Student Assessment and Lesson Project

Ariel Morales
EDU 325

Introduction
 The student assessed is a 3rd grade female student who lives with her mother, father, and
younger sibling. She attends Pugliese West Elementary located in the suburban area of
Steubenville, Ohio. This student is currently performing at grade level in Math and Reading.
However, she is on the lower end of the grade level benchmarks and is considered at risk. She is
described as a very kind, quiet, and hard working girl. She does well working in small groups.
Accommodations that have been made include one-on-one time with a peer coach, clear and
distinct scheduling, and repeated instructions. She is a “C” student who is currently working on
her reading comprehension skills and reading fluency.

Procedures

When figuring out a placement I decided to contact Pugliese West Elementary School
and see if I could work with a student from my previous field teachers classroom. I was able to
make arrangements to go into the 3rd grade classroom right after morning drop off and work one
on one with one of the struggling readers from the class. I was able to get information on the
students preferred reinforcement while emailing the teacher before going in. When I went in I
signed into the front desk and had a moment to talk with the teacher before pulling the student. I
gave her the official background information sheet and was able to talk for a moment about the
student and their current level of performance. In all, it took me about 30 mins to give the
assessment. We sat out in the hallway and I was able to follow the instructions for the beginning
of the year assessments. After finishing up I rewarded her with a small pack of M&M’s and sent
her back to her classroom. I met with the teacher briefly as the students were copying down
homework and let her know that it went really well and that I was very thankful for the
opportunity to go back to her classroom and assess one of her students.

Assessments Given
During this assessment period the third grade DIBELS Next MAZE (DAZE)
Assessment (DAZE), the DIBELS Next Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) Assessment, and
the Retell Fluency Assessments were given.
DAZE
This assessment involves a worksheet and a “word maze” in which the student is
asked to read a passage and fill in the missing word. The student is giving three options
and is asked to choose from the three choices. This probe assesses the reading fluency,
comprehension, and vocabulary skills of the student.

DORF
 This assessment deals with reading fluency and decoding skills. In this assessment
the student is asked to read a passage out loud for one minute. The accuracy of the
fluency and decoding skills are assessed for one minute.
Retell Fluency
This assessment looks at the retell accuracy and proficiency of the student. After
reading the DORF Assessment passage the student is asked to relay as much as they can
remember about the passage in one minute. The assessment is based largely on the
students’ accuracy, number of details recalled, and the level of detail relayed in their
retell. Although there are basic guidelines and scoring rules in place, the level of detail
within their retell is based on the judgement of the assessor.

Results & Analysis

After scoring the assessments it was clear that, as reflected upon in the background
information sheet, there was a need for increased practice in comprehension skills and
vocabulary.
The student was performing at the lower end of the grade level benchmarks which put the
student at risk. The scores for the DORF Assessment changed each time the assessment was
given. The first time through the student was below grade level, the second time through the
student was at grade level but performed at the lower end of the grade level, and the final time
she performed at higher end of the grade level benchmark. The Retell Fluency scores remained
consistently low each time and showed that the student was performing below benchmark. The
DAZE Assessment score was below benchmark.
Throughout the assessment, it was noticed that the student would occasionally add words
or skip over words in a passage. The student seemed to easily get off topic during the DORF
assessment reading and during the retell would often begin to relate the reading passage to her
own experiences or add extra details that were not reflected in the text. It was noted that she was
concerned about the timer at the beginning and had to be reminded that the assessment was low
pressure and was told to just do as much as they can to the best of their ability. The assessment
took place in the hall right before classes began so there people were around. However, the
student was still focused on the assessment and did not get distracted by the people in the hall.
Upon reflection, it can be said that the student has good fluency and did a good job of decoding
the words read. She worked hard throughout the assessment, was very compliant, and did not
need any behavioral redirections.
A couple of times I had to keep the student focused on the reading as she was very easily
distracted and talkative. For example, while giving one of the assessments we read a passage on
pizza, in which she stopped reading and told me about her favorite kind of pizza and a time that
her family went out for pizza. I acknowledged her but made sure to gently turn her back to the
passage with a “really? That’s great! Let’s go back to our reading to see what happens next”. She
was quickly redirected and did an excellent job of following my instructions.
 During the retell aspect of the DORF I noticed that the student consistently made up
details and would add things such as characters emotions or pizza toppings. As we went into the
DAZE Assessment. I gave her the worksheet for the beginning of the year and asked her to look
at the example. After going through the example and instructions I was able to set the timer and
have her begin. I had to remind her once to read silently but she remained very focused although
seemed to get anxious about the timer. I explained that the timer was for me and that she was
only required to do her very best and as much as she could in the time allotted. She relaxed after
I told her this and seemed to understand that it was not a high pressured assessment.

Bar Graph

Areas Targeted for Improvement

After assessing the data collecting research and selecting resources, strategies were
selected that will be beneficial for this at-risk student. Although there are many available
strategies the Visualization strategy and p. In using these strategies there will be a more
individualized focus on the skills needed for student success in reading.
·
Comprehension and Visualization
The results of the retell fluency assessment show that the student needs increased practice
of comprehension skills. Comprehension is a large part of the reading process and is important
for higher levels of reading that may be encountered at the secondary and higher levels of
education. One study focused on after-school book clubs and reveals how adolescents visualize
texts and provides insight into how visualizing can foster reading comprehension and critical
literacy. As further stated in the article, visualizations are informed by and reveal the readers’
identities and worldviews and often work best in collaboration with other reading comprehension
strategies such as summarizing or sorting main ideas into levels of importance. These strategies,
like all strategies, must be taught through modeling and guided practice. For supplemental
materials, there are many graphic organizers and strategies that focus on teaching how to make
predictions, summarize, question, and make inferences that would be beneficial in teaching
comprehension skills.
Visualizing refers to one’s ability to create pictures in their head based on text read or
words heard and is a key skill for developing readers. Further, the progress of comprehension
skills would be monitored by curriculum based assessments, practice worksheets, and periodic
one-on-one check-ins. This would ensure that goals are being met and that the student is on track
for being on or above benchmark.

Vocabulary
Vocabulary skills are an important aspect to reading and reading comprehension and
numerous studies have identified a correlational relationship between vocabulary and
comprehension. One such study focuses on reviewing vocabulary interventions with
comprehension strategies and found that there were recurring themes throughout their study. One
such theme was that the teaching of word meanings supported comprehension of text containing
the target words. Further, a second theme that was found was that instruction that focused on
some active processing was typically more impactful than a definition or a dictionary method for
supporting comprehension of text containing the target words, but the research was unclear on
how much instruction is sufficient.
Direct instruction of word meaning during reading. Providing students with even brief
explanations of word meanings prior to reading boosted passage comprehension compared with
not receiving this instruction. Further, progress of vocabulary skills would be assessed and
monitored using vocabulary tests, one-on-one check ins, and curriculum based assessments.

Conclusion
This process was an excellent experience which allowed me to get hands-on experience
with curriculum based measures and giving timed assessments.

Bibliography
Paleologos, Timon M., Brabham, Edna G. (2011). The effectiveness of dibels oral reading
fluency for predicting reading comprehension of high-and low- income students. Reading
Psychology, 32:54–74. Retrieved from https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.fr.opal-
libraries.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=0c989f2d-1429-4dfb-b06b-
8f76c5692e82%40sessionmgr4008