Kelsey Olson

Adv. Curriculum & Instruction Diverse Learner

Case Study Section III
October 8, 2014
III.

Informal Assessment
The first informal assessment I did with Sara was the Elementary Reading Attitude
Survey with pictures of Garfield. Sara really enjoyed this activity and expressed her
excitement every time she turned the page and saw another page. She circled the happiest
Garfield for almost every question. On the remaining four questions she circled the
slightly smiling Garfield. Her raw score for recreational reading was a 39 out of 40. Her
raw score for academic reading was 37 out of 40. The one point difference for
recreational reading questions was due to Sara circling the slightly smiling Garfield for
the question: How do you feel about starting a new book? This, along with other
statements she made during the assessment, shows me that Sara very much enjoys
reading and is happy to read during free time. However, I am wondering if the act of
starting and getting into a book is slightly intimidating for her. I think that more
instruction in how to pick good fit books and prepare for reading might help her feel
better about starting a new book. Reviewing the back cover description and questioning
what the book might be about based on this and the cover might help Sara become more
comfortable when she first starts reading. For the academic questions, Sara circled the
slightly smiling Garfield for the following three questions: how do you feel when a
teacher asks you questions about what you read; how do you feel when you read out loud
in class; and how do you feel about using a dictionary? I think that the first two of these
responses are much more important when considering areas of instruction and Saras
feelings towards reading, since both questions can be seen as having to do with being put
on the spot and involve more pressure to read perfectly. I think it is important to note that
Sara did not say she was unhappy to do these tasks, she is just less happy about them.
Helping her improve her reading comprehension skills could help her feel better and
more prepared to answer teacher questions and improving her decoding skills could help
her feel better about reading in class. I also take away from this, that allowing her to
prepare before asking her to read aloud or answer a question would be helpful, even in
the small group environment. I am not concerned about her lower rank of the dictionary
usage question since this is not a source high interest reading so the score is not
surprising for someone her age. When asked, she did say that she has been taught how to
use a dictionary; she just doesnt like having to use them that much. Instructionally, I

think the focus should remain on improving decoding and comprehension skills using
narrative and expository texts.
When I gave the Interest Inventory Interview to Sara, the biggest challenge was getting
her to expand on answers beyond just stating that she liked reading and books. With some
prompting I was able to learn that she also likes basketball and thinks that math is super
easy. She also likes animals, particularly bunnies, ducks, and horses. When asked if she
has books at home, she responded with an enthusiastic yes and shared that they are all in
order by author. She struggled a bit recalling what the most recent book she read was as
well as her favorite book. She ended up answering a horse book.. I asked if she is
enjoying the Junie B. Jones book she has in cubby in the classroom and she said yes, but
did not want to elaborate anymore on favorite books. When I asked her next, How do
you know if someones a good reader? she responded, They know all the words when
reading to me.. I found the focus on decoding over comprehension to be very
interesting. The next question was, Do you consider yourself a writer, why or why
not? Sara answered, No. A reader. She did say that she kind of likes writing, but it is
not her favorite activity. When I asked her what she thinks makes a good writer, Sara
responded, the letters. It was clear at this point that Sara was getting a little tired of the
questions and her answers were getting shorter. This answer also seems to relate to her
answer about the qualities of a good reader. Both focus more on the mechanics of the
skill as opposed to the deeper thought process involved in each activity. I think this
shows that it could be helpful to make sure instruction puts a focus on the thinking behind
reading and writing and not just the mechanics of forming letters, spelling, and decoding.
While these skills should not be ignored, she does need continued practice with spelling
and decoding, Sara also should be taught the importance of seeing the why behind
reading and writing. I believe that this will help her learn more from these activities and
help her academically across content areas.
For the Qualitative Reading Inventory 5 (QRI-5) Sara was assessed on pre-primer 2/3
through third grade reading list. She read both the pre-primer 2/3 and the primer word
lists fluently and automatically identified all twenty words correctly. When reading the
first grade list, Sara still went at a quick pace like the previous two lists, but incorrectly

