Assessment Experience #2

Mary Joy Mondejar

CIL 542
October 15, 2021

I. Introduction

This assessment was performed on Maria, 2nd grade student. This assessment evaluates her
spelling knowledge. Maria was provided 2 sets of spelling inventories. Both spelling inventories have
10 questions each. The chosen words were age appropriate and mostly high frequency words in 2nd
grade. Looking at how she wrote the words, she appears to be confident and quick to write her
answers (there is no erasures) during the assessment. Carried out was the Flynt and Cooter
assessment, used to test students’ comprehensive reading (including spelling) Inventory. Flynt and
Cooter states, if a student has learning need in spelling, it is important to perform spelling assessment
in a clear & organized manner, help the student be comfortable with the assessment, and spell in
parts, if possible.

II. Result

Looking at Maria’s answer sheet, she correctly answered 5 out of 10 items on the first assessment;
3 out of 10 on the second assessment. Throughout the assessment, she seems quick to answer and
seems to have no hesitation when writing the spellings. I can tell that her thoughts are there, but not
definitely needs more practice to improve spelling. She seems to have difficulty in words that are
more than 4 letters long and more than 2 syllables.
Figure 1 first assessment

Figure 2 second assessment

III. Conclusion and Strategy

Although the student has some correct answers, she definitely needs to improve her spelling. Ways to
improve spelling are mastering phonetic awareness and improve the vocabulary. The student has a
strong spelling knowledge of the words that consist of 3 letters and also the words that we often see
or hear, such as cool, soft, and wish. One strategy for this student in spelling longer words is to spell
in parts by breaking big words into small chunks. Furthermore, giving full sentence examples after
reading the word is a great way to let the student clearly understand what word is being asked. This
corresponds to the Common Core State Standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.4. A: Use context (e.g.,
definitions, examples, or restatements in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

IV. Content Drive and Reflections

This assessment is fairly straightforward to perform and proven to be an effective way to evaluate a
student’s spelling knowledge. Giving a sample sentence of the word that is being asked, not only it can
evaluate the student’s spelling skills, but also student’s listening and comprehension skills. I have not
administered this assessment yet; however, I did learn from reading the Flynt and Cooter book.

V. Teacher Reflection on Practices

I learned that—just as in the previous assessment I wrote about— there is great importance in making
sure students are comfortable with the assessment procedure and conditions. Especially for young
children, anxiety can cause lower performance, and so mask a student’s true abilities. Of course, not all
stress can be eliminated; all of us, myself included, feel some stress when we have to answer questions
(that we might not be sure of the right answers). As a student, I was educated outside the United
States, in a culture (the Philippines) where education is serious business, and there is a strong pressure
to perform. That dynamic can be good for highlighting strong students, but I think often it leaves the
struggling student behind, and many don’t get the chance to catch up. As a teacher, I can make sure
that assessments are “casual” or informal as much as possible, since the goal is to give me information
on how to help them, not how to judge them. Thus, I have focused on ways to make sure I see a
student’s true performance. First, it is important to read the word clearly and maybe slowly (depending
on the student’s capabilities). Second, make sure the student has the opportunity to hear the word
multiple times, so that they are certain of what is being asked. Lastly, preparing a sample sentence for
every word is helpful to let the student understand the word clearly; often, the context will help the
student remember the nature of it, to allow recall of other instances they have heard the word.

I. Reference

Cooter, R. B., Flynt, E.S., & Cooter, K.S. (2014). Flynt/Cooter Comprehensive Reading Inventory-2,
The assessment of K-12 reading skills in English and Spanish. (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle
 VI. Content Drive and Reflections

This assessment is fairly straightforward to perform and proven to be an effective way to evaluate a
student’s spelling knowledge. Because a sample sentence of the word that is being asked is given, not
only it can evaluate the student’s spelling skills, but also student’s listening and comprehension skills. I
have not administered this assessment yet; however, I did learn from watching the assessment
footage. There were words that I can’t tell if the student wrote the right letters, because the student
sometimes wrote letters that are confusing, like the letters t and f. But after studying the student’s
pattern or stroke of letters, I can see that she got the answer right.

VII. Teacher Reflection on Practices

From this assessment footage, I learned that—just as in the previous assessment I wrote about— there is great
importance in making sure students are comfortable with the assessment procedure and conditions. Especially
for young children, anxiety can cause lower performance, and so mask a student’s true abilities. Of course, not
all stress can be eliminated; all of us, myself included, feel some stress when we have to answer questions (that
we might not be sure of the right answers). As a student, I was educated outside the United States, in a culture
(the Philippines) where education is serious business, and there is a strong pressure to perform. That dynamic
can be good for highlighting strong students, but I think often it leaves the struggling student behind, and many
don’t get the chance to catch up. As a teacher, I can make sure that assessments are “casual” or informal as
much as possible, since the goal is to give me information on how to help them, not how to judge them. Thus, I
have focused on ways to make sure I see a student’s true performance. First, it is important to read the word
clearly and maybe slowly (depending on the student’s capabilities). Second, make sure the student has the
opportunity to hear the word multiple times, so that they are certain of what is being asked. Lastly, preparing a
sample sentence for every word is helpful to let the student understand the word clearly; often, the context
will help the student remember the nature of it, to allow recall of other instances they have heard the word.

II. Reference

Cooter, R. B., Flynt, E.S., & Cooter, K.S. (2014). Flynt/Cooter Comprehensive Reading Inventory-2, The
assessment of K-12 reading skills in English and Spanish. (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle