Date of Report: 12/10/15

Report Author: Hope Winburn

Time period of assessments:

Student name: Helen Brown

Grade: 10th
Age: 15

1. Background Information
School Context
John Overton High School currently has 1,920 students enrolled, with 20% of the
student body identifying as active ELLs. While only 20% are active ELL students, there
are 1,062 students (56% of student body) from Non-English Language backgrounds.
Among these students there are 630 immigrants and 155 refugees. Furthermore, there
were 39 different languages reported on Home Language Surveys, making John Overton
one of the most diverse high schools in Tennessee. Overton is located in Franklin,
making it more of a rural than urban setting. The school building is large and old and
Overton is on MNPSs list for a renovation in the next five to ten years. While the
building is in need of renovations and the school does not have money for extra
resources, Overton still has one of the best ESL programs in the city, determined by
ELDA scores.
The school has three coaches with one literacy coach, one ELL coach, and one
consulting teacher for math and science. The literacy coach is in charge of RTII
instruction and implementation, the ELL coach provides teaching support for all ELL
teachers, and the consulting teacher creates school-wide goals for improvement and
monitors assessment data. The school is split into academies based on content areas as
well as grade level. There is a freshman academy, a science and technology academy, an
English academy, math academy, and history academy. Once students are upperclassmen
they can choose an academy to join which in turn determines the electives they choose.
Students get to focus on the content they are most interested in and students that need
extra support in a certain area can join that academy for additional classes. Currently, the
schools graduation rate is 72.7% with the goal of increasing the rate to 74.4% this school
year. The schools mission is to make sure that all students are college and career ready
when they graduate.
Classroom Description
There are 26 10th grade students in the RTII classroom separated into groups of
four or five at tables. There are seven tables in the room and students get to choose which
table they sit at. The teachers desk is at the front of the room, but she rarely sits down.
The teacher continually walks around the room, checking in with different tables and
having one-on-one conversations with students to check on their progress on Achieve
3000 assignments. All students in the class work on their Achieve 3000 assignments on
their own, but the teacher is available at her desk if they have specific questions. The
room is large, with plenty of space for students to maneuver between tables in order to
get a book from the bookcase. Rather than having individual work displayed, posters
created by groups are up around the room.
There is one white board at the front of the classroom that always has the days
objectives and agenda listed as well as any homework with due dates. The room is clean
with two trashcans and a table for Kleenex and hand sanitizer. There is a bookcase with
high-interest novels for students to choose from for silent reading if they have completed
their assignments. There is also a cabinet with supplies for students that need pencils or
2

paper. Immediately when students walk in the door, the computer cart is to the left of the
door so students can get a computer on their way to their seats and begin working when
the bell rings. Students have all the resources they need to complete their work in this
classroom setting.
Supplies cabinet

Bookcase

Supplies Table

Computer
cart

Door

Whiteboard

Teachers
Desk

Classroom Environment
The teacher allows five minutes of wait time for her sophomore students to
transition from the hallway to the beginning of RTII class. Students get to choose their
seats so they want a little time to talk to their friends before beginning to do their work.
Because the teacher allows this social time at the beginning of class, students are
responsive to her when she is ready to begin instruction. They appreciate the time to talk
and in turn get quiet when the teacher asks them to. The teacher goes over the agenda and
due dates on the board and encourages students to write important information in their
planners. Students always know what to expect for that day and for any upcoming
assessments. This structure and preparation in advance reduces test anxiety and confusion
about daily tasks and due dates.

Students enjoy seeing their work on the walls and often comment on the good
work of their peers. This builds positive relationships between peers and creates an
environment of collaboration in which students want to work together instead of compete
against each other. The classroom is organized and neat so that students never have
trouble finding something that they need. The teacher is attentive and mobile so that
students find her accessible to questions and extra help that they might need. The teacher
asks students personal questions and seems to have strong relationships with her students.
She knows about their lives and through showing that she cares, students are more
engaged in instruction and more responsive to her requests.
The teacher has strong classroom management and can minimize distraction
during transitions and maintain a quiet classroom when the task calls for it. Noise or
movement does not distract students when they are taking an assessment, which should
increase their likelihood of success. Furthermore, students seem to want to do well to
impress their teacher, or at the least, to not disappoint her. Since the teacher has created
an environment in which the students know that she cares about them and has high
expectations for their success, students are more motivated to do well on reading and
writing tasks and assessments.
Students are always given notice well in advance of an assessment being
administered. Students have ample time to prepare for assessments and the teacher
provides specific guidelines and areas to review so students are not surprised by any
questions or content covered on the test. If students are not proficient on the exam
(scoring a C or below) then students have the opportunity to study the material again and
retake the exam. For written assessments (papers) students are always given a peer
edit/writing workshop day in which students can get feedback from their peers and from
the teacher in one-on-one conferences. Before the students turn in a final draft, they have
been given opportunities to improve their papers and turn in a product that represents
their best effort. Preparation, collaboration, feedback, and opportunities for revision
create a positive environment for assessments to be administered and increase the
potential for improvement of students literacy development.
Assessment Contexts
My Student, Helen, and I met in my coachs office. There was a small back room
where extra supplies were kept. There was a table and there were few interruptions. My
coach and two other coaches shared the attached office so it was sometimes noisy. There
was also a copy machine in the office so there was a lot of traffic with teachers coming in
and out. I know there were times that the noise was a distraction, but we could close the
door and minimize the noise, which helped. Luckily, on the days that I conducted the
QRI and other initial assessments it was quiet and easier for Helen to focus. Next
semester I will probably move to the library to ensure that these distractions are rare and
that we can get all of the work done that we need to.
The Child
Helen is a female sophomore, first generation American. Her parents emigrated
from the Middle East, but she was born and raised in the United States. She has two
4

