Chapter 5

Informal Assessment:
Progress Monitoring
Introduction

• The Assessment Continuum

• Reliability and Validity
• Criterion-Referenced Assessment
• Progress Monitoring
• Computer-based Assessment of Reading
• Special Considerations for Young, Adult
and English Language Learners
The Assessment Continuum
Figure 5.1
Reliability and Validity
Types of Reliability and Validity
• Tables 5.1 and 5.2
 Reliability
• Reliability=Consistency
• Correlation: Positive, Negative, No Relationship
• Correlation Coefficient Ranges from +1.00 to –
1.00
• Measures of Reliability: Pearson’s R, Kuder-
Richardson, Split-Half, Coefficient Alpha, Test-
Retest, Equivalent Forms, Interrater
• Standard Error of Measure
• Obtained Score= True Score+Error
• Estimated True Score
Types of Reliability

• Inter-Rater • Consistency between 2

• %age agreement or more raters
• Intra-Rater • 1 rater’s consistency
• %age agreement across assessments
• Alternate Form • Consistency of scores
• Pearson r over equivalent forms
• Internal Consistency • Consistency of scores
• Spearman Brown, on items within same
Cronbach’s alpha test
• Test-Retest • Consistency of scores
• Pearson r from one testing to
another
Validity
• Validity=Accuracy
• Types of Validity: Criterion-Related,
Concurrent, Predictive, Content,
Construct

• Reliability versus Validity

• Can a Test Be Valid without Being
Reliable?
Types of Validity

• Content • How well do items

• Expert review, test assess desired
blueprint (Figure 5.2) content?
• Construct • How well do items
• Correlations with assess a particular
similar measures domain, skill, etc.?
• Concurrent vs • Same time vs
Predictive future
• Treatment • Analysis of gain
• Prediction of student scores after
learning gains
instruction
Criterion-Referenced
Assessment
Criterion-Referenced Assessment
• Assess mastery of specific objectives
• Determine present levels of performance
• Establish future educational objective
• Determine IEP objectives
• Monitor progress
Brigance Inventories
• Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early
Development-III
• Brigance Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of
Basic Skills-III
• Criterion-Referenced but yields some standard
scores
• Gives grade placement information
• Assess a wide range of reading and other skills
• Can be used to monitor progress, set IEP goals
Linkages Between Brigance and
Common Core State Standards
• Table 5.3
Examples from Brigance CIBS-III
• Figures 5.3, 5.4, 5.5
Figure 5.3
Figure 5.4
Figure 5.5
Progress Monitoring
Trends in Progress Monitoring
• National Center on Student Progress Monitoring
• http://www.studentprogress.org/
• National Center on Response to Intervention
• http://www.rti4success.org/
• National Center on Intensive Intervention
• http://www.intensiveintervention.org/

• Hybrids
• Computerized Assessment
“Hybrid” Assessments
• Assessments that combine aspects of both
formal and informal assessment
• Standardization Sample (Formal)
• Curriculum-like tasks (Informal)
• Ability to monitor progress (Informal)

• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy

Skills (DIBELS) & AIMSWeb progress
monitoring system
• http://dibels.uoregon.edu
• www.aimsweb.com
AIMSweb
• Reading Fluency
• Comprehension
• Early Literacy Measures
• Spanish Early Literacy
• Early Numeracy
• Math Computation
• Spelling
• Written Expression
AIMSweb Reading

• Reading Fluency
• Measures Oral Reading Fluency

• Reading Comprehension (MAZE)

• Measures Reading Comprehension
AIMSweb Early Literacy

Measures
• Letter Naming
• Letter Sound Fluency
• Phoneme Segmentation
• Nonsense Word Fluency
AIMSweb Spanish Early Literacy
Measures
• Letter Naming Fluency
• Letter Sound Fluency
• Syllable Sound Fluency
• Syllable Reading Fluency
• Syllable and Word Spelling
• Oral Reading Fluency
 Example: DIBELS (Good & Kaminski, 2002)

• Brief, standardized, individually administered measures

• Initial/First Sound Fluency - Oral Reading Fluency
• Letter Naming Fluency - Oral Retelling Fluency
• Phoneme Segment. Fluency - Word Use Fluency
• Nonsense Word Fluency
• Daze (DIBELS Next only)
• Assess development of pre-reading and early reading skills

• Includes DIBELS Data System

What DIBELS Purports to Assess
Area of Reading DIBELS Assessment
• Phonics • Initial Sound/First Sound
• Phoneme Segmentation

• Phonemic Awareness • Nonsense Word

• Fluency • Letter Naming

• Oral Reading

• Comprehension • Retell
• Daze (DIBELS Next)

• Vocabulary • Word Use

 Overview of DIBELS Measures

Initial Sounds Fluency (First Sound Fluency in

DIBELS Next)
• Grade administered: Kindergarten

• Measures: a student’s ability to recognize and

produce the beginning sound(s) in an orally
presented word

• Students performing below expectations will

benefit from instruction in phonological
awareness
 Overview of DIBELS Measures
Letter Naming Fluency
Probe 1
• Grades administered:
Kindergarten through fall of c c N u Q M u h S i
first grade n b e N F f o a K k
g p k p a H C e G D
• Measures: A student’s b w F i h O x j I K
proficiency in naming upper and
x t Y q L d f T g v
lower case letters
T V Q o w P J t B X
• Students identified at risk Z v U P R l V C l W
should be instructed in R J m O z D G y U Y
phonological awareness and
Z y A m X z H S M E
alphabetic principle
q n j s W r d s B I
r A E L c c N u Q M
Total: ____/110
 Overview of DIBELS Measures

