Comprehensive Reading & Writing Assessment Notes

Metacognition in Reading

  • Metacognition = conscious awareness & regulation of one’s own thinking during reading
    • Key quotation: “Knowing what to do when they don’t know what to do” (Anderson, 2002).
    • Enables goal setting, activation of background knowledge, main-idea focus, inference making & ongoing comprehension monitoring.
  • Readers with LD often:
    • Under-utilise encoding strategies (rehearsal, categorisation, association).
    • Fail to monitor comprehension or repair breakdowns (Vaughn & Bos, 2009).
  • 5 primary metacognitive components (Anderson, 2002):
    1. Preparing & planning
    2. Selecting & using strategies
    3. Monitoring strategy use
    4. Orchestrating multiple strategies
    5. Evaluating strategy & learning outcomes
  • Samuels’ (2002) sample self-questions: purpose, depth of reading, detection & repair of confusion, major/minor points, ability to summarise.
  • Figures 6-31 & 6-32 provide elementary/middle-school self-assessment checklists that operationalise these skills (Before, During, After; Know–Regulate–Check–Repair–Plan–Strategise–Monitor–Evaluate).

Portfolio Assessment (Reading)

  • Authentic, holistic, continuous collection of work in a natural context.
  • Purposes include alternatives to standardized tests, tracking multidimensional growth, highlighting strengths/needs, facilitating IEP dialogue.
  • Content decisions (Vavrus, 1990):
    1. Physical & conceptual structure
    2. What goes in
    3. Selection schedule
    4. Evaluation method (grade, rubric, narrative)
    5. Transfer to next grade.
  • Sample grading rubric (Fig 6-34) = 100-pt analytic scale (accuracy, evidence of knowledge, completeness, reflection, organisation, creativity, vocabulary, mechanics).

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI)

  • Comprises graded word lists + passages with comprehension Qs.
  • Yields Independent / Instructional / Frustration / Listening levels via Betts (1946) criteria:
    • Independent ⇒ \ge 98\% word accuracy & \ge 90\% comp.
    • Instructional ⇒ 90!\text{–}!97\% accuracy & 70!\text{–}!89\% comp.
    • Frustration ⇒ <90\% accuracy or <70\% comp.
  • Construction steps: random 20-25 glossary words/level, passages 50–250 wds, two copies.
  • Administration: start below est. level; stop at frustration; compute % accuracy =\frac{\text{words correct}}{\text{total words}}; comprehension % the same.

Readability Graph (Fry)

  • Plot avg. syllables & sentences per 100 words to estimate grade-level (1–17).
  • Steps: three 100-word samples → count sentences & syllables → graph intersection.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) in Reading

  • Uses 50–200-word passages from current curriculum.
  • Student reads 1 min; teacher marks miscues.
  • Accuracy rate option: \text{cwpm}=\frac{\text{(words–errors)}\times60}{\text{sec}}.
  • Fluency benchmarks (Put Reading First, 2001):
    • End Gr 1 = 60 cwpm; Gr 2 = 90-110; Gr 3 = 114.
  • Data graphed with baseline, aimline, ongoing points; computer programs (MBSP) automate scoring/graphing.

Performance-Based Reading Assessment

  • Authentic tasks: physical demonstrations, pictorial products, illustrations, written products, K-W-L charts, journals.
  • Scoring via rubrics (e.g., 6-level grid: Superior → Inadequate).

Transition to Written Language (Chapter 7)

Components & Traits of Writing

  • Written language integrates language, cognition & motor skills; deficits in one impact others.
  • Six Traits + One Presentation:
    1. Ideas & Content
    2. Organisation
    3. Voice
    4. Word Choice
    5. Sentence Fluency
    6. Conventions
    7. Presentation (legibility, layout, font, spacing).

