INED7730 Assessment for Diverse Learners

Student Name: TB Teacher Name: Lindsey CrumleyA. School and Classroom Context and Academic Expectations (Criterion 1)

The school is a small private school that specializes in students with special needs. The school is called Entirety K-12, and is located in Brooksville, Florida. Unlike most private schools, most of our student’s tuition is paid through insurance companies. We have a total of forty students in our school this year. There are five classrooms. There is a Kindergarten class that also has a few non-verbal students. Then there is the lower elementary class (grades 1-3), the upper elementary class (grades 3-5), the middle school class (grades 6-9), and there is an entrepreneurial high-school class. The classroom that TB is in is the lower elementary class. The classroom has seven students at varying ability levels. The seven students all have learning differences. In the class, there are four students with autism spectrum disorder, and three students with dyslexia, or other phonological and speech disorders. The school does not have a very racially diverse population. My classroom has seven students, and all of them are of Caucasian decent. The school is also made up of mostly boys, with my class having only one girl and six boys. The student’s in TB’s class range in age from 6-9. All students are held to high expectations, and are expected to do their best on work that is catered to their level and ability. The class schedule for the lower elementary level looks like:

9:00-9:30 Drop off/Journal9:30-9:50 Calendar/Morning Discussion9:50-10:20 Math10:20-10:40 P.E.10:40-11:15 Phonics/Reading/Language Arts11:15-11:50 Literacy Centers 11:50-12:20 Lunch12:24-12:30 School wide Rest12:30-1:00 Theme (Social Studies/Science) 1:00-1:30 Art/Music/Life Skills 1:30-2:30 Reading in Rhythm*2:30-3:00 Clean up/ Free Time

*Reading in Rhythm is a form of speech and dyslexia therapy that was created by the founder of the school. Each student in the school does an hour of the therapy every day. Once a week, some of them are pulled out during that time to work on group speech therapy with a speech pathologist.

B. Knowledge of Student Characteristics (Criterion 2)TB is a current first grader at the age of 7. He will turn 8 in July. He is a Caucasian male. TB is from a middle class family. He lives with his mother and father, who recently became separated.

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He lives with his mother and his siblings. He does visit his fathers apartment on occasion. His mother is a small business owner. She part-owns a restaurant, where she is the chef. His father does construction, and also does work for the city of Brooksville, FL. TB has two older siblings. His sister is 14 years old, and his brother is 18 years old. TB is Caucasian and non-Hispanic.

He is a leader in both the classroom, and in his playtime relationships with his friends. He loves to organize and clean. He is a big teacher’s helper. He also really enjoys playing practical jokes on his friends. He is a great kid. TB is also an incredible artist. He has learned to use art as a way of expressing his learning, because of his weak language skills. Two years ago when given a spelling test, he drew a picture of an out stretched hand when asked to spell the word “reach”. This shows me that TB is very smart, but his written language skills are very weak.

This is my second year teaching TB. He often does not try to push himself. He is not the type of student that is willing to go above and beyond what he is asked to do. He is a very typical 7-year-old boy. He wants to do the work required of him, but is not the type of student that will ask for or do extra credit. TB made great academic improvements throughout last year. He began the school year not able to recognize any letters or their sounds. By the end of the school year, he was able to recognize all of the letters, and knew all of the letter sounds. However, he was not able to progress to reading any of the Dolch sight words. When TB came back to school this year, he had retained most of the letter names and sounds, but still struggles with dbpq, which are letters that can be very difficult for students with dyslexia.

TB struggles greatly with reading and writing. He has dyslexia, other phonological disorders, and also a visual memory disorder. Dyslexia affects his reading and writing abilities. Although TB is a first grade student, he still struggles greatly with memorizing Dolch sight words due to his problems with visual memory. He has troubles with reversing his letters and numbers due to his dyslexia. Dyslexia is a developmental disorder that can effect and hinder a person’s ability to read, write, spell, and sometimes even speak. The disorder is neurological, and it causes the child or person’s brain to interpret information differently. The disorder is often genetic, and is not currently curable.

Because of TB’s dyslexia and other phonological struggles, his reading and writing skills are greatly affected. His phonological difficulties also make it difficult for him to find words. He has great difficulty when talking about subjects he is not familiar with. He can struggle with finding the correct word that he needs to use in a sentence. This mostly affects his speech when it comes to academic learning. In conversational speech, TB’s struggles are not as noticeable.

TB was chosen because despite his dyslexia, phonological disorders, and visual memory difficulties, he is very bright. He is eager to learn to reading. TB is a very fun student to have in my classroom, and I would love to see him progress even more over the course of this school

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year. My goal with TB is to have him be reading pre-primer and primer Dolch sight words and writing sentences using his sounding out skills by the end of the school year.