younger brothers that she helps care for and she is responsible for assisting her mother
with cooking and cleaning the house. This is her first year at John Overton and she
misses her old school because thats where all of her friends and family are. Her teachers
tell me she is quiet and shy but always completes her work. She never has discipline
problems and pays attention in class. Thus, her teachers tell me she is a good student. She
is no longer an active ELL student, but until this year she has always taken the TCAP
ELSA. She stopped receiving EL services at the beginning of middle school and before
that she was pulled out into an EL classroom during English instruction. She worked with
other EL students and an EL instructor, particularly with direct vocabulary and writing
instruction. Although she no longer receives these services or testing accommodations,
she still seems to identify as an EL student and has some insecurities about her literacy
abilities.
Her TCAP score for English from last year puts her in the 14th percentile in the
state, which in turn puts her in the 1st and lowest quintile compared to other students in
the state. Her projected proficiency level is the 12th percentile. However, two years ago
she ranked in the 5th percentile, so she still has improved in the last year. Her scores for
Achieve 3000 assessments (the computer program used to progress monitor Tier 2 and 3
students during RTII) show that she is struggling with reading comprehension and
writing about informational texts. Out of nineteen assignments completed, she only had
one assignment in which she scored 75% or better. The remaining eighteen assignments
were below this benchmark. Her average activity score was 38% and her current Lexile
level is 555, which corresponds to around a 3rd grade reading level.
Her teachers tell me she is a good student because she follows the rules, but her
TCAP and Achieve 3000 scores tell me she is reading far below grade level. After
administering my initial assessments I realized that the lexile level determined by
Achieve 3000 was accurate. On her QRI, her instructional level was 3rd grade primarily
because of her struggle with the comprehension questions rather than miscues during the
oral fluency portion of the assessment. However, her teachers are correct about her
positive attitude and work ethic. She always is focused during our sessions and tries her
best. Connecting content and text to her personal life will help me engage her in the
assessments I am going to use. However, I also need to incorporate personally relevant
informational texts to make sure I am getting the most accurate portrayal of her reading
ability through these different diagnostic assessments.
Initial Goals and Questions
Based on my initial assessments, conversations with my students teachers, and
conversations with my student, I have created three goals that I want to focus on for the
remainder of the semester. My first goal is to gather more data on Helens struggles with
comprehension to pinpoint where the breakdown in understanding is occurring. I need
more information on both her listening comprehension and her ability to retain and recall
the text she is reading. I can use different graphic organizers on sequencing, main idea,
and conflict/solution to hopefully figure out which area, or other area, is giving Helen the
most trouble.
My second goal is to monitor my students instructional reading level throughout
the semester by systematically administering the QRI assessment. While I will start with
5

the QRI, I want to use it again at the beginning of next semester to see if she has made
any progress in her reading level. My immediate goal for this semester is to determine her
instructional reading level so that I can use appropriate texts with my student. I also need
to determine my students independent reading level so I can provide her with texts to
read on her own so she can keep improving her reading outside of school. Administering
the QRI again is important because it will let me know if the approaches I have been
using have had a positive effect, and if not that I need to do something different to best
help my student.
The final goal that I will address in our sessions will be to determine which
spelling patterns Helen is struggling with. I will administer spelling inventories as well as
assessments on prefixes, suffixes, and parts of speech. When reading out loud, she has
trouble pronouncing and sounding out words so I want to figure out the specific areas that
are causing this misconnect. I will administer many different spelling inventories that
focus on different word families and hopefully I can find patterns by analyzing the data I
gather from these assessments.
Four specific questions have arisen since I began working with my student.
Although I know I need to work on automatic word recognition with her, I am wondering
how I do this without insulting her. She is a sophomore reading at a third grade reading
level but I still do not want her to think I am being condescending because then she will
not be receptive to our work together. How can I make instruction of elementary skills
relevant and interesting for a high school student? I also want to know what reading
strategies will resonate the most with my student and in turn be the most effective. She
has multiple areas we can work on so I want to know what to prioritize to make the best
use of our time together.
In terms of gathering data, I want to know what she is specifically struggling with
when it comes to comprehension and oral fluency. I want to know why she has trouble
recalling information for some texts, but not others. Her comprehension skills seem to be
inconsistent and I want to know why. For oral fluency, I want to find patterns in her
mispronunciations so I can target the spelling skills she is missing. Finally, I want to
know what kind of an effect her EL status has had on her literacy learning and
performance in the classroom and on standardized assessments. Although she no longer
receives EL services, I can tell her previous EL status still impacts her and I want to
know how it impacts her so I can add in some social emotional aspects of my instruction
next semester as needed.
2. Assessments Administered
Assessment
Title
Student Interest
Survey
QRI

Additional
Information
Hobbies,
favorite book,
movie, singer,
food, etc.
Second grade
word list