Preliminary Assessment Procedures

  • Interest Inventories (Figs 7-1, 7-2) to tap topics, attitudes, strategy awareness.
  • Classroom Environment Checklist (Fig 7-3): models, time allocation, materials, conferencing, display, parent involvement.
  • Work-Sample Analysis: cross-subject review; attend to content-specific demands (science: technical vocab; math: alignment; etc.).
  • Journals: personal reflection vs content journals for ongoing monitoring.
  • Student Self/Peer Checklists (Figs 7-5 to 7-7) encourage metacognitive editing.
  • Observation (Fig 7-8): posture, grip, handedness, spacing, reversals, fatigue, motivation.

Assessing the Writing Process (Fig 7-9)

  1. Pre-writing
  2. Drafting
  3. Revising/Editing (mechanics, grammar, organisation)
  4. Proof-reading
  5. Publishing/Sharing.
  • Use step-specific rubrics; link errors to instruction.

Written-Expression Error Analysis

  • Count: total words, correct spellings, sentence types, length, mechanics.
  • Purposes: identify patterns, diagnose causes, plan targeted instruction.

Writing Portfolios

  • Include prewriting, drafts, final pieces, reflections, conference notes.
  • Foster goal setting & self-evaluation; inform teacher & parents.

Written-Expression CBM

  • 3-min probes after 1-min planning using teacher/interest story starters.
  • Scoring options:
    • Total Words Written (TWW)
    • Correct Words Spelled (CWS)
    • Correct Word Sequences (CWSq) where each adjacent pair w/ correct spelling & grammar counted.
  • Median of 3 baselines → goal: \text{goal}=\text{baseline}+2\times\text{weeks} (approx.).
  • Fluency norms (Tindal & Marston, 1990): Gr3 ≈ 26 wds/3min; Gr6 ≈ 54.

Performance-Based Writing Tasks (Fig 7-15)

  • Letters, narratives, poems, recipes, résumés; each taps specific conventions (salutation, dialogue punctuation, sequencing, etc.).

Spelling Assessment

  • Error Types: additions (saite), omissions (han), substitutions (went→want), reversals (dig→big), transpositions (angle→angel), r-controlled errors, dialect reflections.
  • Error Analysis: phonetic vs non-phonetic; vowels most error-prone (67% substitution/omission).
  • Only 107 words account for ~50% of written English (list provided).

Dictated Spelling Tests & Informal Spelling Inventory (ISI)

  • 20-word lists; mastery \ge90\%, instructional 75-89%.
  • Mercer et al.’s 40-item diagnostic inventory links words to phonics objectives (Fig 7-17).

Cloze for Spelling

  • Sentences with blanks or partial words assess recognition & production; no time limit; start with modeling.

Spelling CBM

  • Word Probe: 15-20 words in 2 min; score wpm or words-correct.
  • Letter Sequence Probe (lspm): each correct adjacent letter incl. initial & final space-pairs receives 1 pt.
    • Compute \text{lspm}=\frac{\text{total cls}}{\text{minutes}}.
    • Instructional bands: Gr1-2 = 20-39 lspm; mastery >60.
  • Graph progress, adjust instruction when 4 consecutive scores fall below aimline.

Performance Spelling

  • Weekly 10-word personalised lists (5 student, 5 teacher).
  • Students compose sentences (later paragraphs) embedding each word; scoring rubric (Accuracy 0-1, Usage 0-2, Punctuation 0-3, Legibility 0-2) → Exemplary ≥90%.

Handwriting / Dysgraphia Notes

  • Dysgraphia = impaired visual–motor integration; observe grip, slant, spacing, reversals, endurance.

Summative Points

  • Early mastery of reading & writing basics predicts lifelong literacy.
  • Multi-method assessment (portfolio, IRI, CBM, performance) captures five reading components & three writing components.
  • Error‐pattern & metacognitive data drive diagnostic-prescriptive teaching.
  • Progress monitoring via CBM provides quantifiable, graphed evidence vital for RTI & IEPs.
  • Authentic contexts (portfolios, performance tasks) enhance motivation, self-regulation & real-world relevance.