Literacy Assessment

3. Assessment of Literacy Development in Early Childhood is a research that was conducted by Johnson, Peter H, and Rogers, Rebecca. Both authors highly believe in assessing literacy development, since it is a huge aspect in students’ literacy development. Both authors state, “Most literacy assessment occurs in the school years because, at least in most Western countries, literacy learning is considered the responsibility of the school, though when school literacy instruction actually begins…In the United States, since the thirties, literacy-related assessment has occurred in the early years of schooling because of beliefs about the relationship between learning and development” (pg. 1).

This has deepened my understanding of the big 5 concepts of literacy (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension) through understanding what criteria can be used to determinate what is effective developmental for a reader and what needs improvement. The Informal Reading Inventory is one example of this because it allows me to assess word recognition, oral and silent reading, comprehension, and literacy capacity. All of which is valuable information which I can then use as a reading teacher to determine further instructional moves. While I have yet to have a place to fully put these assessment techniques into my full practice as a first year teacher. Learning about how to properly assess these components has better equipped me to think about my students' literacy abilities and further strategize my instructional planning to meet the diversity of their literacy

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Phonemic awareness is a vital role in literacy instruction. Many schools and districts adopt a commercially published basal reading program and it becomes the cornerstone of their instruction ( (David Chard, n.d.). We also know that through investigation and research it has shown us that word-recognition instruction and instruction in oral language skills related to word recognition were inadequately represented. (David Chard, n.d.) The same researchers have found that the reading passages that students are reading didn’t relate to the words they were learning. In order for students to read at grade level or above a supplemental program should be implemented. I have found that at my school we are lacking a phonics program that will reach different students abilities and make them successful in reading. My goal for this paper is to show my district that using a supplemental phonics program aside from our basal phonics program will prove beneficial to strategic readers who fall below grade level.

Presently there is a rising number of English Language Learners (ELLs) entering into classrooms all over the country. According to the three research studies that I utilized, there are several varied assessment approaches for teaching ELLs in reading (Davis-Lenski, Ehlers-Zavala, Daniel, & Sun-Irminger, 2006; Dreher, & Letcher-Gray, 2009; Ebe, 2010). English Language Learners (ELLs) consistently struggle with some aspects of reading because, they lack background knowledge in terms of the generalized text selections, which they are often given (Davis-Lenski, Ehlers-Zavala, Daniel, & Sun-Irminger, 2006; Dreher, & Letcher-Gray, 2009; Ebe, 2010). The data across all three journal documents agrees that there is an achievement gap where ELLs

Creating and implementing effective lessons for a literacy learner who is struggling with reading and writing takes much effort and appropriate resources. Throughout the Literacy Development course, I have gained much insight and resources that have become valuable tools in addressing students’ literacy needs. Each week, I conducted lessons and activities that targeted the needs of many students, but my initial focus on was on one particular student. His individual reading level, spelling development, and writing abilities were analyzed and the recorded data was used

Chapter two summary talks about the purpose of reading assessment which there three; identifying the students reading behaviors, determining reading level, and assess students’ progress. When you’re a good reader you don’t realize the different ways you read different genre or material like a story versus informational text and how both are different methods of comprehension, questioning, and vocabulary. Another part of reading good readers don’t know about is that we exhibit a variety of behaviors like building their lexicon, making inferences and determining which information is important. The purpose of reading assessment is to assess the reader’s level. The common assessment is testing the student’s ability to read and comprehend text at different grade levels. Another way of knowing the student has a reading problem is when they are able to read their own grade level text but instead a lower level text, Besides that they are put into three levels of reading; instructional level, independent level, and frustration level. When determining the students reading level so many factors comes into play and as teachers we need to know.

I am working with my LIS next week on our SRCL literacy plans for next year and I have a few questions. I know that we spoke about some of these items throughout the year but I just wanted to make sure that what I am thinking is correct. Please see the attached form to refer to the assurance item.

With the emergence of No Child Left Behind, the National Literacy Strategy of 1998, and even more recent the Ohio Third Grade Reading Guarantee test, it is not longer the norm to accept that a child may be unable to read. The Literacy Strategy of 1998 has certainly put primary schools under more pressure to teach reading (and to teach to the tests) and they have been doing so much more intensively since then. The National Literacy Strategy that was introduced in fall 1998 intended to play a major role in increasing the standards in literacy and reduce the lower expectations of the education system. (Wall, 2003)

In order to analyze evidence of children’s language and literacy learning, I determined my student’s language and literacy skill baseline and compared his progress throughout the semester to this initial starting point. All assessment data came from Bader Reading Passages, Words Their Way Developmental Spelling Analysis Elementary Spelling Inventory, EDT 346 Course Info running records (narrative and informational), 50 Literacy Strategies Cloze procedure, and EDT 346 Course Info multidimensional fluency scale assessment. This assessment data enables me to analyze and understand what the student is proficient at, what he needs more support with, and what his independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels are. One particular example

On Monday, March 22, I was given the opportunity to assess Graysen on his literacy skills. Graysen is a very sweet boy and his excitement to learn is evident. Graysen was given an assessment called a Phonological Awareness Survey, which looks at his letter and sound fluency, as well as his ability to identify compound words, syllable words, initial and final phonemes, and blending phonemes. Graysen excelled in blending and segmenting phonemes. He also showed great strength in combining syllables to form whole words. The following are some observations from the assessment. A couple of issues stood out that I will address during our weekly intervention sessions. Please find my comments below:

The use of formal and informal reading assessments provide important data that allow educators to identify at risk students (Tompkins, 2010). The data collected from the assessments address any factors that may prohibit the development of students’ reading and writing skills. In addition to the assessments, the more an educator can learn about students’ backgrounds and their past reading, language development, and writing experiences the more instructional strategies can be designed to specifically meet the needs of diverse learners in the classroom.

Student learning and retention can be maximized through assessment literacy practices. Students should know and understand the targets for their learning. They should learn from effective feedback from their teachers. The feedback they receive should improve their achievement and stimulate a growth mindset. Students should use their own assessment results to expand their learning.

In chapter one, I read about the fifteen standards developed by The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. Subsequently, I read about the eight principles of balanced literacy instruction and how effective teachers utilize them. In chapter two, I read about the reading process which contains the following steps: prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying. In addition, I also read about the writing process which contains the following steps: prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. In chapter three, I read about the different types of assessments for literacy development, including classroom assessments, diagnostics tests, high-stakes testing, and portfolio assessments. Lastly, in chapter three, I read about how these two processes are reciprocal processes in that they are both constructive and mean-making processes.

Like Joseph Torgesen, I am a fervent believer of “Catch them before they fall” (1998). Each year, a school in which I serve enlists our center to Search® scan all entering kindergarten and first-grade students. This scan is a part of an attempt to ensure future academic success by identifying children with weaknesses in pre-reading skills and then providing access to early intervention. Once the scans have been completed, parents are contacted for one-on-one interviews to discuss the results and receive recommendations for further action or intervention, if warranted. Although research is presented illustrating the problems many students experience without needed intervention, some parents, upon hearing of weaknesses noted in their child’s pre-reading skills, invariably will choose to “wait and see” what happens.