Literacy Profile

Student Name: Jackson Date of Assessment: 2/5/21

Student Grade: 4th Age: 10

Examiner: Olivia Murray Date of Report: April 12th, 2021

I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Jackson is a 10 year old boy that is in fourth grade at Buckingham County Elementary
School in Buckingham, Virginia. As Jackson’s reading and language arts teacher, I have
identified that he’s slightly below 4th grade reading level and often rushes through his reading to
finish to the end of the story. My main goal with working with Jackson is to slow down his
reading, but still be a fluent reader. I want to ensure that Jackson is not rushing through the
material and is processing all of the information that he is reading.

Jackson was born and raised in Buckingham, Virginia and has attended public schools
through his entire education so far. He lives with both of his parents and a younger sister.
Jackson is an eager and motivated student who wants to do well in school. Jackson shows an
interest in both nonfiction and fiction books and loves to read anything in front of him. His major
areas of growth that have been identified are fluency and vocabulary. Jackson is very
independent and takes pride in staying on task and accomplishing all of his work.

Jackson has neat handwriting, but can struggle with capitalization, spacing between
words, and proper punctuation. These are all things that have been identified in his independent
journal entries. Jackson also has a limited vocabulary that he uses when he writes independently.
He reuses familiar words multiple times in writing pieces. Jackson is currently not receiving any
extra services in any subjects.

The assessments took place virtually on a Wednesday afternoon, which is a virtual at-
home learning day. Jackson took the assessments when he was at a babysitter’s house with other
students present. He was able to stay on task and not be distracted by the other students that were
present at the time.

II. INITIAL ASSESSMENTS ADMINISTERED

Word Recognition in Isolation (WRI) Words Their Way Spelling Inventory (PSI)
Student Interest Survey Writing Sample
Word Recognition in Context (WRC) Elementary Attitude Survey
Results

Elementary Reading Attitude Survey

Raw Score Midyear Percentile Rank

Recreational Reading 34 78
Academic Reading 32 79
Reading Attitude Total 66 80

Qualitative Reading Inventory

Graded Word Lists

Grade Level Percentage Scores (100%)

Two Three Four

Automatic 95 75 65
Total Correct 95 90 65
Functional Level IND INS FR

Reading Passages
Readability Level Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4

Passage (fiction) The Family’s First A Special Birthday Early Railroads

Trip for Rosa

Total Accuracy 96% 95% 89%

Total Acceptability 96% 98% 89%
Rate 92 114 117
Retelling 100% 95 65%
Comprehension
Explicit 6 correct 5 correct 2 correct
Implicit 2 correct 2 correct 2 correct
Total 8/8 (100% 7/8 (88%) 4/8 (50%)

Passage Level IND INS FR

Reading Passages
Readability Level Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4

Passage (nonfiction) Cats: Lions and Amelia Earhart

Tigers in Your House

Total Accuracy 98% 88%

Total Acceptability 98% 88%
Rate 112 104
Retelling 100% 80%
Comprehension
Explicit 6 correct 4 correct
Implicit 2 correct 1 correct
Total 8/8 (100%) 5/8 (63%)

Passage Level IND FR

Primary Spelling Inventory

Spelling features Raw Score Percentile

Consonants (beginning) 7/7 100

Consonants (final) 7/7 100
Short Vowels 6/7 86%
Digraphs 6/7 86%
Blends 7/7 100%
Long-vowel patterns 6/7 86%
Other-vowel patterns 4/7 57%
Syllable junctures and easy prefixes 6/7 86%
and suffixes

Feature points 49/56 88%

Total Points: 68/82

Words attempted 26/26 100%

No. of correct words attempted 19 73%

Spelling stage: Within Word: Late

Writing Sample

Student Jackson H.
Date 2/12/21

Scorer Olivia Murray

Please give a score of

Writing Trait Score Evidence

Ideas 5 Jackson has clear, focused, and interesting topics.

He thinks outside the box to think of interesting
The content of the piece, topics and ideas that his readers would enjoy. He
the main theme, together
with the details that
could use work in adding strong supporting details
enrich and develop that to his writing.
theme.

Organization 4 His organization is appropriate. He attempts to

create an introduction and a conclusion, but the
The internal structure of supporting details in the middle are lacking and
a piece of writing, the
thread of central
could use a lot of work to bring together his writing.
meaning, the pattern of
the ideas.

