michael c. mckenna university of virginia mcm7g@virginia.edu

The Coach’s Role in Using Informal Diagnostic Assessments for

Differentiated Reading InstructionMichael C. McKenna

University of Virginiamcm7g@virginia.edu

Using the Cognitive Model to Look for Patterns

The Cognitive ModelPhonologicalAwareness Decoding and

Sight WordKnowledgePrint

Concepts

Fluency in

Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

ReadingComprehension

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

General Purposes

for Reading

Specific Purposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategies

for Reading

VocabularyKnowledge

BackgroundKnowledge

Knowledge ofText and Sentence

Structures

The Cognitive ModelPhonologicalAwareness Decoding and

Sight WordKnowledgePrint

Concepts

Fluency in

Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

ReadingComprehension

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

General Purposes

for Reading

Specific Purposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategies

for Reading

VocabularyKnowledge

BackgroundKnowledge

Knowledge ofText and Sentence

Structures

The Cognitive ModelPhonologicalAwareness Decoding and

Sight WordKnowledgePrint

Concepts

Fluency in

Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

ReadingComprehension

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

General Purposes

for Reading

Specific Purposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategies

for Reading

VocabularyKnowledge

BackgroundKnowledge

Knowledge ofText and Sentence

Structures

The Cognitive ModelPhonologicalAwareness Decoding and

Sight WordKnowledgePrint

Concepts

Fluency in

Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

ReadingComprehension

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

General Purposes

for Reading

Specific Purposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategies

for Reading

VocabularyKnowledge

BackgroundKnowledge

Knowledge ofText and Sentence

Structures

The Cognitive ModelPhonologicalAwareness Decoding and

Sight WordKnowledgePrint

Concepts

Fluency in

Context

AutomaticWord

Recognition

ReadingComprehension

LanguageComprehension

StrategicKnowledge

General Purposes

for Reading

Specific Purposes

for Reading

Knowledge of Strategies

for Reading

VocabularyKnowledge

BackgroundKnowledge

Knowledge ofText and Sentence

Structures

Case Study: Kareem

Inadequate Oral FluencyGood Sight Vocabulary

What do you do next?

Answer: Assess phonics

Case Study: Sallie

Adequate Oral Fluency

What do you do next?

Answer: No further assessment

Case Study: Mike

Weak Oral FluencyWeak Sight Vocabulary

What do you do next?

Answer: Assess phonics

Case Study: Wanda

Weak Oral FluencyWeak Sight VocabularyWeak Phonics

What do you do next?

Answer: Assess PA

Case Study: Fred

Weak Oral FluencyWeak Sight VocabularyStrong Phonics

What do you do next?

Answer: No further assessment

Case Study: Gloria

Weak Oral FluencyStrong Sight VocabularyStrong Phonics

What do you do next?

Answer: No further assessment

Building an Assessment Toolkit for Word Recognition

PA Screening TestPA Levels InventoryPhonics Screening TestInformal Phonics InventorySight Word Screening TestSight Word InventoryOral Reading Fluency Screening Test

Building an Assessment Toolkit for Word Recognition

DIBELS

PA Screening Test

PA Levels Inventory

Phonics Screening Test

Informal Phonics Inventory

Sight Word Screening Test

Sight Word Inventory

Oral Reading Fluency

Building an Assessment Toolkit for Word Recognition

DIBELS

PA Screening Test ISF, PSF

PA Levels Inventory None

Phonics Screening Test LNF, NWF

Informal Phonics Inventory None

Sight Word Screening Test None

Sight Word Inventory None

Oral Reading Fluency ORF

Phonological Awareness

ISF and PSF are not diagnostic. They are sometimes useful in gauging

response to intervention, but only if instruction targets the same skills they assess.

What’s needed is a more fine-grained measure of how children progress through stages of PA development.

Rhyme DetectionRhyme GenerationPhoneme IsolationPhoneme IdentityPhoneme CategorizationBlendingPhoneme AdditionPhoneme DeletionPhoneme SubstitutionPhoneme segmentation

The goals are to (1) find out the level

at which a child is functioning,

(2) provide instruction at the next level, and

(3) periodically test to see if the instruction has taken the child to that level.

Rhyme Detection

Student can identify teacher-generated words that rhyme or don’t rhyme.

Example

I will say three words. Tell me the word that does not rhyme with the other two.

cat, ball, hat

Rhyme Generation

Student can generate words that rhyme with a teacher prompt.

Example

Tell me some words that rhyme with cat.

Phoneme Isolation

Student can isolate particular sounds from the remainder of the word.

Example

The first sound we hear in the word dog is /d/. What is the first sound you hear in the word cat?

Phoneme Identity

Given three words, the child can identify a common sound in all three words.

Example

Tell me the sound you hear in all three of these words: mad, pat, can

Phoneme Categorization

Given three words, two of which have a common sound, the child can identify the word that lacks that sound.

Example

I will say three words. Two of them have one sound that is the same. Tell me the word that doesn’t belong: horse, duck, dog

Phoneme Blending

Upon hearing the phonemes that make up a word, the child can identify the word.

Example

Tell the child that you are going to say a word in your own “secret code.” Then pronounce the word by saying each phoneme in succession. For example, say”/k/ /a/ /t/.” The child must blend these sounds to form the word cat.

Phoneme AdditionUpon hearing an onset and rime, the child can blend them to form a word.