Date
Score
Administered

Location in
Appendix

10/1/15

N/A

Appendix 1

10/1/15

20/20 automatic
(100%)
20/20 correct

Appendix 1

QRI

Third grade
word list

10/1/15

QRI

Fourth grade
word list

10/1/15

QRI

Fifth grade
word list

10/1/15

QRI

Sixth grade
word list

10/1/15

QRI

Upper Middle
School word
list

10/1/15

QRI

Third grade
10/1/15
reading passage

QRI

Fourth grade
10/1/15
reading passage

(100%)
18/20 automatic
(90%)
18/20 correct
(90%)
18/20 automatic
(90%)
1/20 identified
19/20 correct
(95%)
19/20 automatic
(95%)
19/20 correct
(95%)
12/20 automatic
(60%)
2/20 identified
14/20 correct
(70%)
13/20 automatic
(65%)
1/20 identified
14/20 correct
(70%)
Word
Recognition: Total
accuracy:
Independent
Total
acceptability:
Independent
Comprehension:
Instructional
Overall:
Instructional
Word
Recognition:
Total Accuracy:
Independent
Total
Acceptability:
Independent
Comprehension:
Frustration
Overall:
Frustration

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Appendix 3

Appendix 4

Appendix 5

QRI

Fifth grade
10/1/15
reading passage

Writing Sample

Narrative
(What did you
do this
weekend?)
I Am from
poem
Six Rows of
Flowers
(fiction) 6th
grade
Six Rows of
Flowers 6th
grade
Six Rows of
Flowers 6th
grade

10/5/15

Readers
TheaterFluency
Story MapSequence
Moral of story
with persuasive
writing prompt

Beauty and the

Beast (fiction)
4th grade
Beauty and the
Beast 4th grade
Beauty and the
Beast 4th grade

Spelling
Inventory
Writing Sample

5th grade

10/14/15

Narrative
(Describe
worst/best day
of your life)
Summary (for
Shark Facts
and My

10/14/15

Writing Sample
Reading
PassageFluency
Comprehension
Questionsmultiple choice
Comprehension
Questionsshort answer

Writing Sample

Word
Recognition:
Overall Accuracy:
Instructional
Overall
Acceptability:
Instructional
Comprehension:
Frustration
Overall:
Frustration
1 spelling miscue,
3 syntax miscues

Appendix 6

10/5/15

No mistakes

Appendix 8

10/5/15

99% accuracy

Appendix 9

10/5/15

10/10 (100%)

Appendix 10

10/5/15

Appendix 11

10/7/15

Without look
backs: 5/10 (50%)
With look backs:
9/10 (90%)
97% accuracy

10/7/15

3/6 (50%)

Appendix 13

10/7/15

1 spelling miscue,
quote from
passage included,
strong ideas
21/30 (70%)

Appendix 14

3 spelling
miscues, 3 verb
usage miscues, 1
comma miscue
Strong ideas, but
issues with
fragments,

Appendix 16

10/14/15

Appendix 7

Appendix 12

Appendix 15

Appendix 16

Reading
PassageFluency
Comprehension
Questions
Reading
PassageFluency
Comprehension
Questions
Spelling
Inventory
Writing Sample

Reading
passagefluency
Think Aloud

Reading
PassageFluency
Retelling
Spelling
Inventory
Writing Sample

Reading
Passage-

Brothers
Mess)
Shark Facts
(nonfiction) 5th
grade
Shark Facts
5th grade
My Brothers
Mess (fiction)
5th grade
My Brothers
Mess 5th grade
5th grade

10/14/15

pronouns, verbs,
and prepositions
97% accuracy

Appendix 17

10/14/15

3/5 (60%)

Appendix 17

10/14/15

98% accuracy

Appendix 18

10/14/15

5/5 (100%)

Appendix 18

10/19/15

13/29 (45%)

Appendix 19

Inferences
(given a
picture, without
using key
words, describe
whats
happening)
Earths
Largest
Animals
(nonfiction) 4th
grade
Earths
Largest
Animals 4th
grade
George
Washington
(nonfiction) 3rd
grade
George
Washington
3rd grade
5th grade

10/19/15

3 verb usage
miscues, strong
ideas

Appendix 19

10/19/15

98% accuracy

Appendix 20

10/19/15

13/22 ideas
recalled (59%)

Appendix 21

10/21/15

97% accuracy

Appendix 22

10/21/15

7/21 ideas recalled Appendix 23

(33%)

10/21/15

6/20 (30%)

Appendix 24

Narrative
(what do you
want to be
when you grow
up?)
Customs of
the World

10/21/15

1 spelling miscue

Appendix 25

10/26/15

97% accuracy

Appendix 26

Retelling and
Main Idea

(nonfiction) 5th
grade
Customs of
the World

Prefixes

4th grade

Suffixes
Elementary
Spelling
Inventory
Reading
Passagefluency

Fluency

Appendix 27

10/26/15

10/25 ideas
recalled (40%);
1/1 main idea
(100%)
4/10 (40%)

4th grade

10/26/15

10/10 (100%)

Appendix 28

Words Their
Way

10/26/15

20/25 (80%)

Appendix 29

99% accuracy

Appendix 30

7/10 (70%)

Appendix 31

Prepositions

Small Girl in a 10/28/15

Big Town
(fiction) 5th
grade
Small Girl in a 10/28/15
Big Town
2nd grade
10/28/15

5/10 (50%)

Appendix 32

Antonyms

6th grade

10/28/15

12/13 92%

Appendix 33

Synonyms

6th grade

10/28/15

7/10 (70%)