Voice 4 Jackson stays on topic with what he’s writing about,

but doesn’t always consider the audience to whom
The feeling and he’s writing to. He needs to work on writing with a
conviction of the
purpose, whether it’s to inform, persuade, entertain,
individual writer coming etc. You can tell he’s always passionate about what
out through the words. he’s writing about, but he’s not always writing with
a clear purpose.

Word Choice 3 Jackson doesn’t use words that push his vocabulary.
He often stays to the same handful of describing
Word choice is the use words. I know he is capable of using more rich
of rich, colorful, precise
language that moves and
descriptive words, so that is going to be a main
enlightens the reader. focus in our six week tutoring time period.

Fluency 4 Jackson’s sentences flow together very nicely. He

Sentence fluency is the
rhythm and flow of the
language, the sound of
work patterns.
often has run on sentences, which can make it
difficult sometimes when it comes to the fluency
aspect of reading his writing. The sentences don’t
always flow together naturally, which is something
we’re going to be working on!
 Conventions 3 Jackson could use work when it comes to using
commas and run on sentences. Overall, he does a
The mechanical good job with punctuation and capital letters at the
correctness - spelling,
grammar and usage,
start of a sentence.
paragraphing, use of
capitals, and
punctuation.

Student Interest Survey:

Jackson told me in his survey that he loves to play soccer and that he’s been playing since
he was really little. He also enjoys school and loves all subjects. He told me that he missed all of
his teachers and classmates when he was doing virtual school this past school year. He loves
Disney shows and watching Big City Greens. He explained that the hardest part of reading for
him is trying to read words that are way too big. When he sees a word he doesn’t know, he tries
to sound it out and try again. His mom often reads with him at home to help him practice.

OBSERVATIONS DURING PRETESTING

Development of Word Recognition

Qualitative Reading Inventory

The Qualitative Reading Inventory is an informal assessment that helps teachers assess a
student’s independent, instructional, and frustrational reading levels. The teacher is also able to
assess a student’s background knowledge and keep track of different miscues through reading.
The child’s fluency is also able to clearly be assessed during this assessment.

The first step in the reading assessment is to have the student read a word list. This helps the
teacher assess where to start the assessment process. Once the starting passage level is identified,
the student will either be reading a narrative or expository text. The teacher also asks questions
to activate prior knowledge and to see if the student knows anything about the subject. The next
step is having the student read the passage out loud. Following this, the student will retell what
he or she remembers from the story. Finally, the teacher will ask the student multiple
comprehension questions to check for understanding.

I started the word list at Jackson’s independent reading level which was late 2nd grade. He
scored independently on this list with a score of 95. When we moved to the third grade list
Jackson scored a 75% automatic score. When he reached the 4th grade level list he reached
frustration by scoring 65%. Based on this assessment, I placed Jackson at an independent 2nd
grade level, instructional 3rd grade level, and a 4th grade frustration level.

Spelling Development
Primary Spelling Inventory

The Primary Spelling Inventory is a spelling assessment that is used to help the teacher
determine the student’s current spelling stage development level. Each word progressively
becomes more difficult as the list continues. The assessment is meant to see what features the
student understands and what features need improvement.

According to the feature guide that comes with the assessment, Jackson is currently in the late
within-word spelling stage. Jackson showed complete mastery of beginning and final
consonants. He also showed strong knowledge of short vowels, digraphs, and blends. Jackson hit
frustration by scoring a 4/7 on other-vowel patterns, which places him right at the late within-
word spelling stage. Jackson requires extra assistance with -ou, -ew, and -ir words.

Reading Fluency
Qualitative Reading Inventory

When the QRI is given to a student, the student reads a passage while the teacher is listening and
recording any errors during the reading. Jackson started on the 2nd grade level passage and
scored 96% accuracy, which puts him at an independent reading level for the 2nd grade level
passage. Jackson read a 3rd grade level passage next and finished with 95% accuracy, which puts
him at an instructional reading level. When Jackson reached the 4th grade level passage, he
finished with 89% accuracy.