Testing AccommodationsTB will be given the following accommodations when given a standardized assessment. These accommodations were chosen because they are the accommodations that are given to TB during class time instruction and assessments. These are accommodations that will help eliminate the effects of TB’s learning difficulties, and they will create an environment in which TB can achieve at grade level standards. TB is given accommodations in all four accommodation areas: setting, presentation, response, and scheduling.

Setting Accommodations- TB will be given the assessment in either a small group or individualized setting. This accommodation is needed because of the presentation accommodations listed below.

Presentation Accommodations- Oral reading of test questions and reading passages in English only by administrator or assistive technology. This accommodation is needed because TB struggles with reading, and cannot read the questions or passages on his own.

Response Accommodations- If the assessment requires short answer responses, then TB will be given a scribe. Due to TB’s extreme weakness in reading and writing, he will need a scribe in order for his responses to be legible.

Scheduling Accommodations- TB will be given extended time, flexibility in the order of administration for content areas, and also the test will be given at optimal time of day for TB.

C. Selection appropriate Probes (CBM) (Criterion 3)Create or select appropriate probes (CBM) for student’s grade level and skill and provide rationale for selection.

I selected a total of four probes to administer to TB. Four of the probes were from the website easycbm.com. The probes I selected are:

Letter Names- This probe was taken from the easycbm.com website. In this probe, TB was asked to read the names of each letter across the row. He was given 60 seconds to read as many letter names as he could. Any letters that he self-corrected were counted as correct, but letters that he hesitated on for longer than 3 seconds or skipped were counted as incorrect. This probe was selected because it is a 1st grade probe, and letter names are something that TB struggled with last year, and I wanted to see his progression since last year.

Letter Sounds- This probe was taken from the easycbm.com website. In this probe, TB was asked to

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say the sounds of the letters as he read them across the page. He was given 60 seconds to say as many of the sounds as he could. Any sounds that he self corrected were counted as correct. Any sounds that he said incorrectly, skipped, or hesitated on for longer than 3 seconds were counted as incorrect. This probes was selected for TB, because it is another area that he has struggled in before.

Phoneme Segmenting- This probe was taken from the easycbm.com website. In this probe, I would tell TB a word, and he was asked to tell me the sounds that he heard me say in each word. TB was not penalized for saying extra phonemes. There were a total of 19 words in this probe. This probe was chosen because TB has difficulties with phonemic awareness.

Word Reading- This probe was taken from the easycbm.com website. In this probe, TB was asked to read words on a list. He was given 60 seconds to read as many words as he could. Words that he self-corrected were counted as correct, but word that he skipped, said incorrectly, or hesitated on for longer than 3 seconds were counted as incorrect. I chose this probe, because TB struggles greatly with word recognition.

D. Baseline (Diagnostic) Assessment (Criterion 4)These probes will be administered weekly and biweekly. I will make sure that the conditions are the same for each time administering the probes. These scores will be graphed each time a new probe is administered. Here are the graphs after the first probes.

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Letter names- This test had a total of 100 letters. TB was asked to name as many letters as he could in 60 seconds. TB’s baseline was 56 letters. From the first assessment I found that TB confuses his “Ii”s and “Ll”s.

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Letter sounds-This test has a total of 100 letters and letter blends. TB was asked to name as many letters as he cound in 60 seconds. TB’s baseline was 22 letter sounds. Form this original assessment, I found that TB really struggles with his vowel sounds, and the letter blends sounds.

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Phoneme Segmenting- In this test, I told TB a word and he was asked to name all of the letter sounds that he heard me say in the word. TB was given a total of 19 sounds, with varying number of phonemes. TB’s baseline was 54 phonemes out of a total of 67 phonemes in all 19 of the words.

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Word Reading- This test had a total of 100 words. TB was asked to read as many words as he could in 60 seconds. TB’s baseline was 8 words. This is very low, and I want to work with him on sight word recognition over the course of this case study.

E. Determining the CBM Goal or Benchmark (Criterion 5)TB should be showing improvements on a weekly level. For the end of the school year, TB should show great improvements on all CBMs.

Letter names- For this CBM, TB’s aim line is to be able to above 65 letter names. Each week. I would like to see TB able to improve his score by 3-5 letters. If he is able to show this increase each week, then the final goal will also be achievable.

Letter sounds- For this CBM, TB’s aim line is to be able to correctly identify over 30 letter sounds in 60 seconds. He stays around this aim line each week, but I would like to see him go above the 30 letter sounds. In order to reach this goal, TB will need to increase his score by 1-2 letter sounds each week.

