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Reading Assessment Report

1. General Observations and Introduction of the Students

Introduce the context:

For my reading placement I am working in a Year 2 classroom in Auckland, New Zealand.
This is similar to a 1st grade classroom in the United States. In this class there are around 22
students, 3 of which I am focusing the reading portion of my student teaching on. I discussed my
assignments and work to be done with the classroom teacher and she suggested these students
to work with because they are at a lower reading level than most of the class. They were already
placed in literacy groups and are at a similar reading level.

Each day I am in the Year 2 classroom, I arrive at 11:00am and stay until the literacy
block is over, around 11:45am. The literacy block begins with a big book and whole class focus
lesson. After this, students split off into their literacy groups and have stations they move
through for the rest of the literacy block. Most groups will meet with the teacher as one of their
stations for a mini-lesson.

Introduce your group of students (Use pseudonyms, discuss general age/grade level,
demographic. Also include information you learned about your students from the student
interviews you administered and your observations/kidwatching.):

The group of students I am working with includes 3 students, Grace, Nathan, and Stefan.
These students are in a Year 2 classroom (1st grade) and are either 6 or 7 years old. Grace and
Stefan are both Caucasian and Nathan is Asian. Nathan is an English Language Learner; it is his
second language. From my observations and interactions with Nathan, I would not have guessed
this as his English seems very strong. All students are from between middle-high income
families, as is the rest of the school.

When I began my observations in the classroom they were reading a level 1.6 book
when they should be reading at a level between 2.4 and 2.9, which corresponds with the year
and months they have been in school. From my observations of their literacy block, I have found
that Grace and Nathan are stronger readers and are more apt to use decoding strategies than
Stefan, who struggles with sounding out words. While working with the teacher, more help is
given to Stefan while Grace and Nathan are asked to read ahead silently. Stefan may be more
easily distracted than the other two and not as confident with reading. I have often found him
looking off of the page while the group is asked to read on his or her own.

Each student noted in my interview that they use the sounding out strategy when
they come to a word they do not know. This seems to be their main strategy when an unknown
word comes up in a text. Each student regards himself or herself as a good reader because they
practice and can read words.

Explain reasoning for choosing this group of students:

I did not choose this group of students, I was asked to work with them by the classroom
teacher. I believe the reasoning behind this choice is because it is a smaller group of students
who are struggling with reading and comprehension. The students seem to be able to use the
sound it out strategy but have few other strategies at hand to use.

Describe what you hope to learn as a result of this case study:

I hope to learn how to effectively teach reading strategies/decoding strategies in a small
group setting. I also hope to learn more about beginning readers and their needs.

2. Assessing Oral Reading, Retelling and Ability to Answer Questions

You will spend time analyzing both the individual readers in your group, as well as, the group as
a whole.
*You must refer to data from the assessments you have administered to prove what you
describe below.

Oral Reading
Fluency
How did you assess your students for fluency?
I assessed the students fluency by administering a 3-Minute Reading Assessment to each
student. These assessments ask the student to read from a grade level passage and then recall
what they have read.
Describe each readers fluency. Cite evidence from your data:

Grace read at a fluency rate of 65 wcpm (words correct per minute), according to the 3-
Minute Assessment data. Grace did not read naturally throughout the entire text but
there were times she was able to. Her volume was appropriate and loud enough to hear
from across the table. Grace read with a mix of run-ons, pauses during sentences for
breath, and there were times of choppiness. She experienced difficulty with specific
words but read with good rhythm mostly. She alternated between reading fast and
slow. Overall, her fluency was strong.
Nathan read at a fluency rate of 70 wcpm (words correct per minute), according to the
3-Minute Assessment data. Nathan read with very little expression but with lots of
volume. He seemed to read confidently for the most part. Nathan read with a mixture of
run-ons, mid sentence pauses for breath, and choppiness. He read with occasional
breaks in rhythm and had difficulty with specific words. Nathan alternated between
reading at a fast and slow pace. Overall, his fluency was strong.
Stefan read at a fluency rate of 61 wcpm (words correct per minute), according to the 3-
Minute Assessment data. Stefan read in a quiet voice and with little expression. There

were few times where he read as though talking to a friend. Stefan read phrases
choppily and with little intonation. He experienced difficulty with specific words and had
difficulty sounding out unknown words. Stefan read at a fairly slow pace. Overall, his
fluency was moderate.

