2. Needs AssessmentReading Prosody

Jessica Rauth

Needs Assessment ModelDiscrepancy-Based Needs Assessment:

Need 1: Awareness of prosody as an inseparable component of reading fluency

Fluency is recognized as an essential component of skilled reading. (National Reading Panel, 2000)Fluency’s significance in reading instruction has not been acknowledged until recently, and deserves further investigation. (Allington, 1983; Ness, 2009)Current Expectation: Fluency is defined as the ability to read at a reasonable rate (speed), accuracy, and proper expression (prosody). Current Performance: Unfortunately, many teachers disconnect the components of reading fluency, focusing on reading rate and accuracy, and leaving out the component of prosody. (Dowhower, 1991; Hicks, 2009)

How can teachers assess prosody when they do not even know what prosody is?

Current Expectations – WA State GLE’s

GLE 1.4.2: Apply fluency to enhance comprehension.Grade 1:  Read aloud familiar grade-level text with accuracy in a manner that sounds like natural speech.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 50–65+ words correct per minute. Grade 2:  Read grade-level text aloud fluently with expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 90–100+ words correct per minute. Grade 3:  Read aloud familiar grade-level informational/expository text and literary/narrative text accurately, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 110–120+ words correct per minute. Grade 4:  Read aloud grade-level literary/narrative text and informational/expository text accurately, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 115–125+ words correct per minute. Grade 5:  Read aloud grade-level

informational/ expository text and literary/narrative text accurately, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 125–135+ words correct per minute.Grade 6:  Read aloud grade-level informational/ expository text and literary/narrative text accurately, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 145–155+ words correct per minute.Grade 7:  Read aloud grade-level literary/narrative text and informational/expository text accurately, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 145–155+ words correct per minute.Grade 8:  Read grade-level literary/narrative text and informational/expository text orally with accuracy, using appropriate pacing, phrasing, and expression.  Read aloud unpracticed grade-level text with fluency in a range of 145–155+ words correct per minute.

Needs Assessment Model

Discrepancy-Based Needs AssessmentNeed 2: Effective assessment of reading prosody

Current Expectation: Teachers are expected to use assessment-driven instruction.

Current Performance:Reliable and valid measures of oral reading fluency (rate and accuracy) are widely used and used effectively

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Curriculum Based Measures (CBM)Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT)

What is not as well documented is the use of reliable measures when determining the rate of growth in prosody skills. Current measures used:

NAEP 4-point fluency scaleAllington’s 6-point scaleZutell & Rasinski’s 4-point scale

How can teachers effectively assess reading expression when there is not currently a reliable measure of prosody?

Instructional/Training NeedsNeed 1: Pre-service teachers, paraprofessionals, and currently certificated educators need training on reading prosody as an inseparable component of reading fluency. Need 2: Pre-service teachers, paraprofessionals, and currently certificated educators need training on how to use a developing prosody measure (currently being tested for reliability).

Non-Instructional Needs

Communication with school districts and universitiesSupport of school districts and universitiesLearners’ acknowledgement of the need for trainingLearners’ motivation to continue learning & implementing research-based best practices

Learning EnvironmentTechnology Requirements: Computer, projector, audio, microphoneClassroom setting: Desks or tables, chairs

Need 1: Video samples of students reading aloud, projected presentation on reading prosodyNeed 2: Projected presentation on reading prosody, and specifically the reading prosody rubric, video samples of students reading aloud, samples of prosody rubric for trainees to practice using, copies of text passages.

The LearnersPre-service teachers (Education program students, student teachers, etc.)ParaprofessionalsCertificated teachersAdministrators ?

Recommended Readings

Dowhower, S. L. (1991). Speaking of prosody: Fluency's unattended bedfellow. Theory into Practice, 30(3), 165. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., Meisinger, E. B., Levy, B. A., & Rasinski, T. V. (2010). Aligning theory and assessment of reading fluency: Automaticity, prosody, and definitions of fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(2), 230-251. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

Schrauben, J. E. (2010). Prosody's contribution to fluency: An examination of the theory of automatic information processing. Reading Psychology, 31(1), 82-92. doi:10.1080/02702710902753996

Schreiber, P. A. (1991). Understanding prosody's role in reading acquisition. Theory into Practice, 30(3), 158. Retrieved from EBSCOhost

References Allington, R. L. (1983). Fluency: The neglected reading goal. Reading Teacher, 36(6),

556-61. Retrieved from EBSCOhostDowhower, S. L. (1991). Speaking of prosody: Fluency's unattended bedfellow. Theory

into Practice, 30(3), 165. Retrieved from EBSCOhost Hicks, C. P. (2009). A lesson on reading fluency learned from the tortoise and the hare.

Reading Teacher, 63(4), 219-223. Retrieved from EBSCOhost National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the

National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment for reading instruction. NIH Publication No. 00-4754. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/report.cfm.

Ness, M. (2009). Laughing through rereadings: Using joke books to build fluency. Reading Teacher, 62(8), 691-694. doi: 10.1598/RT.62.8.7

Zutell, J., & Rasinski, T. V. (1991). Training teachers to attend to their student's oral reading fluency. Theory into Practice, 30(3), 211. Retrieved from EBSCOhost