Comprehension

The QRI passages that are used to assess reading fluency are also used to help assess student
comprehension. The teacher asks questions to activate prior knowledge prior to the student
reading the passage. Following the student completing the passage reading, the teacher will ask a
series of comprehension questions to check for understanding.
According to the QRI results, Jackson is at a 2nd grade independent level for comprehension
(100%), a 3rd grade instructional level for comprehension (88%), and a 4th grade frustration
level for comprehension (50%). Jackson took a turn from the 3rd grade level to the 4th grade
level due to his high increase in WPM. Jackson rushes through passages at times and misses a lot
of information due to him rushing. He will need strong fluency work to help him with his speed
and accuracy.

MOTIVATION/ATTITUDES

The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey is an interactive survey that allows teachers to see how
students truly feel about reading in a lot of different environments and conditions. I read each
statement out loud and Jackson has to circle the Garfield that he relates to the most when
thinking about the statement that was read. Overall, Jackson has an extremely positive attitude
about reading. He scored high in both recreational and academic reading compared to other 4th
grade students (78% and 79% percentile). Jackson enjoys reading in an independent setting,
guided reading setting, and often volunteers to read out loud in a whole group setting.

III. SUMMARY OF INITIAL TEST RESULTS (FEBRUARY 5th, 2021)

Jackson is a fourth-grade student in Buckingham, Virginia that loves school and loves reading.
He’s on a late second-early third grade independent reading level, with a mid-late third grade
instructional reading level. He enjoys being challenged with difficult tasks and always wants to
do his best work no matter what the task is.

Jackson is currently in the late-within word spelling stage. He mastered consonant beginning and
end sounds and short vowels. He also performed extremely well on digraphs and blends. His
major area of focus is other vowels, particularly -ir, -ew, and -ou words. Jackson will need to
continue to work on other vowel pattern words to become more familiar with these spelling
patterns.

Jackson becomes excited to read and sometimes rushes through books. He has a high WPM rate
when he reads, but he sometimes reads so quickly that he can’t recall what he read, or answer
comprehension questions with high accuracy. This will be a main goal throughout the tutoring
sessions.

Jackson has a limited vocabulary that he uses when he writes and continuously uses the same
words in his writing. I want to help Jackson expand his word choice when it comes to writing
summaries and passages. The main areas of need for Jackson are fluency, accuracy, and
vocabulary.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Jackson is a student that is passionate about school and about reading. He has a few areas of
growth that I want to focus on with him to get him completely caught up to the fourth grade
reading level. If Jackson is able to improve on these two areas, he will be reading at grade level.
Goals
Improve rate and accuracy of reading.
Improve overall vocabulary skills and word choice.

Fluency and Accuracy

Fluency and accuracy can go hand in hand in reading. Fluency and accuracy both talk about
reading correctly while reading with proper speed. A fluent reader is able to read a text
automatically with little to no hesitation while being accurate.

Repeated Readings

Repeated readings help build fluency and accuracy. Repeated readings are used to help
readers at all levels practice and develop automaticity when reading. Repeated readings
are short passages (usually 50-200 words) that are for all students. The goal is to read the
passage over and over again until the reader reaches the set fluency and accuracy goal.
This also helps increase a student's vocabulary knowledge by seeing new words over and
over again during repeated readings.

Reader’s Theatre

Reader’s theatre is a classroom activity that is used to help students work on fluency and
expression. Students read aloud from a script that is usually adapted from a fun and
engaging book to help improve fluency and expression while reading. Jackson would be
able to collaborate with his peers, while practicing reading at a more slow, but fluent
pace, while allowing him to comprehend what he is reading. Jackson loves participating
in class and would enjoy being about work with his peers during Reader’s theatre.

Vocabulary and Word-Choice

Semantic Word Maps

A semantic word map is a diagram of relationships between concepts and related ideas.
The whole idea is that the student will have a word and will have to connect that word to
other words. This is to encourage the student to think of similar words that they already
know, or to challenge themselves to expand their vocabulary to create the semantic map.
 This will help Jackson with increasing his vocabulary and his word-choice in his writing
and everyday use.

Word Sorts

Incorporating daily word sorts into Jackson’s vocabulary practice would allow him to see
a lot of new words and allow him to study their definition and how to use them in a
sentence. If Jackson is seeing and using new words during word sorts, he will be able to
use them in his own writing, which would expand his overall vocabulary and word-
choice when he’s writing his own passages and stories.

