I used the Qualitative Reading Assessment to guide my evaluation with my

case study to determine her reading level. The QRI yields information for three

levels: independent, instructional, and frustration. The QRI is a series of graded

selections starting at an easy level until the student comes to material that has

become too difficult. To determine a students’ placement level, a student will read

from word lists, then the percentage of oral-reading errors are calculated. An

Independent level would be 90-100% or 18-20 correct words. The Instructional

level would be 70-85% or 14-17 words correct. The frustration level would be

below 70% or below 14 words correct. Once the student reads a word list

resulting at the frustration level, I have the student stop reading. Next the student

will read passages on the grade levels deciphered from the reading word list

results. I choose 6 passages, two on her independent reading level, two on her

instructional reading level, and two her frustration reading level. The student will

choose the reading passage starting on an instructional reading level based on

the QRI results. During this process, I continue to evaluate her on word

recognition, comprehension, and fluency. Probing student responses on

comprehension questions can give insight on the cause of the student difficulty.

When assessing Student A, I made sure to ask questions on syntax, vocabulary,

inference, and student background knowledge.

To begin the QRI, I asked student A to read word lists. The word-list tests

can provide valuable information on student vocabulary and decoding skills.

Student A started reading at the “pre-primer” word list and scored 100% until she

read from the “second” word list. Student A had one unidentified word on the
“second” word list. The results showed 95% accuracy. Student A was still found

to be independent at this point. Student A continued to read the “third” word list,

and had three unidentified words resulting in an 85%. At this point Student A was

reading at an instructional level. The student continued to read the word lists

until reaching the frustration level. At the “fourth” word list, Student A read 13 out

of 20 words correctly. Student A read with 65% accuracy. Now Student A was at a

frustration level. Student A finished reading the word list that contained the fifth

grade word list. Student A read 13 out of 20 words correctly, with 65 %accuracy

on the fifth grade word list. Student A became frustrated at the fourth and fifth

word list. At this point I knew I was able to use fourth and fifth grade passages to

instruct her.

The next step using the QRI was to have Student A read expository and

narrative texts on her instructional level. I chose 2 reading passages from a

fourth grade reading level, 2 reading passages from a fifth grade reading level. I

allowed Student A to choose which passage to read. Student A often chose

passages based on her interests in history and science. While Student A read I

took notes on where she miscued. I took notice of the miscues that changed the

meaning of the text and miscues that did not change the meaning of the text.

During this evaluation I took notes where she corrected herself. When Student A

miscued the same word throughout the text, I only counted it as one. After each

passage, I asked the student comprehension questions related to the passage. If

Student A could not answer the question from her memory she looked back in the

passage.
 Each passage had a set of concept questions that are to be asked before

she reads the passage. Student A would answer these questions before reading

the passage, this assessed her background knowledge on the subject. I took note

that when Student A had more background knowledge on the subject of the

passage, she scored higher on the reading fluency and comprehension. Student

A was encouraged to read beyond her instruction level and asked to read higher

levels. I allowed Student A to read up her grade level, at an upper middle school

level. Student A most enjoyed reading the passages about science and history.

After evaluating Student A’s QRI results, I discovered her instructional reading

level would start at a 5th grade reading level.