Phoneme Segmentation
Fluency
• Grades Administered: Mid-
kindergarten to end of first
grade

• Measures: A student’s ability

to segment three- and four-
phoneme words into their
individual phonemes

• Students performing below

expectations in this measure
will benefit from instruction
in phonological awareness
activities
 Overview of DIBELS Measures

Nonsense Word Fluency

kik woj sig faj yis
• Grades administered: mid-
kindergarten through first grade kaj fek av zin zez
lan nul zem og nom
• Measures: the student’s yuf pos vok viv feg
knowledge of letter-sound
correspondence and ability to bub dij sij vus tos
blend letters into words wuv nij pik nok mot
nif vec al boj nen
• Students performing below
expectations will benefit from suv yig dit tum joj
activities focusing on decoding yaj zof um vim vel
tig mak sog wot sav
 Overview of DIBELS Measures
Oral Reading Fluency
• Grades administered: Mid
year first grade through
third grade
• Measures: fluency in oral
reading of connected text
• Students at risk will often
have difficulty in
comprehension
There was a robin’s nest outside our kitchen
window. The nest was in a tall bush. The mother
robin sat in the nest all day long. One day when I was
watching, the mother bird flew away. I saw the eggs
she was sitting on. There were four blue eggs.
I watched and watched. The eggs moved. I
watched some more. The eggs started to crack.
Finally, the eggs hatched. I saw four baby birds. The
baby birds opened their beaks wide. I heard them
peeping. Soon the mother bird came back. Then the
mother robin put worms in their mouths.
Every day I watched the baby birds and their
mother. Pretty soon the babies were so fat there was
no room for the mother. Then one morning the nest
was gone from the bush.
Overview of DIBELS Measures
Oral Retelling Fluency

• Grades administered: mid-year first to third grade

• Measures: Comprehension of the passage read

orally

• Children generally use about half the number of

words in their retell that they read aloud in a 1-
minute passage
Overview of DIBELS Measures

Word Use Fluency

• Grades Administered:
Kindergarten through
Third grade

• Measures: Vocabulary
knowledge and
expressive language
Overview of DIBELS Measures

Daze

• Grades Administered:
Third through sixth
grade

• Measures:
Comprehension
 Strengths & Weaknesses
• Strengths
• Progress monitoring
• Assesses all NRP areas
• Relatively brief
• Weaknesses
• Pressley, Hilden, & Shankland (2005)
• Predictive Power
• Emphasis on speed vs. comprehension
• Cost
• The Truth About DIBELS: What It Is, What It Does
(Goodman, 2006)
• “Barking at print?” (Samuels, 2007)
Computer-Based Assessment
of Reading
Computerized Assessment
• Star Reading
• http://www.renaissance.com/Products/Star-
Assessments/STAR-Reading
• Linked to Accelerated Reader
• Read 180
• http://www.scholastic.com/read180/index.htm
• DORA and DOMA
• http://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/products/
• Total Reader
• www.totalreader.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.faq
Lexiles
• Computer-generated
• Sophisticated but user-friendly system to track
student progress over time and to link students
to appropriate level texts
• Ranges from 200 (beginning reading) to 1700+
(advanced readers)
• Students and books can be matched along the
continuum of Lexile scores
• Common Core State Standard Lexile bands define
expected levels (in Lexile scores) of reading for
each grade level
Special Considerations for
Young, Adult and English
Language Learners
Special Considerations in the Informal
Assessment of Young Children

• May want to use portfolios to keep track of student

progress
• 8 essential literacy skills for Kindergarteners
• Letter/sound associations
• Phonological awareness skills
• Print concepts
• Phonemic segmentation/representation
• Word reading
• Word writing
• Text reading
• Text writing
Special Considerations in the
Informal Assessment of Adults
• Text Box 5.1
• Adults learning to read are typically sensitive, and in
some cases, ashamed
• Take time to establish rapport
• Assessment materials should be based on adult
themes (e.g., work, family life)
• Assess various areas of reading, rather than
assuming possession of basic word analysis skills
• Assess oral reading rate; if 125 wept or less, further
assessment is needed
• Use stronger vocabulary acquired through life
experiences as a building block of reading
Special Considerations in the Informal
Assessment of English Language Learners
• Text Box 5.2
• 4 categories of ELLs
• Newly arrived students with limited formal schooling
• Newly arrived students with adequate formal schooling
• Students exposed to two languages simultaneously
• Long-term English-language learners
• Assessments should match the literacy background
and knowledge base of the student
• Ensure assessments conform to the general
assessment standards set by the Teachers of English
to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL;
www.tesol.org/)
 Assessment at a Glance:
Criterion Referenced and Progress
Monitoring

• Tables 5.5 and 5.6

• Characteristics of Informal Assessment and
Progress Monitoring Measures
• Psychometric Properties of Informal Assessment
and Progress Monitoring Measures
Summary

• The Assessment Continuum

• Reliability and Validity
• Criterion-Referenced Assessment
• Progress Monitoring
• Computer-based Assessment of Reading
• Special Considerations for Young, Adult
and English Language Learners