Fountas & Pinnell

Benchmark Assessment System

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www.fountasandpinnell.com

Good Spirit School Division, Literacy Coaches

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Why Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System?

There are several reasons why Fountas and Pinnell is the current benchmark assessment utilized by Good Spirit School Division:

The leveling of texts is reliable. Reading scores are valid and accurately identify each students reading level. Fountas and Pinnell has been field tested, even in diverse backgrounds and socio-

economic areas. Fountas and Pinnell couples decoding with comprehension. Fountas and Pinnell links assessment to classroom instruction.

What does Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System assess?

Decoding Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

What is the Purpose of the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System?

The purpose is to:

inform instruction based on students’ developmental reading levels determine your students independent and instructional reading levels group students for instruction select texts that will be productive for a student’s instruction assess the outcomes of teaching assess a new students reading level for independent reading instruction identify students who need intervention and extra help document student progress across a school year and across grade level create class profiles inform parent conferences

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What is a BENCHMARK?

A benchmark is a standard in which to measure something.

What information does the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System provide teachers with?

The assessment provides three things:

1. It provides the ability to group students for instruction – small group, guided reading, etc.

2. It identifies texts that will be productive for a student’s instruction. It allows teachers to set individual goals, group goals and/or whole class goals.

3. It allows teachers to identify students who need intervention and extra help.

Who should administer the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System?

It is very important that the classroom teacher administers the assessment whenever possible. The SST may help administer the assessment for children who are on PPP’s.

When should the first Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment be administered?

It is recommended that the first assessment begins sometime in October. This is important so that time has been given for students to learn the routines and procedures in their classrooms before assessing them. Assessing in October also gives students a chance to gain back the reading slump that may have occurred due to summer holiday with little or no reading. By October, the teacher has an established relationship with the students and the students will be more comfortable in the assessment situation.

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Where should the Benchmark Assessment System occur?

A reasonably quiet location is important. The teacher needs to hear the child’s responsive and it is important that the child is not distracted. This might be a quiet corner in your classroom or another room in the school. Try to avoid hallways where students and staff move about. Students deserve a special place where they can have your full attention.

How do classroom teachers fit the Benchmark Assessment System into classroom time?

There are several options for this:

1. Try to hold 2-3 conferences a day in your reading block. This may look like a two week block.

2. SST’s or EA’s may give you time to assess with them helping with the rest of the class.

3. Principals may arrange coverage when opportunities arise.4. Another teacher may double up taking two classes for an activity at once.

Be ready, be prepared

A great deal of valuable time can be lost if you do not have everything organized and prepared ahead of time. Use a binder of the file folder in the box to store multiple copies of the Recording Forms. Have multiple levels prepared and copied, some students may surprise you and move through several levels in one sitting.

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What can you with your class prior to the Benchmark Assessment?

You can model what the assessment will look like with your whole class ahead of time. You can use a book not at anyone’s level and display what is done with a student volunteer. Let them know that you will be having a conversation about what they read after they read the book. Also, let them know that you will be writing on a piece of paper and making notes as they read to you. Let them look forward to having one-on-one time with you. You can let them know that they get to choose the book they read by picking between two books and tell them that they will read out loud to you and the silently. It is a good idea to talk to them about what the conversation will look like. Students need to be made aware that the results are just for them and you. Most importantly, it is crucial to make the students feel as relaxed as possible.

Components of the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Kits

Assessment Guide Book Benchmark Books Continuum Assessment forms Optional Assessments: Student Forms F&P calculator/stopwatch Recording Forms 3 CD ROMs: Management, Forms, Professional Development Student Folders

What do I need to have in front on me when I conduct the Benchmark Assessment?

The kit (Green or Blue) Copies of the Recording Forms The fiction and nonfiction texts Pens/pencils 2 At-A-Glance charts: Assessment at a Glance, the Scoring and Coding At A

Glance

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Finding a Place to Start:

1. Ideally, use the previous teacher’s or school’s records to judge where to start assessing.2. Where To Start Word Test (a series of incredibly difficult words).3. When time allows, start at a level that is EASY. This allows the student to have initial

success.

System 1 Level A – N GREEN BOX

1. Start with a book that is easy for the reader. This is one the child can read independently with 95%-100% accuracy (A-K).

a. This text is likely to support effective comprehension.b. This text allows the reader to process smoothly with phrasing.c. This text allows the reader to start with success.

2. If you have recorded an easy or independent level text for the reader, then continue the assessment with increasingly more difficult books (higher levels). You want to find the Benchmark Instructional Level.

a. This will occur when the child reads less than 90% accuracy for levels A-K EXECELLENT or SATISFACTORY comprehension.

Fountas and Pinnell suggest you have three levels:

a. The highest level read independentlyb. The highest level read at an instructional levelc. The level that is too difficult for the student (hard text).

Then you can make a decision about the recommended placement level – the best level for instructional reading.

System 2 Level L – Z BLUE BOX

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1. Start with a book that is easy for the reader. This is one the child can read independently with 98%-100% accuracy (L-N).

b. This text is likely to support effective comprehension.c. This text allows the reader to process smoothly with phrasing.d. This text allows the reader to start with success.

3. You want to find the Benchmark Instructional Level. This is the level the student can read with 95% - 97% accuracy and EXCELLENT or SATISFACTORY comprehension.

4. Have the student read until he reads with less than 95% accuracy for levels L-N with EXECELLENT or SATISFACTORY comprehension.

When this happens, you have three levels as suggested by Fountas and Pinnell:

a. The highest level read independentlyb. The highest level read at an instructional levelc. The level that is too difficult for the student (hard text).