Phoneme segmenting- For this CBM, TB’s aim line is to be able to correctly identify 60 phoneme segments. In order to reach this goal, TB will need to increase his score on the CBM by 1-2 phoneme segments each week. If I can get TB to slow down and think about all of the letter sounds in the word, then this goal should be very achievable.

Word recognition- This CBM is the one that TB struggles with the most. Visual literacy is something

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that TB struggles with greatly. The aim line I have set for this CBM is for TB to be able to read more than 10 words in 60 seconds. This goal is achievable if TB can increase his score by 1 word each week.

F. Instructional Decision Making (Criterion 6)“Tier 3 interventions are much more individualized and generally involve very small groups or one-on-one time with a specialist who is often a special education instructor. (Appelbaum, 2009, p.11) TB is in tier 3 of the RTI process. Based on his assessment data, it is clear that TB requires one on one intervention when it comes to visual literacy and sight word recognition. Through the process of testing him, I have also noticed that TB struggles with his vowel sounds. When testing him on letter sounds, I have found that the letters he misses are mostly the vowels.

The major intervention I plan to use with TB is working with him individually once a week during centers. During this time, we will work with him on his vowel sounds and word recognition. Center time is 30 minutes each day of the week. During this time, I try to work individually or in small groups with my students. Once a week, I will work with TB during this time. During the center time, we will focus on lessons that can increase his knowledge and ability to recognize sight words. We will also work on his vowel sound recognition.

Another intervention I plan to use with TB is explicit instruction in reading, phonemic awareness, and phonics. I will implement the use of explicit instruction into the time I have with TB. These lessons will “excite the student to learn, demonstrate the information, provide support, allow for student practice.” (Applebaum, 2009, p.39)

Another intervention I would like to incorporate into the time I spend with TB is the use of hands-on materials. It is obvious that TB does not learn best through visual learning. He does however learn great when using auditory and kinesthetic learning styles. The uses of hands-on materials are “effective for the early grades as students practice in phonics and word identification.” (Applebaum, 2009, p.39) Using hands-on materials with TB during individual instruction time will be an effective way to show gains.

The lessons that I plan to use, or have used with TB can be found in the appendix section of the case study.

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G. CBM Data Collection and Graphing (Criterion 7)Letter Names- The aim line is shown in green

Letter sounds- The aim line is shown in black

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Phoneme segmenting- the aim line is shown in green

Word recognition- the aim line is shown in black

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H. Analyzing the CBM Data (Criterion 8)The data that I plotted was the scores that TB scored on each of the CBMs after each testing session. During the process of data collection, I analyzed the data after each testing session. This was to see what letters, sounds, phonemes, or words that TB was struggling with. We would then work on those skills throughout the following week. The data analysis consisted of looking at the results of each test after each testing session.

I first looked at the letter names assessment. I would determine which letters he missed. After the first assessment, I found that TB had missed the “Ll”s and “Ii”s. He also missed quite a few of the bdpq letters, which can be very difficult for students with dyslexia. After this initial analysis, I have to make a data decision about how I could best work on these mistakes. TB and I would then discuss the mistakes and worked on them for the next week.

I would then look at the letter sounds assessment. I found the letter sounds that he missed most. I found that TB once again struggles with his “Ll”s and “Ii”s. I also found that this vowel sound knowledge was lacking. I then make data decisions, and discussed the progress with TB.

After letter sounds, I would look at the phoneme recognition results. I found that this was a strength for TB. He showed great promise in his ability to recognize phonemes. I found this very interesting, because TB struggles with writing. This tells me that although he can recognize the phonemes in a word, he may not be able to connect the phoneme sound to a letter. Recognizing this weakness gave me great insight into what I needed to work on most with TB. TB needs to work most on his letter sounds, and being able to connect those sounds with a letter.

The final analysis I would perform is on TB’s word recognition. He struggles a lot with this. After testing him on this, I found that TB knew most of the letter sounds in each word, but could not put the sounds together to read the word. The data decision that I made for this assessment was that TB really needs to practice his memorization of sight words.

I. Communication Progress (Criterion 9)Communicating my student’s progress is very important to me. I communicate progress with the students, parents, and other educational professionals at the school. I think it is important to communicate progress with the students because it often leads to the student gaining self-confidence. When the student sees that the teacher takes the time to talk to them about their successes, then the student is more likely to try harder. I have found that students enjoy talking about what they know and have learned. They also love to be able to communicate with their teachers what they would like to work on and learn in the future. Communicating with parents allows the teacher to see how the student is responding both at home and at school. Involving the parents in the learning environment is very important. Meeting with the parent and discussing goals, progress, and ways to work with the students at home creates learning environment where the teacher and parent are working together to ensure that the child is successful. Communicating with other educational professionals is something that I do as well. I think it is important for teachers to share ideas, interventions, and lessons that have worked in the past. Educational

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professionals can provide feedback and strategies that the students and parents cannot.

