Running Head: ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT 1

Assessment Assignment

Madison Lewis

Longwood University
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Assessment Assignment

Class Overview

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year, I administered the Words Their Way

Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) to my eighteen students in third grade at Small Town

Elementary School in Small Town, VA. The spelling features covered on the assessment, in the

order in which they are taught, include consonants, short vowels, digraphs, blends, long vowels,

other vowels, inflected endings, syllable juncture, unaccented final syllables, harder suffixes, and

bases or roots. Most often, a student’s spelling stage is determined by the first taught feature the

student misspells more than once on the assessment. My eighteen students’ scores ranged from

Middle Within Word (long vowels) to Late Derivational Relations (bases or roots).

Seven students’ scores fell in the Within Word Pattern stage—three in the Middle range

and four in the Late range. I have placed six students into an all-encompassing, Early-through-

Late Syllables and Affixes group. Late Syllables and Affixes is the performance goal for third

grade students, meaning the wide range of these students may not be an issue; the higher

performing students may still benefit from the practice, based on their not-quite perfect scores in

the rest of the stage. However, boredom of the higher performing students in the Syllables and

Affixes group may lead me to move them up to join the most advanced group of five, an Early

Derivational Relations group.

Middle Within Word

The lowest-performing group of students in my class of eighteen is comprised of four

students—Trevor B., Caleb, Sam, and Steven. These students fall into the Middle Within Word

stage group, indicating that they are likely Mid-Transitional readers and writers. All four

students in the group earned perfect scores on both the consonants and short vowels features.
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When it comes to the digraphs feature scores, Steven’s was perfect and Sam’s was acceptable; he

misspelled only one digraph. Trevor B. and Caleb need a bit more practice with digraphs. Trevor

B. misspelled two digraphs (SH and CH) and Caleb misspelled the same digraph (SH) three

times. All boys scored acceptably on the blends feature; Trevor B., Caleb, and Steven’s scores

were perfect and Sam misspelled just one blend. Long vowels is the feature where the boys’ lack

of knowledge really begins to show; Caleb, Sam, and Steven had some success with the VCe

pattern (vowel-consonant-silent e), but Trevor B. did not spell a single long vowel correctly. I

was not concerned about placing Caleb and Trevor B. into this Middle Within Word group

despite their need for practice with digraphs and their arguable status as outliers of this group. I

feel that their scores proved enough exposure to and success with digraphs that they can continue

to practice and learn about digraphs through their work with words with long vowel patterns.

They, and the rest of the group, may benefit from double sorts where the focus begins with long

vowel patterns and ends with a digraph sort of the same or some of the same words for

supportive review.

With my Middle Within Word group, I would begin instruction with a word sort

addressing the VCe vowel pattern compared with the CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) vowel

pattern. This sort would be a bit of a review for Caleb, Sam, and Steven, but would help me see

if they can transfer their skills with -I_E and -A_E words to words with other vowels in the VCe

pattern. This would also give me an opportunity to provide explicit VCe instruction for Trevor B.

as well as give him an opportunity to show that he is familiar with the concept of VCe in words

that were perhaps not included on the ESI assessment. The sort I would use includes words with

the SH and CH digraphs as well as the MP blend with which Trevor B., Caleb, and Sam needed
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extra practice. After sorting based on short versus long vowel sounds, I would have the students

sort the six words with digraphs by which digraph they contain. See the word sort below.

CVC VCe
chat date
ship here
mesh ride
chop home
shut cute
limp choke

By the end of the school year, third grade students are expected to score in the Early

Syllables and Affixes stage. My instructional pace for this group will need to be fairly hasty to

ensure that they reach this goal, especially considering that they will be doing a lot of work with

vowels throughout the year, which can be tricky for students to grasp. Some of these students,

particularly Trevor B. who has not shown use of the VCe vowel pattern yet, may require one-on-

one intervention to achieve the Early Syllables and Affixes goal by the end of the Spring.

Additional considerations need to be made for English Learner (EL) students in this

group as they navigate through the Within Word stage. For example, the Middle to Late Within

Word stage involves lots of work with vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are often represented by

different letters and letter combinations across languages. Extra, explicit instruction comparing

and contrasting the way sounds are spelled in the language(s) they speak at home versus English

may help. This may require one-on-one intervention from me in the classroom and/or work with

the reading specialist.