Appendix 33

Story Map

The Dilemma 11/2/15

(fiction) 4th
grade
The Treasure
11/2/15
Hunt (fiction)
3rd grade

14/17 (82%)

Appendix 34
Appendix 35

11/4/15

Without look
backs 4/8 (50%)
With look backs
8/8 (100%)
4/5 (80%)

11/4/15

5/5 (100%)

Appendix 37

11/9/15

3/5 (60%)

Appendix 38

11/9/15

Third grade 39/41

(95% correct)

Appendix 39

Inferring

Sequence

Main Idea

GIST
Inferring

Dolch Words

The Great
Pyramids
(nonfiction) 4th
grade
Litterbug
(fiction) 4th
grade
The Real
Tasmanian
Devil
(nonfiction) 3rd
grade
Preprimer- 3rd
grade word lists

10/26/15

Appendix 28

Appendix 36

10

Z-Test

11/9/15

31/37 (84%)

Appendix 40

Informal
Decoding
Inventory
Fry Sight-Word
Inventory
San Diego
Quick
Assessment
San Diego
Quick
Assessment
San Diego
Quick
Assessment
San Diego
Quick
Assessment
Motivation to
Read Profile
Survey

Part II
Multisyllabic

11/11/15

95/140 (68%)

Appendix 41

First 300 words

11/11/15

293/300 (97%)

Appendix 42

Grade 3-4

11/16/15

Appendix 43

Grade 5-6

11/16/15

Grade 7-8

11/16/15

16/20 automatic
19/10 correct
(90%)
15/20 automatic
16/20 correct
(80%)
9/20 correct
(45%)

Grade 9-10

11/16/15

10/20 (50%)

Appendix 43

11/18/15

Appendix 44

Index of
Reading
Awareness

Four
11/18/15
categories:
evaluation,
Planning,
Regulation, and
conditional
knowledge
11/18/15

Self Concept24/40
Reading Value
32/40
Evaluation 5/10serious need for
instruction in this
area
No significant
weakness in any
other area
Score of 3 or
below (out of 6):
readings news
online, research
using
encyclopedias,
reading textbooks,
getting a book as a
present, and
reading anything
printed in free
time
Helens thoughts
on what makes a
good reader and
how she can

Survey of
Adolescent
Reading
Attitude

Purposes for
Reading
Interview

11/18/15

Appendix 43
Appendix 43

Appendix 45

Appendix 46

Appendix 47

11

Heres How I
Feel about
Reading

11/18/15

become a better
reader
What Helen likes
to read about and
why she enjoys
reading

Appendix 48

3. Assessment Reflections and Analysis

QRI
QRI stands for Qualitative Reading Inventory and it consists of grade-level word
lists and reading passages. QRIs are administered in order to determine a students
independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels. The administrator is most
interested in the students instructional level because it allows the teacher to choose
appropriate texts and provide scaffolds so that the student can read more complex texts
than he or she could on his or her own. On this assessment, my student jumped from an
independent level on the 5th grade word list (95% accuracy, Appendix 2) to a frustration
level on the 6th grade word list (70% accuracy, Appendix 3). On the reading passages, she
had a strong performance on her fluency accuracy on all three grade level passages
administered (3rd 5th grade). For fluency, her instructional level was 5th grade
(Appendix 6), but for comprehension her instructional level was 3rd grade (Appendix 4)
so overall she is at a 3rd grade instructional level.
I administered the QRI on our first meeting so I know that Helen was nervous and
embarrassed to be working with me. Her testing anxiety could have factored into the
results of these reading inventories. She struggled to recall details from what she read so I
wonder if this was in part due to her struggles with comprehension, but also due to her
nervousness. Due to her anxiety, I tried to make the environment as welcoming and
relaxed as possible. I started with an interest survey, which I filled out as well and we
read ours to each other. I framed the assessment as something I needed to do for my
program so that she felt less pressure or judgment. I also held up the word lists and
passages while I was coding so that she could not see when I was marking miscues as
easily. As the session progressed she did seem to relax more so I do think the results of
this assessment are a beginning indicator of her reading grade level.
The QRI word lists and fluency measures are objective and valid. For the word
lists, there is a column for automatically decoded as well as a column corresponding to
the five-second window students have to figure the word out. The students overall
accuracy is determined by the total number of words correctly identified which is more
fair than if accuracy was determine solely by words identified automatically. The QRI is
different than the BRI (Basic Reading Inventory) in that it provides both a section to
assess the students prior knowledge and a section for students to retell as many details
and ideas that they can recall immediately after reading the passage. Know how familiar
the student is with the subject of the text is crucial when looking at the students
comprehension results. If the student does not have a schema for the topic then all of their
answers will have to be from the text, whereas a student with background knowledge on
12

