ELD 504: Assessment of English Language Learners Learning Team A December 5, 2011 READING AND WRITING ASSESSMENT PROJECT
Jul 15, 2015
ELD 504: Assessment
of English Language
Learners
Learning Team A
December 5, 2011
READING AND WRITING
ASSESSMENT PROJECT
Assessments can provide the teacher with
information regarding student understanding of the
content being taught. Assessments can also determine
student achievement and areas where they may be
falling behind. It is imperative that assessments be
used to gauge student learning in relation to content
standards. Carefully selected assessments can be used
across curricular areas as they provide organized
and specific criteria relating to the learning
objectives.
INTRODUCTION
Incorporating suitable assessments in reading and
writing is important for students as they are essential
components to communication in the English language. The
following reading and writing assessments are research
based and effective ways to accurately and properly assess
student achievement for high school aged students. These
assessments were carefully chosen to meet the guidelines
set forth by the California Department of Education for
English-Language Arts (ELA) Content Standards.
Reading assessments are crit ical for high school students
because information gleaned from informal and formal assessments help
determine the reading abil it ies and levels of al l students in content -r ich
academic sett ings. Reading assessments are used for teachers to
understand how students obtain information and acquire l i teracy.
Selected assessments should also take into account students’
backgrounds and how students structure and retain new l i teracy
knowledge (Wren, 2004). Awareness and uti l ization of various formal and
informal reading strategies inform instructional planning, aiding in the
selection of which ski l ls are best for specific students. Three specific
reading assessments greatly benefit high school students and their
ef forts to improve their reading ski l ls.
READING ASSESSMENT
Reading f l uency i s o f ten
considered a br i dge between word
decoding and comprehension. A
fo rmal assessment used to measure
reading f l uency i s ca l led DIBELS .
Dynamic Ind icators o f Bas ic Ear l y
L i teracy Sk i l ls , o r D IBELS (Good and
Kaminski , 1996, as c i ted by B l om-
Hof fman, Dwyer, C l arke , and Power,
2002) , des igned to assess
phonological and a l phabet ic
awareness and f l uency, measures a
broad range o f i mpor tant ear l y l i te racy
sk i l ls that are pred ictors o f l a ter
reading prof ic iency (Reading Rockets ,
2011a) .
Because DIBELS i s a l so useful fo r
moni tor ing the ef fec t i veness o f read i ng
i nter vent ions (Kaminski and Good, 1996,
as c i ted by B l om-Hof fman, et a l . , 2002) ,
i t can be appl ied to any s tudent
acqui r ing new l anguage sk i l ls . By us i ng
DIBELS, i nst ructors can t rac k i ndiv idual
students ’ p rogress and the i r l evel o f
ac hievement . Once s tudents have the
abi l i ty to decode words accuracy, the i r
reading f l uency rates w i l l i ncrease . S i nce
reading f l uency i s a l so a requ is i te sk i l l i n
social s tud ies , sc ience, and math ,
DIBLELS can be a useful s t rategy to
suppor t Engl ish l anguage l earners (ELLs)
i n content areas other than ELAs .
READING FLUENCY: DIBELS
Decoding is a ski l l needed to grant students access to information
in content area texts as they progress through their academic careers. A
formal assessment to measure students’ abi l ity to decode is the Test of
Word Reading Ef ficiency, or TOWRE ( Torgesen, Wagner, and Tashotte,
1999, as cited in Berninger, Smith, and O’Donnell , 2004). This
assessment is used to help determine students’ abi l ity to decode words
ef ficiently by reading a passage of text as clearly and correctly as
possible. The instructor monitors student per formance by noting
mistakes made by individual students while reading and decoding words.
This instrument can prove especially helpful in monitoring the progress
of ELLs with their Engl ish decoding ski l ls.
TOWRE: TEST OF WORD READING
EFFICIENCY
PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
An individual portfolio is an
informal way to assess students’
abilities, progress, and
achievements through
teacher/classroom observations
and samples of work. Instruction
on how to pick a piece of work to
place in a portfolio is beneficial
for students because it models
reflection of their own work while
encouraging students to take an
active role in learning information
they feel they have not yet
mastered (Reading Rockets.org,
2011b).
This allows the teacher to
compare and check the
progress of students over the
course of an academic year.
This method can be applied in
any subject area and is
especially effective with ELLs
when monitoring beginning of
the year work samples with
end of the year progress
(Pierce, 2002).
