Chapter 5

Informal Assessment: Progress Monitoring

Introduction

• The Assessment Continuum• Reliability and Validity• Criterion-Referenced Assessment• Progress Monitoring• Computer-based Assessment of Reading• Special Considerations for Young, Adult, and English

Language Learners

The Assessment Continuum

Figure 5.1

Reliability and Validity

Types of Reliability and Validity

• Tables 5.1 and 5.2

Reliability• Reliability = Consistency• Correlation: Positive, Negative, No Relationship• Correlation Coefficient Ranges from +1.00 to –1.00• Measures of Reliability: Pearson’s R, Kuder-Richardson,

Split-Half, Coefficient Alpha, Test-Retest, Equivalent Forms, Interrater

• Standard Error of Measure• Obtained Score = True Score+Error• Estimated True Score

Types of Reliability

• Inter-Rater• % age agreement

• Intra-Rater• % age agreement

• Alternate Form• Pearson r

• Internal Consistency• Spearman Brown, Cronbach’s

alpha

• Test-Retest• Pearson r

• Consistency between 2 or more raters

• 1 rater’s consistency across assessments

• Consistency of scores over equivalent forms

• Consistency of scores on items within same test

• Consistency of scores from one testing to another

Validity

• Validity = Accuracy• Types of Validity: Criterion-Related, Concurrent,

Predictive, Content, Construct

• Reliability versus Validity• Can a Test Be Valid without Being Reliable?

Types of Validity

• Content• Expert review, test blueprint

(Figure 5.2)• Construct

• Correlations with similar measures

• Concurrent vs. Predictive• Treatment

• Prediction of student learning gains

• How well do items assess desired content?• How well do items assess a particular domain, skill, etc.?• Same time vs. future• Analysis of gain scores after instruction

Criterion-Referenced Assessment

Criterion-Referenced Assessment

• Assess mastery of specific objectives• Determine present levels of performance• Establish future educational objective• Determine IEP objectives• Monitor progress

Brigance Inventories

• Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development-III• Brigance Diagnostic Comprehensive Inventory of Basic Skills-III

• Criterion-referenced but yields some standard scores• Gives grade placement information• Assesses a wide range of reading and other skills• Can be used to monitor progress, set IEP goals

Linkages Between Brigance and Common Core State Standards

• Table 5.3

Examples from Brigance CIBS-III

• Figures 5.3, 5.4, 5.5

Figure 5.3

Figure 5.4

Figure 5.5

Progress Monitoring

Trends in Progress Monitoring

• National Center on Student Progress Monitoring• http://www.studentprogress.org/

• National Center on Response to Intervention• http://www.rti4success.org/

• National Center on Intensive Intervention• http://www.intensiveintervention.org/

• Hybrids• Computerized Assessment

“Hybrid” Assessments• Assessments that combine aspects of both formal and

informal assessment• Standardization sample (Formal)• Curriculum-like tasks (Informal)• Ability to monitor progress (Informal)

• Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) & AIMSWeb progress monitoring system

• http://dibels.uoregon.edu• www.aimsweb.com

AIMSweb

• Reading Fluency• Comprehension• Early Literacy Measures• Spanish Early Literacy• Early Numeracy• Math Computation• Spelling• Written Expression

AIMSweb Reading

• Reading Fluency• Measures Oral Reading Fluency

• Reading Comprehension (MAZE)• Measures Reading Comprehension

AIMSweb Early Literacy

Measures• Letter Naming• Letter Sound Fluency• Phoneme Segmentation• Nonsense Word Fluency

AIMSweb Spanish Early Literacy

Measures• Letter Naming Fluency• Letter Sound Fluency• Syllable Sound Fluency• Syllable Reading Fluency• Syllable and Word Spelling• Oral Reading Fluency

Example: DIBELS (Good & Kaminski, 2002)

• Brief, standardized, individually administered measures• Initial/First Sound Fluency - Oral Reading Fluency• Letter Naming Fluency - Oral Retelling Fluency• Phoneme Segment. Fluency - Word Use Fluency• Nonsense Word Fluency• Daze (DIBELS Next only)

• Assess development of pre-reading and early reading skills

• Includes DIBELS Data System

What DIBELS Purports to Assess

Area of Reading• Phonics

• Phonemic Awareness

• Fluency

• Comprehension

• Vocabulary

DIBELS Assessment• Initial Sound/First Sound• Phoneme Segmentation

• Nonsense Word

• Letter Naming• Oral Reading

• Retell• Daze (DIBELS Next)

• Word Use

Initial Sounds Fluency (First Sound Fluency in DIBELS Next)

• Grade administered: Kindergarten

• Measures: A student’s ability to recognize and produce the beginning sound(s) in an orally presented word

• Students performing below expectations will benefit from instruction in phonological awareness.