Late Within Word

Anna, Bridget, and Kaylee comprise my smallest word study group, Late Within Word,

indicating that they are likely Late Transitional readers and writers. Anna, Bridget, and Kaylee

have all mastered initial and final consonants and digraphs. They have also mastered short
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vowels, blends, and long vowels; however, their scores on these three features were not perfect.

Anna misspelled one blend and one long vowel pattern; Bridget misspelled one short vowel, one

blend and one long vowel; and Kaylee misspelled one short vowel and one long vowel. All three

girls are using but confusing other long vowel patterns, which is the perfect place to begin

instruction with them. None have mastered any features in the Syllables and Affixes or

Derivational Relations stages.

Breaking up my Within Word Pattern spellers into two small groups gives me a better

opportunity to provide individualized instruction for the students that have the most progress to

make by the end of the year. Teaching four word study groups rather than three may cause some

planning and management challenges. However, I believe the benefits will outweigh the costs,

and there is no reason I could not combine the two smaller groups if I find the current

arrangement is not working. The current groups also provide the happy circumstance of a Late

Within Word group with no outliers.

While Kaylee has mastered r-controlled vowels within the other vowels feature, Bridget

and Anna are using but confusing them. For this reason, I would begin instruction with an AR,

ER, and OR sort, allowing Kaylee to help me “be the teacher” if I find the review is boring her. I

have also included an additional IR column in the below sort that can be used as an extension if I

feel the students can handle it and/or if Kaylee needs a bit more of a challenge. Asterisks indicate

picture cards in the sort below.

AR ER OR IR
star herd torn* bird
far fern* core* shirt
jar* perch* worn stir
yarn* jerk floor first
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Instruction at an average pace should suffice for my Late Within Word group in order for

them to score in the Early Syllables and Affixes stage by the end of the year. R-controlled

vowels and other vowel patterns require dedicated time and practice. However, Bridget and

Kaylee are already using but confusing some inflected endings, which falls into the Early

Syllables and Affixes goal. While Anna has not made much progress with inflected endings yet,

she likely has not received direct instruction on them, and she has shown strong, logical growth

up to now. Bridget, Kaylee, and Anna are on a track that leaves me feeling confident about the

progress they will make by June.

Early-Late Syllables and Affixes

Lexi, Molly, Dana, Natalie, Brian, and Lindsay are my six students who comprise the

Early-Late Syllables and Affixes group. This large group likely contains readers/writers spanning

from the Early Intermediate to Early Advanced stages. All six students have mastered initial and

final consonants, short vowels, digraphs, blends, long vowels, and other long vowels. Some

students misspelled a single feature here and there, particularly Brian, who had few truly perfect

scores, however their overall skills indicate that they all are firmly situated in the Syllables and

Affixes stage. The first feature Lexi, Molly, and Brian use but confuse is inflected endings.

Lindsay’s first using-but-confusing feature is syllable juncture. Dana and Natalie have mastered

initial consonants through syllable juncture and begin to use but confuse at the unaccented final

syllables feature. None of the six have mastered any of the features within the Derivational

Relations stage, but their perfect/near perfect scores show they each have mastered at least one of

the features within Syllables and Affixes.

The Early-Late Syllables and Affixes group is the most diverse group in the class. I have

several reasons for grouping these six students together, but I fully expect to have to make an
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adjustment or two as I begin working with the groups and observing my new students’ strengths

and weaknesses. The biggest reason for including all six of these children in a word study group

together is that all of them have reached or nearly reached the typical goal for the end of the third

grade year – Early Syllables and Affixes. As such, they will not require fast- or even average-

paced instruction to meet that goal. They will benefit from taking their time to ensure they have

everything solidly mastered in Syllables and Affixes before dipping their toes into Derivational

Relations study.

I am concerned that Brian and Lindsay may be a bit too advanced for this group. Brian

misspelled only one feature within the following: blends, long vowels, other vowels, syllable

juncture, and unaccented final syllables. He misspelled only two features within inflected

endings. With some special attention to inflected endings, I can see him potentially being ready

for the Derivational Relations group very quickly. The same goes for Lindsay, who misspelled

only one other vowel pattern, no inflected endings, and only one unaccented final syllable. She

misspelled only two syllable juncture features and is already using but confusing harder suffixes.

I will pay special attention to their progress and may offer one or both of them the opportunity to

give the Derivational Relations group a try. I have originally placed them in this group because I

would much rather them get a strong foundation in Syllables and Affixes rather than rushing

them past their goal just for the sake of advancing.