Example

Provide the child with a common rime. Ask the child to make a word by adding a sound. “What word do we get if we add /sh/ to the beginning of ake.”

Phoneme DeletionUpon hearing a word, the child can remove the onset and say just the rime.

Example

Say a common one-syllable word, such as cake. Ask the child to remove the beginning sound, so that the child says ake.

Phoneme SubstitutionGiven a word and a new onset, the child can replace the original onset and say the new word that is formed.

Example

The word is shake. Change /k/ to /d/ to make a new word.

Phoneme SegmentationGiven a word, the child can say its phonemes in sequence.

Example

When I say the word dog, I can hear the sounds /d/ /o/ /g/. What sounds do you hear when I say … bad?

Progress from CVC to CCVC to CCVCC

What diagnostic tools that are already available to you can provide this information

about PA?

Take a moment …

Decoding NWF is not diagnostic. It is inappropriate to analyze NWF errors to

determine skill deficits.◦It is timed. ◦It is not systematic.

Miscue analysis is not a reliable method of determing skill deficits. ◦The effects of context often distort what a child

can do.◦Sight word knowledge can lead to

overestimates of phonics knowledge.◦See McKenna & Picard (2006/07).

Decoding

A graduated inventory of phonics skills can guide instructional planning.

It can also be used for progress monitoring.

Such an inventory can include letter sounds in isolation, real words, and nonsense words.

It is untimed.

Consonant SoundsConsonant DigraphsBeginning Consonant Blends Final Consonant BlendsShort Vowels in CVC WordsThe Rule of Silent eLong Vowel Digraphs (Teams)Diphthongsr-controlled Vowels and -al

Hierarchy of Decoding Skills

Consonant Sounds Point to S. Say, “What sound does this letter say?” Go from left to right, repeating this question. It is fine if the child reads across a line without prompting. For C and G, have the child give both sounds. Note: If the child cannot pass this subtest, consider giving an alphabet inventory.

Consonant DigraphsPoint to Th. Say, “What sound do these letters say?” Go from left to right, repeating this instruction. It is fine if the child reads all five without prompting.

Beginning Consonant BlendsPoint to bl. Say, “What sound do these letters say?” Allow child to proceed with or without prompting.

Final Consonant BlendsPoint to bank. Say, “What is this word?” Allow child to proceed with or without prompting.

Short Vowels in CVC WordsPoint to fit. Say, “What is this word?” Allow child to proceed with or without prompting.

Long Vowel DigraphsHave the child read each word across each line, from left to right.

Diphthongs

Have the child read each word, from left to right.

r-Controlled Vowels and -al

Have the child read each word, from left to right.

Sample Record Keeping Chart

Scoring Table for Initial Testing

What diagnostic tools that are already available to you can provide this information

about decoding?

Take a moment …

Noting words a student can identify automatically while reading orally is not a reliable way to judge sight vocabulary.◦It is not systematic.◦It lacks benchmarks.◦It does not control for context.

Graded lists of high-frequency words can be used to judge whether a student’s acquisition of sight words is adequate.

Sight Words

An organization like this allows you to quickly judge sight word level. Simply find the highest level with 80% accuracy.

This same test can be used diagnostically, since each word missed becomes an instructional target.

What diagnostic tools that are already available to you can provide this information

about sight words?

Take a moment …

Remember that fluency problems are diagnosed by examining screening results at lower levels (word recognition and PA).

ORF qualifies as a screening test but is inadequate for diagnostic purposes.

Oral Reading Fluency

Although diagnostic assessment in these areas is not possible, we can assess a student’s responsiveness to instruction in two principal ways.

Compare screenings at two points in time. Measure growth with respect to a specific text or

set of texts.

Vocabulary and Comprehension

Although there are no diagnostic tests of vocabulary, it is possible to judge a student’s responsiveness to vocabulary instruction.

One way is to assess knowledge of word meanings taught during small-group work over the course of a unit.

RtI requires pre/post comparisons. There are many ways to assess word

knowledge, and all are problematic.

Vocabulary

Like vocabulary, it is possible to judge how well a student comprehends a selection.

Doing so over a series of texts can help you judge whether the student is responding to instruction.

Unfortunately, this approach cannot tell you whether the student’s ability to comprehend is improving. Only repeated screenings can do so.

But repeated screenings are problematic because so many factors influence comprehension.

Comprehension

How might the tests in this toolkit be used in a comprehensive RtI model?

PA and Word Recognition

Word Recognition and Fluency

Fluency and Comprehension

Vocabulary & Comprehension

A Stairway to Proficiency

Vocabulary and Comprehension

Teacher Reading

Students Reading

Fluency and Comprehension

First Grade Reader

Second Grade Reader

Third Grade Reader

Word Recognition and Fluency

Blends and Digraphs

R-Controlled Vowels

Vowel-Consonant-E

Vowel Teams

Phonemic Awareness and Word Recognition

Basic Alphabet Knowledge

Using Letter Sounds

Using Letter Patterns

References

McKenna, M. C., & Picard, M. (2006/2007). Does miscue analysis have a role in effective practice? The Reading Teacher, 60, 378-380.

McKenna, M. C., & Stahl, K. A. D. (2009). Assessment for reading instruction (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.

Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2009). How to plan differentiated reading instruction: Resources for grades K-3. New York: Guilford.

Walpole, S., & McKenna, M. C. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: Strategies for the primary grades. New York: Guilford.