the topic is more likely to guess a correct answer, regardless of whether he or she
comprehended the passage.
The retelling section allows students to just spout out ideas instead of having to be
worried about right or wrong answers yet. This section also allows the student to do a
quick review and potentially summarizing of the text before answering the
comprehension questions, which should benefit the student. The only area of the QRI that
does not seem completely valid is the comprehension questions. Some of the questions
are worded in ways that could confuse students, scoring the responses is subjective, and
the degree to which a student is prompted to try a question again is solely up to the test
administrator. Thus, if the same student takes the same QRI, but with a different test
administrator, the comprehension instructional level results could vary, which means that
the overall instructional level of the student could vary as well. When I gave the
assessment, I prompted my student and gave partial credit for certain answers when I
could see that the ideas were there, she was just struggling to express them. As long as
the school personnel administering the QRI have a similar idea of how to handle the
comprehension questions, then the QRI can still be a valid overall assessment measure
for determining students instructional reading levels.
Writing Samples
During our second session my student and I completed I am from poems and I
quickly realized that she enjoyed writing and felt more confident as a writer than as a
reader. After this discovery, I tried to incorporate writing into as many sessions as I
could. Writing samples allow the evaluator to assess a students spelling, knowledge of
language and grammar conventions, ideas, organization, word choice, and voice. The
evaluator provides a writing prompt based on the type of writing he or she is asking the
student to do, whether it is narrative or expository. The purposes of administering a
writing prompt are to assess the categories listed previously as well as gain insight into
the students thinking process, content knowledge, and self-expression.
Helen answered four narrative writing prompts (Appendixes 7, 8, 16, & 25), one
summarizing writing prompt (Appendix 16), and one inferring writing prompt (Appendix
19). The table below shows the strengths and areas for improvement in Helens writing
performance.
Type of writing

Strengths

Narrative (What did

you do this
weekend?)
Narrative (I am
from poem)
Narrative
(worst/best day of
life)

Voice, word choice,

ideas, organization
Vocabulary, syntax,
ideas, voice
Organization, voice,
ideas

Areas for
Improvement
Spelling, sentence
structure

Appendix Location

N/A

Appendix 8

Spelling, language
and grammar
conventions (verbs
and commas),
vocabulary

Appendix 16

Appendix 7

13

Summary (My
Brothers Mess &
Shark Facts)

Ideas

Appendix 16

Syntax, ideas,
organization, voice

Syntax (fragments),
language and
grammar
conventions
(pronouns,
prepositions, and
verbs), organization
Language
conventions (verbs)

Inferring (Describe
whats happening in
the picture without
using key words)
Narrative (future
job)

Ideas, organization,
word choice, voice

Language
conventions, syntax

Appendix 25

Appendix 19

Based on Helens writing performance, it is clear that regardless of the type of

writing she has strong ideas and voice, but she often struggles with syntax and language
conventions. She enjoyed the narrative responses the most so I think they are the
exemplars of her best performance and abilities. For summaries, she struggles with
focusing on the main ideas and often lists details in the order that she remembers them.
She struggles more with organization in expository writing prompts, which tells me that
she might have less experience with these prompts than narrative writing. As an EL
student, it does not surprise me that she struggles with syntax because it is something that
does not come naturally to her. Thus, some of her syntactic miscues might be due to a
language issue rather than one related to writing. I would rather a student have strong
ideas and struggle with language than the other way around because specific direct
instruction can improve this, but improving a students ideas is much more complicated
and difficult, if even possible.
Once I found out how much Helen enjoyed writing, I either started or ended the
session with a writing prompt. I mostly started with it so that the session began with
something she was interested in and felt confident about. I hoped this positive start to the
session would transfer to the following assessments so that test anxiety would be less of a
factor in overall assessment performance. I varied whether or not the writings were timed
or not. Both the summarizing and inferring prompts were untimed but three of the four
narrative prompts were timed. I knew she was more comfortable with narrative writing so
I did not feel that the timed task would negatively impact her writing performance. I
would also have her read what she wrote, which she enjoyed because she was proud of
her writing. I would praise her ideas and when she read out loud she would often catch
her grammar mistakes on her own. As she became more comfortable, I included timed
writing, expository prompts, and having her read her writing out loud. Adapting the
environment to her comfort level improved her writing performance and allowed her to
show her full writing capabilities.
Writing samples are critical assessments that allow students who struggle with
oral expression a chance to show their ideas and thought process. Helen was comfortable
with writing so these writing samples showcase her strengths and provide accurate
representations of her writing abilities and areas for improvement. Writing is a more valid
way to assess vocabulary, spelling, and syntax because students are using them in context
14