identified two words. Instead of reading find she said found and instead of reading
heard she said hard. Both sets of words are very similar to each other. The difference
between heard and hard is one letter, which she may have missed since she was
going quickly. Found is the past tense of find and both start with F and end with D.
Overall, she scored at the Independent level on the pre-primer 2/3, primer, and first level
word lists. She scored in the Instructional level on the Second grade word list, by
correctly identifying seventeen words out of twenty. Comparably to how she did on the
first grade list, the words she said are also similar to the words that were listed. Instead of
reading pieces she dropped the s and just said piece. She also read though as
enough and breathe as breaths. Even though she incorrectly read three words,
Saras reading speed on this list was comparable to the previous lists. She did not use
strategies to sound out any words; instead she read the words like a sight word list. Sara
slightly slowed down on the third grade word list, but still said most responses
automatically. She correctly identified twelve words out of twenty, which places her at a
frustration level. This was the first word list where some of her responses were not actual
words. She did this twice and both times added extra sounds to the listed word, motion
became mo-ta-tion and entrance became e-thur-ent. Motion was the first word on
the list she read incorrectly and entrance was the last word on the list. I wonder if their
placement on the list has something to do with how she read them. She seemed a little
caught off guard that she did not know how to read motion after reading the four
previous words fluently. Her remaining errors were similar to the errors made on previous
lists such as adding the incorrect suffix (clothes instead of clothing) or saying a word
with the same first letter or sound (English instead of engines.
Word List
Pre-Primer 2/3
Primer
First
Second
Third

Total # Correct
20/20
20/20
18/20
17/20
12/20

% Correct
100%
100%
90%
85%
60%

Level
Independent
Independent
Independent
Instructional
Frustration

I learned from giving these word lists that I need to practice taking notes more quickly
during assessments. I also could improve my consistency when using symbols. For the
word lists, since she started off so confidently I left all areas blank and just wrote that she
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read 20/20 automatically at the bottom. When she started reading a few words incorrectly,
I started writing the word she said on the line next to the correct word, but did not
differentiate if the word was read automatically or if she took some time to sound out the
word. I have the memory of assessing and know that she read all of the lists quickly
except for the Third grade list, but knowing exactly which words she slowed down for
and which ones she automatically guessed on would have been valuable information to
have recorded.
Sara was assessed on two reading passages using the QRI-5. The first was a Level 1
narrative titled The Surprise. She had 12 total miscues, but only three were meaning
changing miscues. I noticed that a few of her errors were the result of automatically
saying a word that often follows the previously read word, such as saying put on hold
note on his cage, when the text says put a hold note on his cage. The note on his
cage part of the sentence was on the next line and the phrase put on hold is much more
common than put a hold. I think this error is the result of trying to read quickly and
fluently, when I believe she needs more time to think about the words and process what
she is reading. This is also supported by her performance on the retelling portion of the
assessment. Even with prompting, Sara was only able to recall 8 out of the 44 ideas that
were listed in the story. The ideas that she did recall were major details, such as the items
Sam wanted for his birthday and where his father went to look for the present. She was
unable to recall more specific details such as how old Sam was going to be or what the
puppy looked like. Despite her difficulty with retelling, Sara did answer five out of the
six questions correctly on her own. One of the two implicit questions she did answer
correctly after being prompted to explain a little more. Overall, this passage was at the
high end of her instructional level and shows her need for further instruction on retelling
stories. The second reading passage was a Level 2 expository text titled Whales and
Fish. She scored similarly to the previous passage on miscues and recall. She had twelve
total miscues, four of which changed the meaning of the sentence. Unlike the previous
passage, she did stop to sound out the word flippers every time it was in the text. Her
number of miscues places this text in the instructional level. When asked to retell what
she had just read, Sara only said 8 of the 49 ideas even with prompting. Everything she
did recall was considered a detail. She did not say either of the two main ideas that
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whales and fish are different in many ways or that they are alike in some ways. This
comprehension gap showed in her answer for the first question, What is this passage
mainly about; Sara responded that it was about fishes and whales. The questions
following this text were significantly harder for her than the first passage. I think this is
very understandable given the harder level of the text along with the fact that it is
expository as opposed to a narrative. Sara correctly answered three out of the four
explicit questions and two out of the four implicit questions. In total, she answered five
questions correctly, which put this text at her frustration level.
Passage
Level 1: The
Surprise

# of
Miscues
12

# of Ideas Recalled

12

8 out of 49

Level 2: Whales
and Fish

8 out of 44

# of Questions
Correct
Explicit: 4/4
Implicit: 1/2
Explicit: 3/4
Implicit: 2/4

Level
Instructional
Instructional
/
Frustration

Sara really likes to read and work with literature. Even when a story is not about a topic
she particularly relates to, she still reads with expression and makes a good effort to
answer the following questions. Her interest in reading is promising for helping her
further develop her skills and reading abilities through instruction. Sara has been willing
to participate in all reading activities. Her main area of instructional need seems to be in
improving comprehension skills and decoding unknown words and contractions. I believe
that both areas can be improved by helping Sara practice slowing down while reading and
pausing to check for understanding. I believe that lessons in monitoring comprehension,
particularly Following the Inner Conversation and Knowing When You Know and
Knowing When You Dont Know, would be beneficial to Saras growth as a reader. I
think that the use of graphic organizers while reading, with the understanding that
spelling is not being evaluated, would be a helpful way to help scaffold reading for
comprehension.