Cueing Systems
How did you assess for cueing systems used?

To assess for cueing systems used I first looked at each miscue and determined whether
the students spoken word had high, some, or no graphic similarity to the word printed. I
marked high similarity, H, some similarity, S, and no similarity, N. After examining each
miscue for graphic similarity, I looked at each sentence individually to determine syntactic and
semantic cues. For each sentence I asked, Does this sound syntactically correct? Is the
sentence semantically correct? and Did the students reading change its meaning? and
marked Y for yes and N for no. I marked these in the margins next to each sentence. To
determine how students were using the graphophonic cueing system, I compared the word
spoken by the student and the word from the text in terms of how they looked. If the miscue
looked visually similar to the actual word, I marked it visually similar.
Describe each readers use of each cueing system (syntactic, semantic/meaning,
graphophonic/visual) and how their use impacted meaning. Notice patterns in the childs
reading. Does s/he make self-corrections? What insights do you have about why self -
corrections are made? Does the child seem to think about the ideas in the text while reading?
Is the child simply word-calling? Does the child make connections to previous instruction, texts
or life experiences? Cite evidence from your data.

Grace used syntactic cues (45% of miscues) more than semantics (18% of miscues) and
put a lot of use in the graphophonic cueing system (54 of miscues). Many of the words
she misread were visually similar to what was actually written. Grace was able to make
self-corrections when something did not sound right; she self-corrected in when an did
not make sense after reading it the first time through.
Nathan used syntactic cues the most (60% of miscues) while his semantic use and
graphophonic cueing system were not too far behind (50% of miscues). Many miscues
were visually similar to what was written and some miscues may have had to do with
personal experience. Nathan substituted country for city, possibly because of experience
at a zoo in the country, and was unsure of the word recess, I do not believe this is what
New Zealand schools call this time of the day.
Stefan used syntactic and semantic cues mostly (65% of miscues). His graphophonic use
was what he used least (34% of miscues). Most of his miscues did not change the
meaning of the text greatly; at one point he read I fed the duckies when We fed the
ducks was written.

 Group Oral Reading Practices

Now, think of your group as a whole. Which of the following literacy practices is this group of
readers using well? (Strengths) Look for trends and similarities within the group as a whole:

Problem-solves w/o stopping----Stops to problem-solve

o Most students were able to problem solve without stopping, even if they did read the
word wrong it did look similar to what was written. At longer words, students tended to
stop and look through the sounds in the word before attempting to read.
Self-correcting only when needed-----Self-correcting/rereads for each miscue
o There were few self-corrections made by students during their 3-Minute Reading
Assessments. When this was used it was only when needed and what was read did not
sound right.
Makes predictions for unknown words
o Each student attempted to sound out unknown words and understand that this is an
important reading skill to have. Most of their predictions begin with the first sound of
the written word, telling me that they will be able to work through all of the sounds.

3. Retelling and Ability to Answer Questions (Comprehension/Understanding)

Retelling

How did you assess each students ability to retell the story?

I assessed each students ability to retell the story by asking, What was the story that you just
read about? I allowed the students to read through the passage and then took the story away from
them so they had to recall from memory. If the student was having difficulty recalling information I
prompted with, Can you tell me some of the things the characters did?
Describe each readers ability to retell the story. Cite evidence from your data.
How completely did the readers retell without prompts? With prompts? Most important ideas?
Supporting details?