rather than in isolation, as they would in a real life situation. Giving Helen writing
prompts for multiple purposes also gave me a more holistic view of her writing because I
could trace patterns across types of writing. Furthermore, administering writing prompts
six different times gave me more data and evidence of her continued strengths and
weaknesses across assessments.
Fluency
Fluency measures a students accuracy, rate, and prosody when reading out loud.
Accuracy is determined by the number of words read correctly divided by the total
number of words. A students accuracy score allows the administrator to have a better
idea of the students instructional reading level. A comprehension assessment is
necessary to determine the students actual instructional level. However, analyzing
miscues from oral fluency can give the administrator information and insight into what
the student is struggling with and what he or she is good at. Fluency also shows the
teacher what words the student can decode automatically, strategies the student employs
to identify unknown words, and phonemic awareness when sounding out unfamiliar
words.
Once I found the correct instructional level for my student I could keep the
reading passages between a 3rd and 5th grade reading level. On every passage Helen read,
regardless of whether it was fiction or nonfiction, she always had above 95% accuracy,
which means she each text was at her independent reading level for fluency. She even
had a 99% accuracy when reading aloud a 6th grade fiction passage (Appendix 9). For
fictional passages Helen had a 97% accuracy for oral fluency on a 4th grade Readers
Theater (Appendix 12), 98% accuracy on a 5th grade passage (Appendix 18), and 99%
accuracy on another 5th grade passage (Appendix 30). For nonfiction texts, she had a 97%
accuracy for a 5th grade passage (Appendix 17), 98% accuracy for a 4th grade passage
(Appendix 20), 97% accuracy for a 3rd grade passage (Appendix 22), and a 97% accuracy
for another 5th grade passage (Appendix 26). Overall she scored a little higher on oral
fluency when reading fictional passages, but she was reading at an independent fluency
level for all passages.
These results show me that her primary reading problems are not related to
automatic word recognition or decoding. While she sometimes read slowly, she
pronounced a vast majority of the words correctly and when she mispronounced a word
on her first try, she often self-corrected immediately after. However, there were times
when even though she pronounced the word correctly, her uncertain tone gave away that
she likely guessed correctly based on visual and phonemic cueing systems, but actually
did not know the word. While she can pronounce words correctly, that does not
automatically mean that she knows what those words mean. This conclusion is further
supported by her comprehension assessment results, which will be discussed in the next
section. Although her vocabulary might be lacking, its encouraging that she has some
strategies in place to determine unfamiliar words and she can hear how letter
combinations are supposed to sound for the most part. This is a starting point for moving
from linking letter-sound relationships to linking words to meaning.
The first two fluency assessments I administered were both with fictional
passages because I knew Helen would be more comfortable and confident with the
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content. I also included the Readers Theater passage because we could alternate reading,
which she really enjoyed because she wasnt under pressure during the whole activity and
she could listen to me model good oral reading. If she stumbled on a word while reading I
always waited to give her time to work out the word on her own before prompting her.
Whenever she did self-correct I praised her, but if after putting worth sufficient effort she
could not get the word, I would supply the word for her. I would then ask her to repeat
the word and the entire sentence. I would also ask her if she knew what the word meant,
or what she thought it could mean. In this context, she knew I believed in her abilities to
self-correct, but she also knew that I would help her if she couldnt figure out a word
after multiple independent attempts.
Fluency measures can provide many insights for teachers, which do make them
important assessment tools. However, they are not always valid when used in isolation.
As proven by the disparity between Helens fluency and comprehension scores, high
accuracy on fluency measures does not mean the student comprehends the text. If we
only use fluency scores to place students or to determine instructional reading levels, then
the results might not provide a complete picture of the students reading abilities.
Furthermore, all of the fluency measures I used only tested Helens oral reading on a onepage passage. These measures do not take into account Helens stamina, which means
that her fluency score could potentially be lower when reading longer passages. However,
the fluency tests I used with Helen were reliable in that her scores were consistent across
passages. Helen had strong fluency, which positively influenced her overall reading
performance because she gained confidence when reading out loud, and this could carry
over to the post-reading comprehension questions.
Comprehension
There are many different levels of comprehension, so comprehension questions
can vary greatly in complexity. Some comprehension questions ask for simple recall,
while others might ask students to make inferences, think critically, or connect personally
to the text. Responses to comprehension questions are supposed to show the teacher
whether or not the student understood what he or she read, whether it is the actual content
of the text, the structure of the text, or the bigger ideas and themes in the text. The
purpose of comprehension assessments is to determine what meaning, if any, the student
is getting when interacting with the text. Comprehension is a spectrum and we need to
know where our students are on this spectrum. Do they know the topic, the details, the
conflict, or the main idea? Student responses show us what comprehension skills they
already have, and what we need to work towards to keep improving understanding.
When answering questions with more literal answers found in the text, Helen got
every answer right (Appendixes 10 & 18). Helen struggled with retelling (Appendixes 21,
23 & 27), inferring (Appendixes 11, 31, & 38), main idea, (Appendixes 17, 34, & 36) and
sequencing (Appendixes 13 & 35). Out of these four categories, Helen struggled most
with retelling and retaining the information she just read. When she was allowed to look
back at the text, she could find the answers, but she could only recall a few details
immediately following a reading. For a fourth grade passage she only recalled 59% of the
ideas (Appendix 21) and on a 3rd grade nonfiction passage she recalled 33% of the ideas
(Appendix 23). Both of these passages were nonfiction and after reading one she
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admitted that she didnt remember what she had just read. She did improve her
summarizing skills as the semester progressed, scoring an 82% on a story map for a 4th
grade fictional passage (Appendix 34) and a 100% on a GIST handout for another 4th
grade reading passage (Appendix 37).
Helen struggled with inferences and main idea because she often focused on
details rather than the connections or commonalities between the details. She struggled
with sequencing because she remembered these details out of order and had trouble
determining what happened after specific events in the text. Both her sequencing and
inferring issues stem from her struggles with main idea. Helen first needs to determine
the main idea in order to make a broader claim about the text or to figure out the most
logical next important event in the plot. Getting her to articulate the main idea or to make
an inference took a lot of prompting, rewording the question, modeling, and providing
examples. While Helen improved her ability to summarize the text, we will definitely
need to continue to work on main idea, sequencing, and inferring next semester.
The primary way that I had to adapt the assessment context for comprehension
tasks was reframing the questions and comparing responses with and without lookbacks.
For most tasks, I had to direct Helen back to the text for her to understand how to respond
to the question. I also had to work backwards and provide definitions of terms such as
sequencing and inferring. We had to talk about what it meant to infer something, what
that looked like, and how it was done. She lacked the prior knowledge needed to
complete these tasks, which unfairly disadvantaged her so I had to provide this
background information in order to make these valid assessments of her comprehension. I
