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RUBRIC

Name: Natalie Nhan

Score Self-
Evaluation

Grade-level Appropriate Assessments 2 1 0 2

The choice
assessment is grade-
level appropriate.

Professional language and 2 1 0 2

presentation The language used Some of the language
and images used is not
presented are professional and/or
professional in some of the images are
nature. 1 complete difficult to read and
document is are not facing the
uploaded into correct way. There are
Canvas on time. multiple documents
uploaded. The rubric is
not attached at the end
of the document.

References to course readings 2 1 0 2

The course readings Course readings are
are cited (APA) in minimal and are
natural ways and a lumped together at the
reference page is end of the summary or
included. in one location.

Assessments were administered 2 1 0 2

accurately Attention was given
(and is evident Parts are missing in
through the the assessments.
summary and Levels are not
artifacts) to the provided.
appropriate
administration of
the assessments.

Thorough summary 2 1 0 2
There is a section A few pieces of
for each of the information from each
assessments. The assessment is missing.
process and results It is not clear how you
for each assessment would move this
are clearly student forward based
explained. The next on the results of each
steps based on each assessment.
assessment are
described.

 Overview of your student

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o The assessments that I performed was on a student named Rachel. She is four years old and in a

public preschool class for at risk students. She is one of 4 girls in the class, so they tend to stick

together. She has trouble with speech but is still able to communicate. She is able to manage her

behavior and listen to directions from teachers well.

 Assessment 1 – Picture and Name Task

 The purpose of the Picture and Name Task assessment is to assess where the student is in their ability to

write their name, their ability to connect pictures with words or a story, and their ability to communicate

the picture and explain it. When I first asked Rachel to write her name, she first said “I don’t know how

to do that.” I told her that it was okay and that I just wanted her to try. The straight line at the bottom

middle of the page with the circle on top is her attempt at writing her name. After I witnessed that, I

concluded that she has not learned how to write her name or recreate the letters. She continued to draw

me a picture and explain it. The picture was half story, half showing me her family. The experience of

the assessment was good and Rachel responded well to it. I felt confident giving this assessment. I faced
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some challenges when I was unaware of Rachel’s current literacy level. I was not aware that she is still

learning to write her name, and learning to write letters in general. Rachel has an understanding that

writing conveys meaning. She is still learning to create letters to make them recognizable. While

retelling me the drawing she made, she would draw an ‘X’ over the picture when she was done talking

about it. This shows me that she is connecting her pictures to story, and is visually marking it so she

does not go over it again. While she can show that she is connecting her pictures with her words, she

does not go in any order which shows that she does not understand the parts of a story. The Virginia

Foundation Block that was addressed during this assessment is the sixth block for written expression.

The Virginia Foundation Blocks say that “children’s attempts to write through scribbling, forms and

inventive spellings help them understand writing as a means of communicate ideas and information”

(2007, p.16). Moving forward with Rachel, I would like to practice more with telling, retelling, and

looking at different parts of the story. I would like to show her a picture and tell her a story about it, and

ask her to retell it to me. I would also like to start working on writing her name and other letters. I would

like to start small and start with the first letter of her name, ‘R’.
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 Assessment 2 – Concepts about Print Task

 The purpose of this assessment is to assess where the student is in their current understanding of printed

word and correlations between spoken and written words. I chose a simple picture book with one

sentence per page with clear distinction between the words of the story and the picture. I first asked her

to show me the front of the book. She was able to do this and show me other parts of the book without

me asking, such as the spine and the back of the book. Rachel was able to differentiate between the

words and pictures of the story and knew which represented which. She was able to show me a letter in

the sentence. Rachel is still learning to identify the first and last letter of a word. When prompted to

show me the first letter, she pointed to the last. Rachel is still learning to differentiate between lower and
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uppercase letters. When prompted to show me the last letter, she pointed to the middle. Rachel can

identify where to start reading and what a period is. When prompted, she explained that a period means

to “sweep all the way back.” This shows me that she has learned the correct directionality for reading a

sentence, but she is still learning that a period means that it is the end of the sentence. Rachel excelled in

the parts of a book, such as the front and back. She included where the spine was, even though that was

not one of my questions. She is still learning to identify the first and last letters of a word, and the use of

a period. The Virginia foundation block that is addressed in this assessment is block five, print and book

awareness. Moving forward with Rachel, I would like to work on letter awareness and the parts of word,

such as the first and last letters of a word. I would like to work on a sentence with her, including the

parts of the word that I want to show her, and also go over the use of a period. In a book called When

Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works, published in 2009, by Fountas and Pinell, they administered a

similar assessment. They discussed that this test will show the child’s “speed in locating words and

letters, ability to understand difference between letters and words, and ability to read left to right and

return to the left margin” (p. 11). This test showed that Rachel is excelling in some areas but also needs

support to continue being successful.

 Assessment 3 – Pals Quick Checks for Letter Recognition
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 The purpose of this assessment is to assess where Rachel currently is in her ability to recognize letters. I

chose this assessment because I saw in my previous assessments that Rachel was struggling to identify

and create letters. I wanted to do an assessment that was solely focused on letter recognition to see the

extent of her abilities. My cooperating teacher recommended I do the Pals Quick Checks letter

recognition on her, since it was a quick assessment that was easy to give. I had the choice of doing

uppercase letters, lowercase, or letter sounds. I chose to do uppercase letters because I felt that it was a

good place to start for Rachel, as children are introduced to uppercase letters first. They use Pals as the

main assessment in preschool and I had no prior experience administering one, so I wanted to try it out. I

took Rachel out into the hallway for some privacy and a quiet environment to administer the assessment.

Rachel is still learning to recognize letters. Out of 26 letters, she correctly identified 5 of them. There

was only one letter that she said she didn’t know and didn’t attempt to guess. She guessed at all the other

letters and she said incorrect letters for some, numbers for some, and some words such as “first” or

“third.” This was challenging for me, as I was not aware of the extent of her abilities and was just
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thrown off. The scoring of the test was very easy, and just required marking which she got correct and

incorrect, and graphing it. The Virginia foundation block that is addressed in this assessment is block

four, letter knowledge and early word recognition. The fourth block says that she should be able to

“correctly identify 10-18 alphabet (uppercase) letters by name in a random order” (2007, p. 14). Rachel

is able to identify 5 letters, so she is about half way there to fulfill that block. Vukelich wrote in Helping

Young Children Learn Language and Literacy: Birth Through Kindergarten in 2016 that “phonological

awareness and alphabet knowledge are predictive of reading achievement in the elementary grades” (p.

6). Looking ahead, I would like to practice more with Rachel to ensure her success as she goes on in

elementary school. I would like to do the letters in increments, possibly focus on one or two letters a

week.
 Summary
o Overall, Rachel has shown that she has made strides in her learning during preschool. She is still

learning to do some things such as recognizing letters and would benefit from some extra

supports during the school day. I would say the main concern that I would like to address is her

letter recognition and I think it would be smart to focus on that. Most of the things she struggled

with, such as writing her name, would be solved with more letter recognition. I would like to

follow up on all the assessments I did with her, and figure out future plans for instruction that

would benefit her. Some ideas for future instruction could include focusing on one or two letters

a week, and possibly starting with ‘R’ since that is the first letter in her name. Rachel will

continue to learn and grow in preschool with the right supports and changes in instruction. To

ensure that she gets the supports she needs to succeed in preschool and further in elementary

school, there are 11 variables that have been identified as predictive of later reading success.

These include “alphabet knowledge” and “print knowledge” (Vukelich, 2016, p. 6). Print

awareness has also been found to be positively correlated with reading ability in primary grades,

according to Vukelich (2016, p. 6). These assessments together all assess important factors and
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skills that promote literacy readiness in future grades. Intervening with Rachel’s learning now

will better prepare her for her future in school.

References

Fountas and Pinell (2008). When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works. Heinemann.

Virginia's Foundation Blocks For Early Learning: Comprehensive Standards for Four-Year-Olds. (2007).

Retrieved from

http://fbes.mcps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_93766/File/Migration/foundationblocks.pdf

Vukelich, C. (2016). Helping Young Children Learn Language and Literacy: Birth Through Kindergarten.

Pearson Education, Inc.

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