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Reading Assessments

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EAs often assist with student assessments by conducting ______________________ assessments of language skills

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Informal Assessments

EAs provide verbal feedback to a teacher about the reading progress of a particular child

_________________________ –EA’s opinion based on his/her experience of child’s reading abilities, strengths and needs

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Formal Assessments

Standardized, norm-referenced, commercially prepared assessments of reading levels and specific reading skills

___________________________ (Two people administering same test will arrive at the same result)

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Why is Testing Needed?

To prepare for reporting to parents To assess child’s strengths and needs to

plan for further teaching As part of investigative process for

________________ of a child with special needs

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Teacher chooses

When to test What assessment tool to use Which children to test

– (entire class or selected children)

EA ________________________________________________________________________

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Slosson Oral Reading Vocabulary Test

A _______________________ test used widely in schools

The test will produce a measure of the child’s __________________________ (by grade)

Tests __________________ not comprehension

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Equipment Needed

Slosson master sheet of word lists for grades K to 8 (results scored on this sheet)

Separate word list for each grade pasted on cards

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Procedure

Quiet room with desk and chair for child to sit at and a chair for tester beside and slightly behind child (child should not be able to see you writing)

Explain procedure to child and relax them as much as possible (_________________________________)

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What to say to child?

“Today I am going to show you some lists of words

Some lists will be easy and some will be harder

We will stop when the words get too hard”

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What if they ask what you are writing?

“I am making notes so I can tell your teacher what he still needs to teach you.”

________________________________________________________________________– E.G. If working with a grade 5 child that you think

is reading at a grade 3 or grade 4 level, start with the list for grade 2

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How to Begin

Place the first list on the desk in front of the child and ask them to read the words

________________________________________________________________________

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Scoring the Test

Put a ________ beside each word that the child says correctly

Put a ________ beside a word that they do not know

Put a ____ and the _____________ said when they make a mistake for a word (this will tell you what reading cues they are using)

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What if they ask for help?

If a child looks to you or asks you for help, say “ ______________________________.”

If you help them at all with a word, ________________________________

(You can help them find where they were on a list if they lose their place)

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When To Stop

Stop when they miss or say incorrectly ____________________________________

Ask them (for that list only) if there are any more words on the list that they know. Give the child a check for any words farther down that list that they know.

Do not go on to another list. Say “ The words are getting hard aren’t they. Let’s

stop there.”

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Scoring the Results

On the bottom of each list, write the total number of words that the child said correctly.

If you started at list 3, ________________________________________

Carry those column totals over and record in the box in the lower right hand corner of the sheet.

Total all those numbers. That total is _____________________________________.

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Interpreting the Results

Example A– Billy’s raw score is 62– Divide the number by 2 (equals 31)– Move the decimal place one place to the left (3.1)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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3.1?

The number to the left of the decimal _____________________

The number to the right of the decimal is the __________________– September is .1– January is .5– May is .9

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Billy’s score

Billy’s raw score is 62 Billy’s reading level is 3.1

Billy is reading at the level we would expect an average child to be reading at in September of grade 3

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Other examples

Mary’s raw score is 81 What is her reading level?

Johnny’s raw score is 13 What is his reading level?

(Can also check raw score on a table for grade level)

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Another example

Lois read the first three lists. The column totals were P (20) 1 (19) 2(11) (we stopped here because she made 3

errors in a row) What is her raw score? What is her reading level?

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What this means

For this number to be meaningful, we have to compare Billy’s reading level to his grade level.

You administered the test in March when Billy was in grade four. Therefore his grade level is 4. 7. (March is the 7th month of the year)

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Comparison

Billy’s reading level is 3.1 Billy’s grade level is 4.7

This means Billy’s reading is approximately one and a half years behind where we would expect him to be at this stage

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Some further notes

Results will vary from day to day so a child may score 4.5 one week and 4.4 the next

This a rough measure of reading level so a

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To get the most accurate result, do the test several times, a week or so apart

If the test results to not fit in with the teacher’s (or your) subjective assessment of the child’s level, _____________________________________

Be aware a child may score quite low because ___________________________

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What to do with the results

The teacher will file the assessment sheet with his/her records for that child

The test needs to be completed in a neat and complete manner, with a standard method of marking ________________________________________________________________________

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Finally

Remember this is a test of reading vocabulary not reading comprehension

Some children may be able to “word call” lists of words quite easily but cannot understand the meaning in a passage of text in which those words appear.