reframed questions so that she was being tested on her knowledge rather than deciphering
the language of the question. Providing these two adaptations helped Helen know what I
was asking her to do so she could respond more successfully.
Comprehension questions are the most valid assessment tool in determining
reading ability in students. If students do not comprehend the text, then they are not truly
reading it. They might be decoding it or pronouncing the words on the page, but if no
meaning is gathered, then reading did not take place. Once I adapted the questions and
clarified the terms in the questions, the comprehension assessments I used provided valid
information about Helens understanding of what she was reading. We cannot assess
reading without including comprehension because it is the most accurate indicator of our
students reading level. We need to know where they are so we can get them to where
they need to be. With Helen, breaking comprehension into categories showed me what
she could do well and what we will need to work on. All comprehension assessments
should be used to inform next instructional steps in order to most effectively meet
students reading needs.
Spelling Inventories
Spelling inventories are used to assess word knowledge and to determine patterns
in how students are approaching words. How students spell words tells the teacher if they
are struggling with beginning sounds, vowels or vowel pairs, prefixes and suffixes,
blends, or digraphs. Analyzing a students spelling will hopefully provide insight into the
specific area that is causing the most trouble for the student so that the teacher can target
it and improve overall spelling and vocabulary. Spelling assessments also tell us about
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the students phonemic awareness, particularly if the student is spelling the word how it
sounds. Analyzing these miscues reveals the spelling patterns that need to be addressed
and monitored in future instruction.
On the first spelling inventory I administered, which was a 5th grade word list
from Words Their Way, Helen spelled 21 out of 30 words correctly (70%, Appendix 15)
but on her second 5th grade word list she scored 13 out of 29 (45%, Appendix 19). On the
third 5th grade word list she scored a 30% (Appendix 24) and on the final Elementary
Spelling Inventory she scored an 80% (Appendix 29). The first list focused on long and
short a and VCV blends. For basic, she wrote bask leaving out the i and replacing
the c with k. When looking at short a words, she wrote fragel for fragile
(Appendix 15). On the second list, Helen is asked to distinguish between words that end
in ent versus words that end in ant as well as distinguish between when to use double
es or when to use ea to make the long e sound. For example, she wrote exciliant
for excellent and immagrent for immigrant. She wrote sheapish for sheepish and
thiest for feast (Appendix 19). On the next word list, she was tested on her knowledge
of silent h, long e, short i, and ete versus ede suffixes. For whistle she wrote
wistle, for stampede she wrote stampete, and for retrieve she wrote retreave
(Appendix 24). On the final spelling inventory, she was tested on the ch versus sh
blends, and the c versus s sounds as well as the s versus z sounds. For marched
she wrote marshed and for civilize she wrote sevelise (Appendix 29).
Although she had many spelling miscues, her errors actually give me a lot of
information about the specific areas she is struggling with. Across all word lists, I can see
that she needs more work on vowel pairs and suffixes. She is strong with beginning
sounds and many digraphs. There are certain consonant sounds that she mixes up such as
z and s and c with s in sevelise (Appendix 29) as well as t and d in
stampete (Appendix 24). Next semester I will also want to focus on differences
between long and short vowels for all vowels. On the above word lists she mixed up ie
and ea in retreave (Appendix 24) as well as ee and ea in sheapish (Appendix
19). Based on her scores, spelling is an area in serious need of further instruction,
primarily because of missing knowledge of spelling patterns and overreliance of
phonological awareness.
For the first three spelling inventories, the words were read in isolation and they
were not repeated. The next word was only stated once Helen had finished spelling the
previous word. However, on the last spelling inventory, the words were read in the
context of a sentence and I asked if she needed to hear any of the words again. This list
also included words from all elementary grade levels while the first three lists were all 5th
grade words. Thus, adapting the lists to include sentences and repeats greatly enhanced
her spelling performance (80% versus 70%, 45%, and 30%). It also helped that this word
list started with easier words and worked up to harder ones. She was able to build her
confidence and use context clues to help first identify the word, determine its meaning,
and then spell it. In the future, I will want to use this assessment context for all spelling
inventories to give Helen a greater opportunity for success.
The final spelling inventory I administered in which the words were read in the
context of a sentence and the words could be repeated was the most valid assessment. In
real reading situations, students do get to read vocabulary words in the larger context of
the sentence, paragraph, and story and students naturally use context clues to identify
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unfamiliar words. Furthermore, repeating the word ensures that I am testing spelling
rather than the students listening ability or attention and focus. Assessments can only be
valid when the construct of the assessment doesnt interfere with the content the
assessment is addressing. Spelling inventories are often reliable because they produce
consistent miscues. Students misspell words with the same spelling patterns, showing the
students specific gap in knowledge.
Decoding/Vocabulary
Similar to spelling inventories, assessments on decoding show the students word
knowledge and phonemic awareness. Decoding assessments can also provide information
on the students ability to recognize sight words, beginning and ending sounds, and
nonsense words. The purpose of an assessment focused on decoding is to determine
which words students can automatically identify and which ones they are
mispronouncing. Then we can analyze the mispronunciation miscues to determine why
the students arent seeing specific letter-sound relationships. Furthermore, decoding
miscues for words below that readers grade level provide red flags for the teacher and
indicate a fairly serious reading problem.
When tested on prefixes, Helen scored a 40%, but when assessed on suffixes she
scored a 100% (Appendix 28). She scored a 50% on prepositions (Appendix 32), a 92%
on antonyms, and a 70% on synonyms (Appendix 33). She scored a 95% on Dolch words
(Appendix 39), an 84% on the Z-Test (Appendix 40), a 68% on the Informal Decoding
Inventory (Appendix 41), and a 97% on Fry Sight Words (Appendix 42). Finally, on the
San Diego Quick Assessment, Helen scored a 90% on the 3rd-4th grade word lists, an 80%
on the 5th-6th grade word lists, a 45% on the 7th-8th grade word lists, and a 50% on the 9th10th grade word lists (Appendix 43). She had high scores on sight words, suffixes, and
antonyms. However, she struggled with prefixes, prepositions, and decoding words above
the 4th grade reading level.
I was surprised by her results on prefixes and suffixes, because the spelling
inventories showed that she knew her beginning sounds but struggled with ending
sounds. I will need to do more testing in order to explain this disconnect. I was not
surprised, but I was relieved that she scored well on her sight words. The z-test did show
that her knowledge of CVC words is not as high as her knowledge of highly familiar
words. The most telling results were from the San Diego Quick Assessment because there
was such an immediate drop-off between her scores on the 4th and 5th grade word lists.
When taking this assessment, she started off confident because they words were easy for
her, but as soon as she started to have difficulty identifying words, her confidence
evaporated and her nervousness only compounded with her decoding struggles, resulting
in her progressively lower scores as the grade levels increased.
While I wanted to gather more information, I wish I had stopped the San Diego
Quick assessment after the 7th grade word list. She only continued to struggle and I know
it had a negative impact on her confidence and her comfort level for the rest of the
session. She became more shy and embarrassed and she was ready to leave as soon as the
bell rang. I framed all of the decoding assessments as something I had to complete for my
program because I was worried that she would be embarrassed to be assessed on her