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Letter Naming Fluency

• Grades administered: Kindergarten through fall of first grade

• Measures: A student’s proficiency in naming upper and lower case letters

• Students identified at risk should be

instructed in phonological awareness and alphabetic principle

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

• Grades Administered: Mid-kindergarten to end of first grade

• Measures: A student’s ability to

segment three- and four-phoneme words into their individual phonemes

• Students performing below expectations in this measure will benefit from instruction in phonological awareness activities

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Nonsense Word Fluency

• Grades administered: Mid-kindergarten through first grade

• Measures: The student’s knowledge of

letter-sound correspondence and ability to blend letters into words

• Students performing below expectations will benefit from activities focusing on decoding

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Oral Reading Fluency

• Grades administered: Mid-year first grade through third grade

• Measures: fluency in oral reading of connected text

• Students at risk will often have

difficulty in comprehension

There was a robin’s nest outside our kitchen

window. The nest was in a tall bush. The mother

robin sat in the nest all day long. One day when I was

watching, the mother bird flew away. I saw the eggs

she was sitting on. There were four blue eggs.

I watched and watched. The eggs moved. I

watched some more. The eggs started to crack.

Finally, the eggs hatched. I saw four baby birds. The

baby birds opened their beaks wide. I heard them

peeping. Soon the mother bird came back. Then the

mother robin put worms in their mouths.

Every day I watched the baby birds and their

mother. Pretty soon the babies were so fat there was

no room for the mother. Then one morning the nest

was gone from the bush.

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Oral Retelling Fluency

• Grades administered: Mid-year first to third grade

• Measures: Comprehension of the passage read orally

• Children generally use about half the number of words in their retell that they read aloud in a 1-minute passage

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Word Use Fluency

• Grades Administered: Kindergarten through third grade

• Measures: Vocabulary knowledge and expressive language

Overview of DIBELS Measures

Daze

• Grades Administered: Third through sixth grade

• Measures: Comprehension

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Strengths• Progress monitoring • Assesses all NRP areas• Relatively brief

• Weaknesses• Pressley, Hilden, & Shankland (2005)

• Predictive Power• Emphasis on speed vs. comprehension• Cost

• The Truth About DIBELS: What It Is, What It Does (Goodman, 2006)• “Barking at print?” (Samuels, 2007)

Computer-Based Assessment of Reading

Computerized Assessment

• Star Reading • http://www.renaissance.com/Products/Star-Assessments/STAR-Reading• Linked to Accelerated Reader

• Read 180• http://www.scholastic.com/read180/index.htm

• DORA and DOMA• http://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/products/

• Total Reader• www.totalreader.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.faq

Lexiles• Computer-generated• Sophisticated but user-friendly system to track student

progress over time and to link students to appropriate level texts

• Ranges from 200 (beginning reading) to 1700+ (advanced readers)

• Students and books can be matched along the continuum of Lexile scores

• Common Core State Standard Lexile bands define expected levels (in Lexile scores) of reading for each grade level

Special Considerations for Young, Adult, and English Language Learners

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Young Children

• May want to use portfolios to keep track of student progress• Eight essential literacy skills for Kindergarteners

• Letter/sound associations• Phonological awareness skills• Print concepts• Phonemic segmentation/representation• Word reading• Word writing• Text reading• Text writing

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of Adults

• Text Box 5.1• Adults learning to read are typically sensitive, and in some cases,

ashamed.• Take time to establish rapport

• Assessment materials should be based on adult themes (e.g., work, family life).

• Assess various areas of reading, rather than assuming possession of basic word analysis skills.

• Assess oral reading rate; if 125 wept or less, further assessment is needed.

• Use stronger vocabulary acquired through life experiences as a building block of reading.

Special Considerations in the Informal Assessment of English Language Learners

• Text Box 5.2• Four categories of ELLs

• Newly arrived students with limited formal schooling• Newly arrived students with adequate formal schooling• Students exposed to two languages simultaneously• Long-term English-language learners

• Assessments should match the literacy background and knowledge base of the student.

• Ensure assessments conform to the general assessment standards set by the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL; www.tesol.org/).

Assessment at a Glance: Criterion Referenced and Progress

Monitoring

• Tables 5.5 and 5.6• Characteristics of Informal Assessment and Progress

Monitoring Measures• Psychometric Properties of Informal Assessment and Progress

Monitoring Measures

Summary

• The Assessment Continuum• Reliability and Validity• Criterion-Referenced Assessment• Progress Monitoring• Computer-based Assessment of Reading• Special Considerations for Young, Adult, and English

Language Learners