IV. SUMMARY OF THE TUTORING

Jackson and I worked together once a week from February to April. There were a few weeks
where we didn’t meet due to spring break and internet issues. We did our tutoring through
Google Meet. I spent the first lesson and the second lesson as pre and post assessment times to
see where Jackson was in his literacy journey. During most of our time together, we focused on
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

It was an amazing opportunity to work with Jackson once a week virtually. Jackson is one of my
fourth grade students and having the chance to work with him on our one virtual day of the week
is great! Jackson loves school and is always eager to read and write.

Based on the results of the initial assessments, my main focus with Jackson was making him a
more aware fluent reader by slowing down his eager speed to make him focus on what he was
reading, so he would be able to increase his comprehension. I also wanted to focus on increasing
his vocabulary knowledge.

Fluency Development Lesson: Repeated Readings

During Jackson and I’s lessons we did a lot of reading. I would always start off by reading the
passage first, then he would read it outloud, and then he would read it to himself. At the end of
the lesson he would read it to himself two more times. We would set goals with WPM and we
would also correct errors together as they occurred throughout the story. The main goal of this
instructional activity was to have Jackson work on increasing his WPM in an accurate and
comprehensive way while eliminating errors in each attempt.

Word Sorts

Jackson and I worked on his word knowledge skills by using word sorts and different word sorts
each week. Each week Jackson was introduced to a new list of words that had different word
features, which allowed him to be introduced to a lot of different words and patterns that he
hadn’t seen before. By the end of our lessons together, I could see a big difference in the way
Jackson approached new words and his confidence level with vocabulary.

Writing: Summarizing

Writing wasn’t one of Jackson’s biggest areas of need or growth, but I integrated writing into
every lesson somehow just to keep him writing and engaged in the lesson. One of our favorite
go-to activities at the end of the story was a summarizing activity. Jackson would gather a pencil
and paper and write me a short summary about what the story was about. In some lessons, we
would pretend we were writing to the future in a journal and Jackson absolutely loved that. He
was engaged and excited to share what he learned in the lesson on paper.

IV. POST-ASSESSMENTS AND FINAL PROGRESS MONITORING DATA

Grade Level Percentage Scores

Three Four Fifth

Automatic 100 80 65
Total Correct 100 85 65
Functional Level IND INS FR

Spelling features Raw Score Percentile

Consonants (beginning) 7/7 100%

Consonants (final) 5/5 100%
Short Vowels 6/6 100%
Digraphs 7/7 86%
Blends 7/7 100%
Long-vowel patterns 4/5 80%
Other-vowel patterns 6/7 85%
Inflected Endings 5/5 100%
Syllable Junctures 5/5 100%
Unaccented Final Syllables 3/5 60%

Feature points 19/25 85%

Total Points: 53/62

Words attempted 26/26 100%

 No. of correct words attempted 19 76%

Spelling stage: Syllables and Affixes: Late

Readability Level Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4

Passage (fiction) The Lucky Cricket Where Do People Early Railroads

Live

Total Accuracy 96% 95% 88%

Total Acceptability 96% 98% 89%
Rate 97 117 102
Retelling 100% 95 70%
Comprehension
Explicit 6 correct 5 correct 2 correct
Implicit 1correct 2 correct 3 correct
Total 7/8 (100% 7/8 (88%) 5/8 (62%)

Passage Level IND INS FR

Summary

Jackson has improved greatly in his word knowledge and vocabulary skills. His comprehension
is also improving as time goes on. With his reading levels, he’s made improvements, but his
independent, instructional, and frustrational levels remain the same for now. I’m looking forward
to continuing to work with Jackson to see where he goes next in his literacy development
journey.

VI. FINAL INSTRUCTIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Partner Reading

Jackson loves working with other students and he enjoyed reading with me, so I could see him
using partner reading in a very beneficial way! Partner reading consists of two students teaming
together to read a particular text. This could be a passage, and article, or a story. It is a very
broad instructional strategy that can be implemented in a lot of different grades in an effective
way. Jackson would be able to show comprehension by sharing what he remembers from the
story with his partner at certain designated parts of the story.

Speed Sorts
Throughout our time together in our lessons, Jackson has grown to love the word sorts and
learning new words. Jackson is competitive and loves to play games, so I believe that
implementing speed sorts into his daily school routine would be extremely beneficial for him as
a reader. This would help expand his vocabulary and word knowledge, while still engaging him
in a fun way.