Using Assessment to Inform Instruction: Cautions &

Recommendations

Karen Wixson, Univ. of Michigan

Sheila Valencia. Univ. of Wash.

IRA, Toronto, May, 2007

Why should we be cautious when using test scores to guide

instruction?

Problems with Test Scores

• Teaching the test

• The issue of standards--alignment?

• Ceilings and floors

• Masking individual differences

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Year

Percentile Rank

MathReading

0102030405060708090

CT SC TN TX NY IL

State

NAEP Scores vs State Scores

NY Times 11/05

Ceilings and Floors

Johnny can’t read because Johnny needs phonics

By Harold Hochstatter

Chairman of Senate Education Committee

Seattle Times

Op Ed, Feb. 25, 1998

% Wd Id

Mng Flu

Auto Wd Callers 18 + + -- -- + + Strug Wd Callers 15 -- -- ++ Wd Stumblers 17 -- + -- Slow Comprehend 24 + + + -- Slow Wd Callers 17 + -- -- Disabled Rders 9 -- -- -- -- -- --

Word Id Comp. Vocab Fluency

Sandy Tomas Trang Sandy

Trang Trang Joey Martin

Jesse Andrew Andrew Jesse Jesse

H & T%ile

CWPM

Acc(%)

Rate(wpm)

Exp.(1-4)

ITBS(NCE)

Dibels

>75 151140

8999

169142

34

7048

No riskNo risk

50-74 118128

9493

126137

23

4264

No riskNo risk

25-49 9097

9396

9799

23

4536

Some riskSome risk

0-24 8845

9496

9447

21

6631

At riskAt risk

Grade 4 Student Profiles

What does all this mean?

• We can’t trust any single piece of information to screen perfectly or guide instructional decisions

• Need an inquiry approach to using assessment information

What is an Inquiry Approach?

• All assessment info is viewed as a “springboard” to understanding student learning--not as static “facts”

• We need to use easily accessible information and questions to help figure out where to go with instruction

Easily Available Information

• State/district test results

• WCPM

• Running Records

• Writing samples

• Spelling tests/samples

How do we use this information?

• Look at available evidence together

• Check to see if information is consistent– With itself– With classroom evidence– With teacher judgment

Asking Questions

• If ALL evidence points to student doing well, ask what, if any, confirming information is needed to plan instruction

• If ALL evidence points to problems, ask what additional information is needed to plan instruction

• If evidence is inconsistent, ask what might be going on and what information is needed to clarify before planning instruction

Ongoing Questioning

• With each additional piece of information ask: Does this fit with what we already know about the student?– If yes, do we have all the information we

need to plan instruction – If not, generate and test hypotheses about

what’s going on

How do we get more information easily?

• High utility assessments– IRI or IRI-like procedures– Running Records

• Work samples/observations– Writing– Spelling– Oral language

The Many Uses of IRI-like Procedures

• Much more than a set of scores• Qualitative Analyses

– Comprehension• Oral reading, silent reading, listening • Literal and inferential comprehension questions• Retellings

– Word recognition• Comparison of word rec in and out of context• Word rec strategies

– Vocabulary– Fluency

Probing Retelling/Comp Performance

• Write/tell about the story you just read in your own words.

• The following sentences tell you something about the story you just read. Read (listen to) them and write/tell some more about the story.

• Place a check next to each idea that you think was in the story you just read.

Probing Strategy Usagewith Think Aloud

S: (reads title) Space Ship EarthT: What were you thinking when you read the

title?S: A space trip to earth. (Reads text haltingly).

Boy! I had a lot of trouble with that.T: What makes you think you had trouble?S: I kept messing up.T: What do you mean by messing up?

Think Aloud (cont’d)

S: I kept reading sentences over.

T: What do you think caused you to read over like that?

S: Not understanding it.

T: OK, did any of the words give you trouble?

S: No

Pursuing Leads

S: Harry lik..liked to walk to the store. He like to hop on the ker, cr, crub, crub, kir, crib, crib.. (22 sec on word)

S: “Mom is teaching me the sound of the letters but there’s all kinds of sounds for the u”

T: I can hear that you are trying some outS: (Spontaneously goes on trying to sound out

word), cube, kirb, crub, cr.. T: The word is curbS: Well, I would expect a er there because we

have a chart in class that has the er sound…

Probing Word Recognition

Reader Text AnalysisCould/cloud clouds SC; uses mng/syn

Then/tundra/ tundraherds

Thunder-heads

multisyllabic;uses grapho-phonic

motorless motionless Multi; suffix

Torn/tornado tornado SC; using mng.

Unc/oncing oncoming Multi; prefix

Probing Vocabulary

• Observe performance on voc questions; add/ask new voc questions

• Observe oral reading errors for evidence of words not in speaking voc

• Probe understanding of words that are questionable--ask for synonyms, use in sentence, etc.

Example Student #1

• Grade 4– WCPM 140– ITBS 48NCE

• Inconsistent information leads us to ask: Why might a student who is so fast (fluent) have such low comprehension?

Student 1 Follow-up

• Informal Reading Inventory– Accuracy--99%– Expression--4 (very fluent)– Passage comp--below grade level

• What next?– Listening comprehension – Vocabulary questions

Student #1--Results and What to try?

• Listening comp and voc OK (classic word caller)

• SLOW DOWN

• If that doesn’t work try comp and/or monitoring strategies

Example Student #2

• Grade 4 ESL student– WCPM, 117 (low risk)– Comp/state test, <second grade– Writing sample--below proficient

• Inconsistent info leads us to ask: Why might a student who is low risk on wcpm perform poorly on comprehension and writing?

Student #2 Follow-up

• Informal Reading Inventory– Word rec in context, second grade– Expression, 2.5 (borderline disfluent)

• No evidence of monitoring for meaning

• What next?– Vocabulary– Oral language

Student #2--Results and What to try?

• Low voc and oral English

• Try:– Second grade materials that are

interesting/familiar– Exposure to grade level content to build

background– Instruction in decoding, vocab, and

monitoring for meaning

Example Student #3

• Grade 2 student– WCPM, 73 (some risk)– ITBS, 80NCE

• Inconsistent information leads us to ask: Why might a student who is struggling with oral reading fluency do so well in comprehension?

Student #3 Follow-up

• Informal Reading Inventory– Acc, 97%– Expression, 3 (fluent)

• What next? Why?– Isolated word rec– Rate with repeated readings

Student #3--Results and What to try?

• Isolated word rec low--classic slow kid

• Decoding in context is much better than decoding out of context

• Reading is very slow

• Hyp--needs word rec work and practice, practice, practice

Student #4

• Grade 2– WCPM, 90 (low risk)– ITBS, 39NCE– Spelling--still emergent

• Questions: Why might someone with this rate not do better in comp? What does poor spelling say about word rec?

Student #4 Follow-up

• Informal Reading Inventory– Accuracy, 87%, grade level passages– Rate, 102– Expression, 1 (non-fluent)

• What next?– Listening comp– Voc– Sight vocab/decoding

Student #4--Results and What to try?

• Listening comp and voc high

• Sight words/decoding low

• Over-relying on context so try– Word rec instruction (both sight words and

decoding strategies)– Use first grade materials that are less

familiar

In Closing

We often spend more time giving and scoring tests and less time thinking about the information we have

Instead, we need to spend more time thinking about the information we have and the additional information we need

Oral Reading Think Aloud

S: (reads title) Space Ship EarthT: What were you thinking when you read

the title?S: A space trip to earth. (reads haltingly)

Boy! I had a lot of trouble with this.T: What makes you think you had

trouble?S: I kept messing up.