Assessments in Reading

Models of Reading Assessment

Automatic Word Recognition

Contextual Model: mismatch between the type of instruction and the manner in which a child learns. Contextual factors beyond the scope of school (emotionally troubled home life) may impair reading development

Learning Style Model: children have individual learning styles that can be diagnosed and matched to appropriate instruction. not found to be valid

Deficit Model: the difficulty resides with the students (remediation and remedial learner)

Stage Models: Stages of Reading Development, Growth of Word Recognition, Development of Spelling Does not inform specific ways students need to be taught

Cognitive Model: Reading comprehension depends on automatic recognition of the words in the text, comprehension of the language in the text, the ability to use the strategies needed to achieve one's purpose in reading the text

Fluency: reading accurately but not quickly enough to make sense of what they are reading. Observed and measured through oral reading

Sight Words: words a child recognizes automatically

Decoding: Acquisition of the alphabetic principle, the ability of blend letter-sounds into words, ability to use phonograms and analogies

Phonological Awareness: awareness of the sounds that comprise spoken words

Language Comprehension

Background Knowledge: Often students rely on prior knowledge when answering questions about passages

Sentence Structures: Written sentences are seldom heard in conversation, students must learn them by reading

Vocabulary: knowledge of word meanings is the best predictor for comprehension. Most words are learned from exposure in context

Text Structures: structural patterns in text that are common to particular genres

Strategic Knowledge

Reading problems may stem from not knowing what strategy should be used for a given purpose

The general goal of reading is to comprehend text

Proficient readers have different strategies for reading different types of text for different purposes

Common Formative Assessments

Considerations for ELLs

Considerable bias exists in English based assessments developed for native English speakers

When completing a running record it is important to note the varied English pronunciation patterns

Retelling: orally report the information that was seen, heard, or read

Prompted Recall: ask questions that force students to think about the text at higher levels than they would without prompting

Running Records: evaluation of oral reading miscues/errors. take notice of student self-corrections

Informal Reading Inventories: DRAs- these inventories have been tested and developed over time with large groups of children

Lexile Scale: based on the sentence length and frequency of the usage of text's words. Matches students with appropriate leveled texts

ELL students should be tested in their first language and have that score compared to an English assessment

Best way to offset bias is to use multiple forms of assessment in both English and L1