Standard Three: Assessment and Evaluation

• Administer and interpret appropriate assessments for students, especially those who struggle with reading and writing.
• Analyze and use assessment data to examine the effectiveness of specific intervention practices and students responses to instruction.

During this course, I had already identified some struggles with a few of my students. I knew that one of my students was struggling with phonemic awareness. I had been working on alphabet flash cards with him as well as putting him on the computer to work on an alphabet site to hopefully increase his letter and letter sound knowledge. About halfway through the school year, I was introduced to an intervention called Great Leaps. We would work on this Great Leaps page for a minute a day to see if his letter knowledge would increase. I also find a short amount of time during lessons to just work on a certain letter that day, and I will ask him what the letter is and what sounds it makes a few different times. Through these assessments and evaluations, I have seen little progress. Although he is making some progress, it is not enough that he is where he should be. He has been placed in an IPAP group where he is taking out of the classroom for 40 min about 3-4 times a week to focus on phonemic awareness. I am also in the process of referring him for special education services, but am not sure whether it will happen due to parent consent. I know next year, he will be able to receive Title I services that will hopefully help him progress more rapidly.

 This was one of the better Independent Oral Reading tests for the student. Since the assessments have been getting more complex, he is able to identify less words.

This is the Great Leaps Assessment that we work on for a minute a day.

Another one of my students was struggling with blending. He can sight read very well and sound out the words, but has trouble blending unfamiliar words. We have been working on the "arm method" of blending words, and elkonin boxes. He will sometimes be able to sound it out and other times, he needs me to blend the first two sounds and he can get the rest. He also has some difficulty with rhyming which we are focusing on as well. This student's comprehension seems low as well when using questioning during reading. Many of these problems I think are contributed by his age. He is a young student so I think with maturity, it will correct itself, but in the meantime we are focusing on these skills to help.

This is an example of the elkonin boxes that I would use in the classroom with my student.