ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE #1

Tasiana Blas

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

CIL 621: Assessment in Literacy

Dr. Stephanie Loomis

March 3, 2021
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Penny was born and raised in Las Vegas, she is in 3rd grade and is eight years old. Penny

is reading at grade level and enjoys what she reads as long as it is interesting to her. During her

free time, Penny loves to spend her time at home on her Ipad watching funny YouTube videos.

Her favorite books are Dork Diaries and she is currently reading The One and Only Ivan with her

classmates in school. She feels embarrassed when asked to read in the classroom because she is

afraid of what her classmates might think if she reads a word incorrectly.

I administered four different assessments while I was working with Penny. I administered

the High Frequency Word Knowledge Survey (HFWS), Phonemic Segmentation Test (PST),

Concepts of Print Assessment, and the Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory (PSI). For

the HFWS, the PST, and the Concepts of Print Assessment, Penny read all words and passed

each assessment with 100% accuracy. With the PSI, Penny made errors when spelling words

with reduced vowels in unaccented syllables. This would mean that Penny is in the early stages

of derivational relations. I would recommend that Penny continue to practice building words

with these spelling patterns.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.3.A Identify and know the meaning of the most common

prefixes and derivational suffixes. Based on the PSI, I could have Penny create a word study

notebook in the classroom that would be called a vocabulary notebook. In this notebook, Penny

would log all words that are used each week during word sorts, word hunts, and other engaging

activities using the words she would be assigned to increase her ability to spell in the derivational

relations spelling stage. Each week, Penny would collect five to ten new words. Penny would be

able to share words in the class. A Vocabulary notebook would be beneficial to Penny because it

would consistently present spelling challenges and clarify spelling each word.
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The strengths of the PSI was the clarity it brought to Penny’s exact level of spelling. I

learned that Penny feels uncomfortable when spelling words she is not familiar with and that

with practice, she will become the speller she wants to be. This assessment reminded me of how

much I need to focus on spelling in the classroom. Often times, I tell my students not to worry

about spelling in their writing because of the anxiety and the time it takes for some of my

students to decide what letters to use when spelling words. With this assessment, I realized how

important it is to practice spelling words and bring more spelling activities into my classroom. I

want my students to become confident in each spelling stage and I believe that in order to reach

this goal, I need to provide my students with more opportunities to practice spelling words in

each spelling stage.

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References

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2019). Words Their Way: Word

Study for Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling Instruction (7th ed.). Pearson.

Jr., C. R., Flynt, E., & Cooter, K. (2013). Flynt/Cooter Comprehensive Reading

Inventory-2, The: Assessment of K-12 Reading Skills in English & Spanish (2nd

ed.). Pearson.