Grace was able to retell much of the story after my initial question of, What was the story
about? She recalled the setting and most of the important events, such as going on the slide
and feeding the ducks at the playground. She did not recall details of the story or what was said.
Nathan could thoroughly retell the story when asked the initial question of, What was the story
about? He recalled the setting, who went, beginning details, and the final event in the story,

eating ice blocks or ice cream. However, he was unable to recall much about the middle of the
story, such as what animals they saw and what was said.
Stefan could recall very few details from the story after reading. He was able to retell one event
that happened in the story and one thing that was said. Even with prompts he responded with,
I dont remember.

Comprehension Questions
How did you assess each students ability to answer comprehension questions? Make sure that the
instrument you use includes both literal and inferential questions about ideas in the passage. There
should also be questions that tap into background knowledge and connections which deepen the
readers understanding. Specific questions about the text (i.e. why did the author include particular
points? In what ways are headings and diagrams useful, etc.) should also be included. Cite evidence
from your data.

Group Retelling and Ability to Answer Questions

Now, think of your group as a whole. Which of the following literacy practices is this group of readers
using well? (Strengths) Look for trends and similarities within the group as a whole. Cite evidence from
your data.

Draw conclusions
o Students were able to draw conclusions from the text with details in the story. Students
responded that the dad looked silly on the slide because, he was too big and, in the
2nd grade passage, that the mom thought the narrator and sister were like monkeys
because, they are crazy.
Adapts to genre: scans for information, reads critically
Makes connections T-S, T-T, T-W
o Many miscues seem to be related to prior personal experience, such as not knowing the
word recess and referring to ducks as duckies.
Answers literal questions
o Students could recall details from the story and events that happened to make up the
storys main idea and events.
Answers inferential questions
o Students could infer information such as that listed under Draw Conclusions.


4. Proposed Teaching Response and Reflection

Text Selection

Explain what specific characteristics you will look for when you choose a text for this group of students
to read during guided reading instruction. How will these particular features of the text support this
group of readers?

I will look for texts with chapters to continue instruction that the teacher was getting into with
parts of a book. Hopefully, students will gain a better understanding of what contents are and how to
find chapters using the table of contents. I also hope to find texts with larger words that students will be
able to chunk and practice sounding out. This will give students more practice with this reading
strategy and have them work towards grouping more letters to decode more easily and read smoothly.

Guided Reading Instruction
How will you present the text you have chosen for this group so that they will be most successful? What
will you do before they read? During reading? After reading?

Before reading I will ask students to preview the book and tell me what they notice. Their
observations should include the title, illustrations, text features (chapters and contents), and words
(words they may have difficulty with). I will ask, What do you know about (topic/title)? and ask them
to read the title while pointing to each word in the title. During reading I will ask student to read aloud
and at their own pace, listening for miscues and areas of confusion. I will listen for what students do
when they come to word they do not know and where their eyes/fingers go to. After reading I will have
a retelling map with all of the important details and record how well students could retell under
different circumstances (with/without prompts, what details were included, conclusions, etc.)

Teaching Points

Highlight two teaching points for this group. You will want to choose one thing that the group as a
whole is doing well and you want to make sure continues. For the other point you should think of an
approximation (close, almost there skill) to teach these readers to do something new. Be sure to justify
why you are choosing these points with data.

Teaching Point 1: Reading/re-reading to make sure the sentence makes sense.

Teaching Point 2: Recalling important events and details from a story.


5. Reflection and Recommendation
From a strength orientation, how would you describe this groups abilities to another teacher?

This group of students does well sounding out words using the beginning sounds. This group
makes good approximations with unknown words and attempts to sound out word parts. Retelling
events of a story is a strong area for this group of students and they are able to recall events and details
after having read an entire text.

What did you learn about teaching reading or about yourself as a reading teacher from this analysis?

I learned that there are many observational and assessment tools to use when evaluating
students and their reading. These tools help to give an entire picture of where a student is strong and
weak. I also learned that no two students are the same when it comes to their reading skills and areas of
strength and weakness. There are many factors to consider and it would be hard to find two students
who are at exactly the same place in all areas of reading.

What, if anything, surprised you?

It did not surprise me as much as make me happy to know that each of these students thought
of themselves as good readers. I was happy to hear that they are confident in their abilities as a reader.