Every student in this group but Lindsay misspelled the -IES inflected ending, so I would

begin instruction with a Plurals with Y sort modified from Words Their Way Appendix D.

Asterisks indicate picture cards. See sort below.

-IES -YS
babies* plays
carries monkeys*
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ponies boys
bodies trays
pennies* donkeys*
worries enjoys
berries turkeys

While this sort would be a review for Lindsay, it would give her the opportunity to prove that she

can translate her skills into other words, and the picture cards would provide her with an

additional challenge.

Early Derivational Relations

My Derivational Relations group is comprised of Ben, Callie, Edwin, Trevor H., and

Miguel. Based on their status as Early Derivational Relations spellers, their reading/write stage is

most likely Early Advanced. These students have mastered every feature, initial consonants

through unaccented final syllables, with perfect or near-perfect scores. Ben misspelled one

feature in each of the following: other vowels, inflected endings, syllable juncture, and

unaccented final syllables. Callie misspelled one syllable juncture feature and one unaccented

final syllable. Edwin misspelled one unaccented final syllable and one harder suffix. Trevor H.

misspelled one harder suffix. Miguel misspelled one syllable juncture feature, one harder suffix,

and only one of the bases or roots. Ben and Callie are using but confusing harder suffixes and

bases or roots. Edwin and Trevor H. are using but confusing only bases or roots. Miguel seems to

have mastered all the features, from initial consonants to bases or roots; but of course, his power

score indicates that he still has lots of learning left to do.

The ESI assessment only gives the students the opportunity to spell only one word with

the E-Drop + -ION suffix. While nearly all students added the -ION suffix correctly on the

assessment, I want to determine if they can apply that knowledge to other words. As such, I will

begin instruction in my Derivational Relations group with an E-Drop + -ION vs. E-Drop + -
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TION sort modeled after sorts in Words Their Way Appendix D. There is plenty of time for this

review as these students have already met the typical end-of-year third grade goal of Early

Syllables and Affixes and can be instructed at a slow pace. See sort below.

e-Drop + tion e-Drop + ion

induce/induction educate/education
introduce/introduction congratulate/congratulation
produce/production create/creation
reduce/reduction decorate/decoration
deduce/deduction imitate/imitation
reproduce/reproduction complicate/complication

All of these five students—Ben, Callie, Edwin, Trevor H., and Miguel—seem to be ready

for instruction in the Derivational Relations feature. However, I do have some concerns. While

Ben seems to have mastered the Syllables and Affixes features, he did not receive a perfect score

in inflected endings, syllable juncture, or unaccented final syllables. He may need more practice

and benefit from building a stronger foundation before moving to a much more advanced group;

after all, he is only in third grade. He still has lots of time to learn, and is in no danger of not

meeting the third grade goal. On the flipside of these concerns, Miguel is an advanced outlier of

this group who would benefit from differentiated attention. In addition to allowing Miguel to

assist struggling students from time to time during word study instruction and giving him more

of a “helper” role when appropriate, it is still essential that he be provided the instruction he

needs to grow and improve to his fullest potential. As such, I may speak with the coordinator of

gifted and talented instruction to learn how I can best meet his needs in my classroom and to

facilitate some one-on-one instruction between Miguel and the coordinator. Another option

would be speaking with other third grade teachers on my team or even the fourth grade team to

see if Miguel could join one of their classes a couple times a week to receive the instruction he

needs.
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Conclusion

Taking the time to evaluate my students’ assessment results at the beginning of the year

sets up both myself as their teacher and them as learners for success as the year progresses.

Grouping my students based on ability will allow me to dedicate the time they deserve to the

instruction from which they will benefit the most. Knowing and planning early for the fact that

my lowest-performing students may require intervention and my highest-performing students

may require extra support is essential; the earlier I can communicate with my colleagues to

arrange these learning opportunities, the more my students will be able to grow in the short year

they spend in my class. And while all this planning and preparing puts me in an excellent

position to meet my students’ needs, one of the biggest considerations I, and any teacher of word

study, must make is that adjustments responsive to students’ performance, learning, and progress

throughout the year can—and should—be made.

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Works Cited

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2015). Words their way: Word study for

phonics, spelling and vocabulary instruction (6th Ed.), Boston, MA: Prentice

Hall/Pearson.