TB’s progress was communicated to both him and his mother over the course of this case study. I communicated TB’s progress with him after each testing session. We would have a short discussion about his score, and what letters, words, or letter sounds that he missed. I would ask him ways in which he thought he could increase his scores. I would suggest activities that we could do, and asked if he thought they would help. We would communicate about ways to help TB be successful. Through the process of a small communication meetings, TB and I were both better able to understand his learning style. We learned that TB learns best when using pictures and manipulatives.

During the time I was testing TB, I also met with his mother two times for a 15-20 minutes meeting about TB’s progress. We would discuss changes that we saw in his behavior both academically and socially. We would also discuss his results on the CBMs. I would talk to her about ways in which she could work with TB as home, and activities they could do together to work on his letter name, letter sounds, and word recognition. At our final meeting she broke down in tears because of the progress TB has made in reading. She said that over the course of this semester, she has seen great improvements in his reading skills while working with him at home.

I try to do these short discussion meetings with each of my students once a month. We discuss the things they would like to learn and how they want to learn them. This helps me to understand my students better. It also allows them to increase their self-confidence. By being able to have a say in what and how they learn does great things for a student’s self-esteem.

I have parent/teacher conferences once each semester. The conference in the Fall happens after the first four weeks of school. At this conference, I like to discuss with the parents the goals they have for their child. We discuss ways in which the parents can work with their child at home. The conference in the spring occurs four weeks before the last day of school. At this conference, I discuss with the parents the goals that we made at the beginning of the year, and whether or not their student has accomplished these goals. I also discuss with the parents the student’s progress, and what the student may need to continue working on over the summer.

The school I work for allows for a lot of communication with other educational professionals. We have what are called “Learning Breaks”. After four weeks with the students in the classroom, the students get a weeklong break, and the teachers so as well. We are given the opportunity to get together to share strategies and plan for the next four weeks. During these breaks, I often talk with other teachers about my students, and about strategies that may be helpful for them. I am fortunate enough to work with a staff that all have great backgrounds in the field of education. Being able to learn from and communicate with them is very beneficial to my career.

J. Reflection (Criterion 10)I found that completing this case study was very informative for me. From choosing appropriate CBMs, to seeing TB’s progress, and analyzing the data, I found that this was very important. I think

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the most insightful thing that I found was communicating progress with my student. Through this process, I was about to get to know TB and his learning style more. I also believe that this process was helpful for TB. I could see his confidence increase. Being able to teach and spend more one-on-one time was very good for him.

Write evaluative statements regarding the student’s progress on the CBM. I saw improvements in all CBM areas except for TB’s word recognition. He was able to increase his letter name recognition from 56 to 61. This being a 60 second test shows that TB was able to recognize an average of one letter per second. I also saw an increase in his letter sounds. This was his biggest increase in all of the CBM areas. He was able to increase from 22 sounds to 41 sounds. TB was able to increase his letter sound recognition almost double from his baseline score. TB’s phoneme segmenting CBM was one that his score high on from the beginning. By the final assessment, he had increased from 54 to 60. From the baseline assessment to the final assessment of the CBA, his score actually decreased form 8 to 7. This shows that TB still needs to work on his word recognition.

Write about the student’s behavior and performance during the CBA period.I saw great improvement in TB’s behavior throughout the CBA period. TB is very hyperactive. During each assessment period, he would stand, jump, or walk around during the assessments. I saw TB become more confident in his reading ability. I think that me spending individual time with TB really increased his self-confidence. Before the CBA process, TB wouldn’t even go near the reading corner, but the end of the CBA period, he would attempt to read, asking his friends for help. I also saw him take on a leadership role in the classroom. TB is one of my younger students, but he is a natural leader. It was great to see him step into this role in a positive way.

Write about your personal advantages and disadvantages on the use of CBA.I found this process very informative. The disadvantages I saw was that I thought a lot about TB and his progress, but because his needs are so different from the rest of the students needs, I thought maybe I wasn’t helping my other students as much as I should have been. Although that is a very hard disadvantage, I thought this process had many more advantages than disadvantages. Being able to spend one-on-one time with the student in my class that struggles most with reading was very good for both TB and I. I was able to do research and work on reading strategies, and TB was able to gain a lot of confidence in his reading abilities. The reading strategies that I learned and used during this process will benefit me greatly in the future when teaching students with reading difficulties.