WRITING ASSESSMENT
W r i t i n g a s s e s s m e n t c a n b e u s e d f o r a v a r i e t y o f
p u r p o s e s , s u c h a s d e l i v e r i n g f e e d b a c k t o s t u d e n t s , s t u d e n t
p l a c e m e n t , r e a l i z i n g p r o f i c i e n c y i n a g i v e n s u b j e c t a r e a , a n d
e a r n i n g a g r a d e . B e c a u s e s t u d e n t s a n d e d u c a t o r s , m o r e o f t e n
t h a n n o t , a r e c o n f r o n t e d w i t h h i g h s t a k e s a c a d e m i c
a c c o u n t a b i l i t y , i t i s p a r a m o u n t a s s e s s m e n t p r o t o c o l s a r e g u i d e d
b y s o u n d p e d a g o g i c a l p r i n c i p l e s t o i n s u r e t h a t t h e y a r e v a l i d ,
f a i r , a n d a p p r o p r i a t e t o t h e c o n t e x t a n d p u r p o s e f o r w h i c h t h e y
a r e d e s i g n e d ( C o n f e r e n c e o n C o l l e g e C o m p o s i t i o n a n d
C o m m u n i c a t i o n , 2 0 0 9 ) . F o r m a l a n d i n f o r m a l w r i t i n g
a s s e s s m e n t s a r e u s e d r e g u l a r l y f o r a v a r i e t y o f r e a s o n s t o m e e t
e s s e n t i a l c r i t e r i a f o r h i g h s c h o o l s t u d e n t s t h r o u g h o u t C a l i f o r n i a .
Despite the importance of writing, many high school
students do not learn to write well enough to meet the
demands of school or the workplace. The National Assessment
of Educational Progress revealed that many students do not
develop the competence in writing needed at their respective
grade levels (Persky, Daane& Jin, 2003, as cited in Graham
and Perin, 2007). These findings support why it is critical
for classroom teachers to instruct and perform regular
informal writing assessment to meet the needs of students.
Authentic assessment measures are performance-based, and
should be used to guide instruction (Evaluation
Springboard.org, 2006).
Authentic assessments benefit students best when they
are utilized across the curriculum. Summaries, journaling, quick-
writes, rewriting a story, and letter-writing are some examples of
well-designed activities that provide teachers with fast authentic
assessments of student performance. A variety of writing rubrics
are available from reliable sources that can assist teachers and
students before, during, and after writing activities. It is also
suggested that peer editing be utilized to provide interaction among
students. Students often benefit from reading, editing, and
r rewriting one another’s work.
Directions: Label each part of the essay using a
different colored pen.
FRAMED PARAGRAPHS AND ESSAYS
Framed writing models are
graphic organizers that offer
students a solid framework in which
to write paragraphs and essays. The
instructor-provided frame guides
students through a formal writing
structure while making available
scaffolding for writing skills like
transitional sentences and
compound-complex syntax (Reading
Rockets, 2011).
Frames can be used at the
beginning, middle, and end of
instruction to make content-area
learning more motivating and
meaningful. Frames can also be
utilized across disciplines to develop
literacy and thinking skills (Ellis,
1998).
Revising one’s writing is a way to learn about the craft of
writing. Learning to revise teaches students about the characteristics
of good writing, which wil l help to improve the quality of their future
writing. Revision skil ls complement reading skil ls and require that
writers distance themselves from their writing in order to crit ically
evaluate their own work (Reading Rockets, 2011c). It is important to
instil l good revision practices in young writers because it gives them
an opportunity for reflection about their process. Peer editing has
proven to be a successful way to help students develop revision skil ls
(Graham & Harris, 2007, as cited by Reading Rockets, 2011c). This is
particularly true when peer groups have explicit goals for revision
(MacArthur, 2007, as cited by Reading Rockets, 2011c).
REVISION
Research on the wri t ing
process advocates that wri ters learn
most ef f ic ient ly about wri t ing when
they share and reflect on thei r
wri t ing. In c lassrooms, th is is most
commonly done through wri t ing
conferences as par t of the rev is ion
stage. Whether they occur wi th pai rs ,
wi th small groups, or wi th the
teacher, the social benefi ts of sharing
wri t ing improves wri t ing (Reading
Rockets, 2011d) .
Donald Graves (1982) ident i f ied s ix
characterist ics of successful wri t ing
conferences. Conferences should: (a )
have a predictable structure ; (b)
focus on a few points ; (c )
demonstrate solut ions to students '
problems; (d) permit ro le reversals;
(e ) encourage use of a vocabulary
appropriate for wri t ing; and ( f )
s t imulate pleasure in wri t ing. Most
teachers use some var iat ion of these
characterist ics in thei r c lassrooms
across the curr iculum.
