheet
Sight Word Knowledge NC K-2 Lit Assmt Dolch
Basic Sight Vocabulary Lists
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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment

Oral Reading Fluency NC K-2 Lit Assmt Running
Record

Fluency
Oral Reading Fluency NC K-2 Lit Assmt Fluency
Assessment
Oral Reading Fluency TRI Reading for Fluency
Progress-Recording Sheet
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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment

Story Retelling NC K-2 Lit Assmt Retelling
Vocabulary Word Meanings
Story Vocabulary TRI Word Work and Guided Oral
Reading-Recording Sheet
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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment
Retelling NC K-2 Lit Assmt Retelling
Understanding Story Events and Sequence Accelerate
d Reader Tests
Making predictions, connections, and
inferences Anecdotal notes from discussions
during Interactive Read-Alouds
Comprehension
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Linking a Model of Reading with Assessment
Word Identification
Comprehension
Comprehension
Vocabulary Word Meanings
Fluency
Comprehension
Motivation and Engagement
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Demonstrations of Tools for Helping Us Think
Diagnostically

• A MS Excel Database for storing students data,
  grouping students based on need, and viewing
  growth over time
• A paper-and-pencil example serving a similar
  purpose

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Why is continual assessment in reading important?

• Continual assessment in reading provides access
  to specific, essential information about
  students developing strengths and needs in
  reading

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An example of a kindergarten assessment

• Ms. Winthrop
• Sara
• Ann
• Leon
• José

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Procedure

• Ms. Winthrop assessed students ability to write
  letters from their sound.
• No visual cues were provided.
• The teacher worked with two students at a time.
• Letter sounds were presented randomly.
• All 26 letters of the alphabet were assessed in
  this manner.

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Student Assessment Sheet









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Results of Sound-Symbol Knowledge Assessment
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Results of Sound-Symbol Knowledge Assessment
q u w j l g n v i
Sara X X X X X X
Ann X X X X
Leon X X X X X X X
Jose X X X
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Grouping Strategies

• Teacher-directed Small Group Instruction
• All four students review letters q, u, w, l, g,
  and j
• Peer-Assisted Learning
• One student takes the role of the teacher
• Pair Sara and Ann/Leon and José to work on w and
  g
• Pair Sara or Ann/Leon to work on j and l
• Pair Sara, Ann, or José with Leon to work on n,
  v, and i

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How can the teacher use this information to
inform instruction?

• Lesson Planning
• All four students need to work on the letters q
  and u
• Additionally,
• Sara and Leon need to work on w and g
• Sara, Ann, and José need to work on j
• Sara and Ann need to work on l
• Leon needs to work on n, v, and the vowel i

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Questions to ask when planning instruction

• What do I want this student or group of students
  to know or be able to do?
• How explicit should the instruction be?
• What is the best grouping strategy for this
  lesson?

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A Model for Student Success
Continuous Assessment
Instruction
Instructional Planning Based on Assessment
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Thank You! National Research Center on Rural
Education Support www.nrcres.org