K. Citations/References (Criterion 11)

Appelbaum, M. (2009). The one-stop guide to implementing RTI academic and behavioral interventions, K-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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L. Appendix

Lesson 1Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.2.C

Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.2.CIsolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

Learning Outcomes TB will be able to use his knowledge of phoneme sounds to create CVC words. TB will be able to create 20 CVC words using letter cards.

Procedures 1. TB will be seated at a table with the teacher.2. The teacher will show TB letter cards, and ask him to separate

the letter cards into consonants and vowels.3. The teacher will tell Travis that he will be making CVC words.4. The teacher will explain that he will take one letter from the

consonant pile, then the second letter will come from the vowel pile, and the final letter will come from the consonant pile.

5. The teacher will model how to make the first word by pulling the C from the consonant pile, A from the vowel pile, and T from the consonant pile. The teacher will place the CVC word onto a black piece of paper and ask TB to read the word. He will read the word CAT.

6. The teacher will then ask TB to make the next word. 7. The teacher will continue to monitor making sure that all of the

words that TB are making are correct three letter CVC words.8. If TB needs another example of modeling, then the teacher will

provide him with another. 9. TB will make 20 CVC words. He will write the words on a

blank piece of paper.

Assessment TB will be assessed on his ability to create CVC words. He will create 20 CVC words. He each will need to include two consonants and one vowel in the correct order. Each word will need to make since.

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Lesson 2Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.2.A

Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

Learning Outcomes TB will demonstrate understanding of long and short vowel sounds. TB will be able to determine if the vowel sound in a word is a long vowel or a short vowel. TB will demonstrate the knowledge of which vowels make which sounds.

Procedures 1. The teacher will provide TB with play dough.2. The teacher will then explain to TB that she will say a word. 3. After she says the word, TB will be asked to say whether the

vowel sound is long or short.4. The teacher will then ask TB to use the play dough to create the

vowel that he heard in the word.5. TB will then take the play dough and make the vowel that he

heard from the word.6. This activity will continue for 30 minutes or until he can

correctly identify the letter sound and name 20 times. Assessment TB will be assessed informally on his ability to determine if a vowel

sound is long or short. He will also assessed oh his ability to name and make the letters that make the vowel sounds. He will have to correctly identify the sound and letter names 20 times.

Lesson 3Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.3.A

Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.

Learning Outcomes TB will be able to recognize and match the sound of consonant digraphs to a digraph card with the correct spelling of the consonant digraph.

Procedures 1. The teacher will make digraph cards with the common consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, ph, wh, qu)

2. Review the sounds of these digraphs with TB.3. The teacher will then tell TB that she will say a word that has

the digraph sound in the word. 4. He is then asked to hold up the digraph card that matches the

digraph used in the word.5. This activity will continue until TB has correctly identified 20

words with the correct digraph.6. The teacher will then ask TB to think of his own word with

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each of the six consonant digraphs.

Assessment The assessment for this lesson will be informal. The teacher will count to make sure that TB is able to correctly identify 20 words and the digraphs used in the word. He will also be assessed on his ability to create words using the consonant digraphs.

Lesson 4Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

Learning Outcomes TB will be able to correctly identify the following words: the, of, to you, she, my, is, are, do, does.

Procedures 1. The teacher will make word cards for the following words: the, or, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, and does.

2. The teacher will place shaving cream on the table.3. TB will be shown a word card.4. The teacher will say the words5. TB will then write the word in the shaving cream on the table.6. Once he has spelled out the word, he will be asked to say the

word allowed.7. Each word will be done once. The process will then repeat

without the teacher saying the word.8. Once TB has written and said each word twice, then the shaving

cream will be cleaned up, and TB will be assessed on his ability to read the sight words.

Assessment TB will be assessed on his ability to correctly identify the sight words: the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, and does. He will correctly read with accuracy 80% of the words.

Lesson 5Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

Learning Outcomes TB will be able to recognize and correctly identify the words on the pre-primer Dolch sight word list.

Procedures 1. The teacher will buy a jenga game set. The teacher will then write the pre-primer sight words on the jenga pieces. There will be one word on each piece. (This needs to be done before the lesson begins.)

2. TB will sit at the table.3. The teacher will explain the rules of the game. It is just like

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playing a game of jenga except you have to read the sight words before you can place the piece at he top. Each person will pull a piece out, say the word, and place it on top.

4. This will continues until the tower falls. 5. This game can be played until TB has correctly read all of the

sight words. Assessment TB will be informally assessed on his ability to read the pre-primer Dolch

sight words. He will play the game until he is able to correctly identify 80% of the words correctly.

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