Field Observation 1: Domain 1- Reading Assessment

TC NAME: Lacey Bridges

RICA Domain: Planning Reading Instruction based on Assessment

RICA Competency: Reading Assessment

Grade Level: 5th

Any Additional Descriptors: Entry Level Assessment

INSTRUCTION:

            I observed Mrs. X conduct two reading assessments for a student who entered her class as a new student during the second week of school.  These were entry-level assessments that would help Mrs. X gauge the reading level of her new student.  From the results of these two test as well as the student’s results from the STAR test, Mrs. X will know what level of books Student Y should be reading, and what group he will be placed in for reading and language arts groups.

            The first assessment was the McLeod Assessment of Reading Comprehension, Elementary Level.  As the title suggests, this test aims to assess a student’s reading comprehension level.  The student was brought over to a table on the side of the classroom to work on the assessment individually.  The assessment has a series of passages that get increasingly difficult.  Within the passages there are blanks that the students must fill in with the appropriate words, which is known as a cloze technique.  In this technique the student must use the context of the given words to determine which words best fit in the blanks.  Student Y had fifteen minutes to complete as many of the passages as possible.  The McLeod Assessment has a grade equivalent scoring system.  The student gets a point for every blank he fills in correctly.  Then, his raw score falls within a rage for a particular grade level score.  Student Y’s score fell within the Fifth Grade Early grade level, which is right on track.

            The second assessment Student Y was given was the San Diego Quick Assessment.  Mrs. X called Student Y over to her table.  She gave him a paper with a series of word lists.  The teacher had a scoring sheet.  As the student read through the lists in order of increasing difficulty the teacher marked words he got correctly with a check, words he got incorrectly with an open circle and words he went back and self-corrected with an “SC”.   As the student goes through the list, the list they read with only one error is their independent reading level, the list they read with two errors is their instructional reading level and the list they read with three errors is their frustration reading level.  Mrs. X started Student Y with the first grade list.  He made it through the fifth grade list with no errors.  On the sixth grade list he got two errors and on the seventh grade list he got one error and he self corrected on word.  Mrs. Y stopped the student after the grade seven list.  Although the results are not as clear-cut as the grading scale, sixth grade would clearly be the instructional level, which would make sixth grade the independent level and seventh grade the frustration level.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

            During Student Y’s assessment, he was taken from his regular seat at his desk.  For the McLeod Assessment of Reading Comprehension he sat at the table on the side of the classroom.  During the San Diego Quick Assessment Student Y sat on a stool next to Mrs. X at Mrs. X’s table connected to her desk.  During both assessments the rest of the class was working on seatwork, and there was a low murmur of sound.

McLeod Reading Comprehension Assessment Scoring Criteria