Assignment #2: Assessment Analysis

Submitted By: Amanda Grant

EDRL 442: Teaching Literacy 1 Nevada State College - Fall 2013 Instructor: Karen Powell

ASSIGNMENT #2: Assessment Analysis

A. Summary of the Assignment

Submitted By: Amanda Grant

For the Assessment Analysis assignment, EDRL 442 students are to place a fictional class into four groups using preset AIMSweb Benchmark scores. B. Explanation of Assessments LNF (Letter Name Fluency): This test is given orally and is administered individually to students. Students are given a minute to identify as many upper case and lower case letters of the English alphabet, by their names only. The LNF test is appropriate for Kindergarten and first grade students. Kindergarten students should be tested three times in a school year (beginning, middle, and end) and first grade students should be tested in the beginning of the school year. LSF (Letter Sound Fluency)This test is given orally and is administered individually to students. Students are given a minute to identify the sounds of each letter in the English alphabet. The LNF test is appropriate for Kindergarten and first grade students. Kindergarten students should be tested three times in a school year (beginning, middle, and end) and first grade students should be tested in the beginning of the school year. PSF (Phoneme Segmentation Fluency)This test is given orally and is administered individually to students. Students are given a minute during the PSF testing. It measures a students ability to take apart, or segment, three and four-letter words by their sounds (i.e. cat= /c/ /a/ /t/). Kindergarten students should be tested three times in a school year (beginning, middle, and end) and first grade students should be tested in the beginning of the school year. NWF (Nonsense Word Fluency)This test is given orally and is administered individually to students. Students are given a minute during the NWF testing. It measures a students ability to decode three-letter syllables (i.e. zut). The NWF test is appropriate for Kindergarten and first grade students. Kindergarten students should be tested three times in a school year (beginning, middle, and end) and first grade students should be tested both in the beginning and at the end of the school year.

EDRL 442 - Fall 2013

Assignment #2

Page 2

ASSIGNMENT #2: Assessment Analysis

Submitted By: Amanda Grant

C. Factual Information: Test Results Miss Keetows first grade class is made up of 20 students, of which half are girls and half are boys. The target scores for these students are a 40 on the Letter Name Fluency test, a 25 on the Letter Sound Fluency test, a 35 on the Phoneme Segmentation Fluency test, and a 27 on the Nonsense Word Fluency test. All but seven students met their target for LNF. Only four students barely missed their target for LSF. Three students missed their target for PSF, two of which were far off. Three students also missed their target for NWF. Only one student missed all four targets. Most of Miss Keetows students exceed the target scores for AIMSweb testing. Each students name in her class is a play on words. D. Interpretation of Data Using the class list from Miss Keetows first grade class, I used all four of the tests to determine the instructional groups. I do not feel that one test is, overall, more important than the other. All students, especially in the first grade level, should have a basic understanding of their letter names and sounds so I find that the LNF and LSF tests are equally important moving forward. The PSF test and NWF test go hand-in-hand. In order for students to successfully decode the nonsense words, they would need basic background knowledge of phoneme segmentation in order to break such words down. Before I looked over the data, I created four instructional groups. The groups are called Exceeds, Meets, Approaches, and Falls Far Below. The groupings are as follows: Exceeds: Robin Banks, Rhoda Booke, Ann Chovie, Ella Mentry, Anna Mull, Carrie Oakie, Rick OShae, Paige Turner, and Justin Tyme. Meets: Jack Potts, Candi Barr, Harrison Fire, Pete Moss, Luke Warm. Approaches: Barbie Dahl, Scott Free, Matt Tress, Tate Urchips, Jay Walker.
EDRL 442 - Fall 2013 Assignment #2 Page 3

ASSIGNMENT #2: Assessment Analysis

Submitted By: Amanda Grant

Far Beyond Low: Chandra Lear. When I was grouping these 20 students, I pulled out the ones who scored far above their targets and immediately placed them in the Exceeds group. It would only be necessary to progress monitor these students. For the remaining students on the list, I looked over the data and decided if there were students who just about met their targets, they would be placed in the Meets group. However for the students who met at least three targets, I also placed them in the Meets group. These students may need an extra push to get over the hurdle in the one areas target they have not met and they could benefit from working with other students who have just about met the targets. I would pull this group once a week. For the students in the Approaches group, I felt that these were students who either had only met two out of the four targets or scored significantly low in one particular area. These students would be pulled two to three times per week. In the Falls Far Below group, I felt that there was only one student to place there. She missed all of her targets and in two areas, scored significantly low. I would pull this student on a daily basis.

E. Additional Information In order to work effectively with Miss Keetows students, I feel that I would also need to know their reading levels, which could be achieved through DRA testing. DRA tests would also give more insight into segmentation and phonemic awareness, among other skill sets. Of course, getting to know the kids is also helpful in working effectively with them. F. Reflection I really enjoyed this assignment. I do this for a living, so I am used to it by now but I always like a challenge. Whats weird is that we are grouping our kids this week for intervention and it just so happened to coincide with this class. I love using AIMSweb and I hope that when I am teaching, I dont have to use any other tool to assess my students (Im not a big fan of DIBELS). It was interesting to actually put my reasoning for
EDRL 442 - Fall 2013 Assignment #2 Page 4

ASSIGNMENT #2: Assessment Analysis

Submitted By: Amanda Grant

grouping down on paper, as I have never actually explained it out loud before. Ive always just looked at the data and did it. All in all, I really liked the assignment.

EDRL 442 - Fall 2013

Assignment #2

Page 5