WRITING CONFERENCES
Assessing the reading and writing abilities of students is
an essential part of the learning process. Assessments are
done at every level of the learning process. The reasons for
assessments are to identify skills that need review, monitor
student progress, guide teacher instruction,
demonstrate the effectiveness of instruction,
and provide teachers with information on how
instruction can be improved.
CONCLUSION
Both instructor and student
benefit from the results of initial and
ongoing assessment. Educators are
able to design instruction to meet the
individual needs of their students.
Ongoing informal assessments are
particularly important for English
Language Learners. Informal
assessments (partner reading, class
discussion, role-playing,
brainstorming, etc.)
can provide a more
well-rounded picture
of their skills, abilities,
and ongoing progress.
Educators can design immediate
instruction based on the results of
informal assessment. Mastering
reading and writing skills are extremely
important because they are used in
every subject area. Achieving these
skills at every level of learning helps
students to be successful life-long
learners.
Berninger, V., Smith, D.R., & O’Donnell, L. (2004). Research-
supported assessment-intervention links for reading and
writing . National Association of School Psychologists.
Retrieved from www.ldonline.org/article574/.
Blom-Hoffman, J., Dwyer, J.F., Clarke, A.T., & Power, T.J.
(2002). Strategies for conducting outcome evaluations of
early intervention literacy programs. National Association of
School Psychologists. Retrieved from
www.readingrockets.org/articles/577/.
Conference on College Composition and Communication
(2009). Writing Assessment: A position statement . Retrieved
fromwww.ncte.org/cccc/resources/positions/writingassessm
ent.
REFERENCES
Ellis, E.S.(1998). Framing main ideas and essential details to promote comprehension . Tuscaloosa, AL: Masterminds.
Evaluation Springboard (2006). Selected methods: Assessments.Rockman et al & EdVenture Group. Retrieved from http://www.evaluationspringboard.org/assessments.html?&lang= en_us&output=json&session-id=5fcabef1be960952 ace1b3a302aae4e3.
Good, R. H., & Kaminski, R. A. (1996). Assessment for instructional decisions: Toward a proactive/prevention model of decision-making for early l iteracy skil ls. School Psychology Quarterly, 11 , 326−336.
Graham, S. & Harris K. (2007). Best practices in teaching planning. In S. Graham, C. MacArthur, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.) Best practices in writing instruction . New York: Guilford
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). A meta -analysis for writing instruction for adolescent students. Journal of Educational Psychololgy,99 (3) pp. 445-476.
Graves, D. (1982). Six guideposts to a successful writing conference. Learning , 11(4), 76-77
REFERENCES (CONT.)
Kaminski, R. A., & Good, R. H. (1996). Toward a technology for assessing basic early literacy skills. School Psychology Review, 25, 215-227.
MacArthur, C. (2007). Best practices in teaching evaluation and revision. In S. Graham, C. MacArthur, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.) Best practices in writing instruction . New York: Guilford.
Persky, H. R., Daane, M. C., & Jin, Y. (2003). The nation’s report card: Writing 2002. (NCES 2003–529). U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences. National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
Pierce, L. V. (2002). Performance-based assessment: Promoting achievement for English language learners. ERIC/CLL News Bulletin, 24 ,(1), pp. 1-3.
REFERENCES (CONT.)
Reading Rockets (2011a). Classroom strategies . Washington,
D.C.: WETA. Retrieved from www.readingrockets.org/
strategies/.
Reading Rockets (2011b). Types of informal classroom-based
assessment: Portfolios . Washington D.C.: WETA. Retrieved
from www.readingrocket.org/article/3412/.
Reading Rockets (2011c). Classroom strategies: Revision .
Washington, D.C.: WETA. Retrieved from
www.readingrockets.org/strategies/revision .
Reading Rockets (2011d).Classroom strategies: Writing
conferences. Washington, D.C.: WETA. Retrieved from
www.readingrockets.org/strategies/writing_conferences .
REFERENCES (CONT.)
Torgesen, J.K., Wagner, R. K., & Rashotte, C.A. (1999). Test of
Word Reading Efficiency . Austin, TX: PRO-ED Publishing, Inc.
Weaver, B. (2011 ). Formal versus informal assessment.
Scholastic Teachers. Retrieved from http://
www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/formal -versus-informal-
assessments?&lang=en_us&output= json&session-
id=5fcabef1be960952ace1b3a302aae4e3.
Wren, S. (2004, November). Descriptions of early reading
assessments. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Retrieved from
www.balancedreading.com/assessment/assessment.pdf.
REFERENCES (CONT.)
Microsoft Clip art gallery
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