Then you can make a decision about the recommended placement level – the best level for instructional reading.

Note: On the front of each book is the number of ERRORS (E) which places the child below 90% (A-K) and 95% (L-Z).

A Close Look at the Recording Form

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Kit 1 (Green) Levels A to N

Kit 2 (Blue) Levels L to Z

(There is an overlap of 3 levels, L, M, and N.)

Self Corrections and Errors

Self-corrects and errors can be recorded separately for further study into the students reading behavior.

Meaning

Readers often make substitutions Ask: Did the meaning of the text influence the error?

Structure

Structure refers to the structure of the language, the ways words are put together to form phrases and sentences.

It sounds right to us. Ask: Did the structure influence the error? Ask: Does the error fit in an acceptable English language structure?

Visual

Visual refers to the visual features of print, the letters and words. Ask: Did the visual information from the print influence the error (letter, part,

word? (ie: park for play)

Introducing the Benchmark Assessment Text

1. The teacher reads the title of the book and the author.

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2. The teacher reads the standardized introduction to the reader. (Tested to give the reader a start on the book and to ensure that each child tested would begin with the same introductory material.)

a. Don’t embellish the introduction.b. No additional conversation with the student about the text should occur.

3. Enter the number of Running Words (RW) (found on the front cover of the text) into the Fountas and Pinnell calculator. RW (Running Words) is the exact number of words that the child reads orally. It does not include the title of the book, legends under the pictures, subtitles, or speech bubbles. If the number of errors is slightly higher than the RW, then the teacher decides whether to have the student continue the book or not.

4. Coding Oral Reading – start the timer. The child begins to read aloud until te end of the text or the stopping point. Starting at Level L, a black square marks the stopping point where the students continues to read silently. As the student reads on (after L), you can use the time to record comments and summarize the reading behavior you have observed.

5. Total the ERRORS and SELF-CORRECTIONS (remember, self-corrections are NOT errors).6. Figure out the ACCURACY score. Enter the number of errors and self corrections on the

calculator. Tap the accuracy button to get a percentage of words read accurately.7. Evaluating Fluency:

a. For Levels A and B there is no Fluency score.b. In Levels A and B we want children to point to the words as they are learning to

match one spoken word with one printed word. WE are looking for directionality (left to right). WE should be making notes on how they matched speech to the printed word.

c. Immediately score the fluency for Levels C and higher.

See page 394 and 395 in the Guide for Observing and Noting Reading Behaviors. This record form allows the teacher to record different kind of information and problem solving behaviors the student’s uses as he guides his way through the text.

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Guiding the Comprehension Conversation

The conversation is used to be a gathering of evidence of comprehension instead of just having the child answer a series of questions.

Our goal is to engage the child in a conversation about the text. The students reads the text then you are to converse with the child about the text.

Categories of Questions

1. Within the Texta. Literal questions, answers are right there in the textb. Students monitor own understanding and accuracyc. Students search for and uses informationd. Students remember information in summary form from processing words and

ideas

2. Beyond the Texta. The students make predictions and connections with prior knowledge, personal

experience, inferring, and synthesizing new information.

3. About the Text (level L and above)a. Students are asked literary elements of the textb. Students are asked to respond to writers craft and critical analysis of the text.

Level A – K

Focus on WITHIN and BEYOND the text

Level L – Z

Focus on WITHIN, BEYOND and ABOUT the text

Conversations

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The idea is to open a conversation that will allow you to see what the text has prompted the students to think about. Be sure the student understands he is expected to talk. Use conversation language to facilitate expansion of the students talk.

Important Aspects of the Conversation

Pausing a few seconds more to listen will prompt he child to say more. Too often, we do not wait long enough for a response.

Leave the text closed and in from of the student once the conversation begins. It is totally acceptable for the students to search back into the text for answers to prompts and questions if they initiate the action.

Don’t make suggestions to use the book. Don’t accept reading from the text, ask the child to give their answer in their own

words. Place a check mark next to the key understandings in the left column as evidence occurs

in the conversation. You are not looking for word to word repetition. You are looking for an indication that the student understands the key ideas.

Any insight or additional information the students offers during the conversation can be jotted down as additional understandings.

If the student does not mention some of the key understandings on his own, use the prompts. Do not judge the students responses lower because you have to prompt for thinking. Prompted responses are just as correct as spontaneous ones. Many students are not accustomed to spontaneously talking about their understandings of the text. Avoid leading the student to the answer. Just use the prompt in a conversation and move on.

You can paraphrase a question if necessary.

REMEMBER

The students are reading unseen text with minimal introduction.

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Level A and B :o Children are to point to the word to match the spoken word to the written word.o The teacher is looking at their ability to read word by word to again control in

matching and directionality.o The teacher can make points about how the student matches their finger to the

text. Level C:

o The student’s eyes should take over the process of matching words to print.

EASY TEXT

A-K 95 – 100% accuracy with excellent or satisfactory comprehension

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L-N 98 – 100% accuracy with excellent or satisfactory comprehension

INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT

A-K 90 – 94% accuracy with excellent or satisfactory comprehension

95-97% accuracy with limited comprehension

L-N 95 – 97% accuracy with excellent or satisfactory comprehension

98-100% accuracy with limited comprehension

HARD TEXT

A-K below 90% accuracy with any comprehension

90-94% accuracy with limited comprehension is also hard

L-N below 95 % accuracy with any comprehension

95-97% accuracy with limited comprehension is also hard.