Kate Murphy

Dr. Stunkard
Learner Evaluation Assessment
March 3rd, 2015

*Name of student has been altered for confidentiality purposes

I. Assessment and Instructional Design
Frankie is a second grade student identified with a specific
learning disability in the areas of math and reading. He spends a
majority of his academic day in the general education classroom with
his fellow peers. Within the general education setting, Frankie receives
a variety of accommodations including modified tests that are
administered in a small group setting, and additional time on
assignments/assessments. He also receives intensive itinerant
instruction in a learning support classroom for a total of fifteen minutes
per subject. The learning support instructor extends, reinforces, and
reteaches the content that is being taught in the general education
curriculum in a pullout small group setting. By having Frankie receive
these services, he is being retaught all content of the general
education curriculum multiple times in an alternative way.

Frankie is a hard working student who displays a passion for

learning. He always puts forth his best effort even when it is evident
that he is struggling. If Frankie answers a prompt incorrectly he learns
from his mistake, and will more than likely answer the prompt correctly
the following time. Frankie strives to please his instructor, and looks for
approval and praise for his good behavior and hard work. There are
occasions where Frankie will become off-task, however he is easily
redirected and does not lose instructional time because of
inappropriate behaviors. Frankie does not demonstrate any behavioral
problems that require an intervention.
Although Frankie receives services for math, the data that has
been collected in regards to mathematics shows that he is progressing
quickly and has made remarkable improvements. He was been given a
number of probes to assess his overall ability in mathematics, and the
results indicate that math does not need to be a major area of focus.
However reading probe results indicate that he is still significantly
struggling in the area of reading. The probe results suggest that he
struggles particularly with the identification of sight words. The sight
word program that is used within Frankies learning support classroom
is the Dolch Sight Word program. The Dolch Sight Word Assessment

and Progress Monitoring Program is used within learning support,

grades K-2, to identify at what level a student is identifying sight
words. Within the program there are nine different lists, list one being
the easiest and list nine being the most difficult. To assess, the
students are flashed a card with a sight word written on it; if the
student answers correctly the word is checked off. Students are also
given a graph in which they can monitor their own progress of sight
word identification. Baseline data was collected for Frankie, and the
data suggests that Frankie is identifying sight words below grade level.
For Frankies grade level he should be able to identify 200+ sight
words. He is currently not able to read sight words passed list 3, which
collectively has a total of 75 sight words. Based on the collected data,
my co-operating teacher and I decided that it would be most beneficial
to target Frankies ability to recognize the Dolch Sight Words.
The assessment design that I selected to implement with Frankie
is the use of a sight word flash card assessment at the end of each
week. Within this assessment he will be flashed words written on said
flash cards from lists 1-3. After I collect, record, and analyze the data at
the end of each week, I will be able to make instructional decisions to
help increase Frankies ability to identify sight words. Frankie will also

be able to record his own progress on a student-friendly Words I

Know chart (See attached). Allowing Frankie to record his own data
makes him more actively aware of his progress and will motivate him
to improve.
To promote the progress of Frankies ability to identify grade-level
Dolce Sight Words, he and I will be working together 2-4 times per
week targeting mastering grade-appropriate sight word recognition
(220+ words). Together we will complete a variety of instructional
intervention activities including a sight word center in which Frankie is
required to say, build with magnetic letters, and write each sight word
(see attached image), sight word instructional games (see attached),
echo responding, and reading of leveled texts in which the sight words
frequently appeared. At the end of each week Frankies progress is
recorded; I am able to make instructional decisions based on the data
that is collected. If Frankie is able to identify a list with 80% accuracy
(20/25 words), we would move onto mastering the next group of Dolch
Sight Words lists. If he does not recognize the words with 80%
accuracy, I will increase the amount of days in which I work with
Frankie per week.

II. Implementations
The Assessment and Instructional Design was implemented, and
the data that was collected, recorded, and analyzed suggested a large
amount of improvement in relation to Frankies ability to identify Dolce
Sight Words. At the beginning of the intervention Frankie was able to
identify and read 34 out of 75 of the Dolce Sight Words from lists 1-3.
After the implementation was complete he was able to identify 59 of
the Dolce Sight Words on lists 1-3. He improved by a total of 25 sight
words by the end of the intervention.
After data collection was under way, I noticed that a trend in the
data suggested that Frankie was hitting a plateau. I used this
information and decided to alter my instruction and add more centers
that required Frankie to read and physically write the word as well.
These new centers included writing in the sand and writing the sight
words on a magnetic board. The data following the change in
instruction suggests that incorporating these new centers helped to
improve his ability to recognize sight words. I attribute his progression
to the use of multisensory center activities.

III. Curriculum

Frankie receives the general education curriculum in his

classroom with the rest of his peers. When he is pulled out of the
classroom for itinerant learning support the curriculum is being
retaught, extended, and retaught. The Dolce Sight Words that we have
been using with Frankie are also used in the general education
classroom. The general education second grade teachers use the Dolce
Sight Words as part of their instruction.

IV. Reflection
After working with Frankie, it was evident that he benefitted from
the intensive one-on-one instruction. He was able to identify 25 more
words than he was able to at the start of the intervention. Data
suggests that the design of the instruction was effective and beneficial.
To make the intervention even more effective I could increase the
amount of time spent with Frankie each week. This would help him to
recognize and identify even more words. Extra time may also allow
Frankie to progress into Lists 4-6.

Attached Images:

Frankie is locating and pointing to sight words found on lists 1-3 on the
word wall of sight words.

Frankie is using the Say It, Build It, Write It center activity to practice
with sight words from lists 1-3.

Frankie recorded his own progress in a Words I Know data sheet.

Being able to record his own data was motivating for Frankie. . This
data collection acted as a model of his progression for both him and I.