19

decoding skills. This did seem to help her relax and not feel as pressured in this testing
context.
The prefix/suffix, antonym/synonym, and preposition assessments were the most
valid assessments because these words were used in sentences and not in isolation. The ztest was also valid because unlike the Fry sight words or Dolch words, these are words
that the student is unfamiliar with and cannot pronounce from memory. Instead, the
student must demonstrate that he or she knows the actual spelling pattern of the word.
The San Diego Quick Assessment was also valid because the assessor can link decoding
miscues to spelling patterns that correlate to grade levels. For these word lists, it works
better that the words are presented in isolation because it ensure that we are only
assessing automatic word recognition and we can immediately tell if the student knows
the word or not.
Self-Evaluations
Self-evaluations provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their
knowledge, work, and thinking. Students need to assess what their strengths and
weaknesses so that they can become more aware of their instructional needs. Selfevaluations also provide a starting point for goal setting, progress monitoring, and
intrinsic motivation. When students can reflect on past performances, they are able to
learn from their mistakes and perform better on their next academic assessment or
learning task. Teachers can use a students self-evaluation to compare to her own
thoughts about the students work. Working together, teachers and students can use selfevaluations to encourage strengths and address needs.
I administered three different reading surveys with Helen so that I could get a
better idea of how she views herself as a reader. First, I have her the Motivation to Read
Profile Survey, which assesses the students self-concept as a reader and the value they
place in reading. Helen self-scoring shows that she has a lower self-concept as a reader
(24/40), but an above average value in reading (32/40, Appendix 44). Next, the Index of
Reading Awareness assesses how students evaluate their own reading, how they plan
when reading, how they regulate their reading, and how their conditional knowledge
impacts their reading. Out of these four categories, the only one that has a serious need
for instruction is evaluating her reading (5/10, Appendix 45). Finally, the Survey of
Adolescent Reading Attitude lets me know how Helen feels about reading. The areas that
she feels the least confident in are reading news online, research using encyclopedias,
reading textbooks, and reading printed text in her free time (Appendix 46).
These surveys showed me that Helen thinks a good reader is someone who can
speak out loud, make eye contact while reading, and pronounce the words right
(Appendix 46). She also stated that the worst thing about reading is not understanding
it (Appendix 46). When asked if it is important to learn to read well, she responded,
yes, so others understand you when reading to them (Appendix 44). All of these
answers provide insight into how Helen views herself as a reader and what she thinks
good reading looks like. While she recognizes that it is frustrating and hard to not
understand what she is reading, the majority of her answers reveal that she views reading
as saying the words correctly, and making sure other people understand you when

20

reading out loud. This tells me that next semester I need to emphasize the importance of
comprehension so she can begin to reframe her view of the purpose of reading.
I decided to give these assessments at the end of the semester because I would
know more about Helens reading strengths and weaknesses and could compare my
observations and data to her self-reports. Sometimes these surveys can be difficult for an
older student to answer because they are supposed to be completely honest with
themselves and acknowledge that they have specific struggles with reading. Helen and I
had worked together for a few months and she was more comfortable with me and the
situation by the time I administered these self-evaluations. Some of the surveys she filled
out independently and we did not discuss, others she answered and we talked about, and
for one interview, I read the questions out loud and wrote down her responses. The
independent surveys allowed her to respond freely without having to explain herself, but
the responses we discussed were also valuable because I could probe and get her to think
more deeply about her reading.
Self-evaluations are a subjective assessment measure, but I still think they can
provide valid information about the student. While a student could provide in accurate
answers to the questions, most of the time secondary students seem to answer pretty
honestly and are even hard on themselves. Furthermore, when the teacher really knows
the student, then it is easy to determine if the responses are accurate or not, and even if
they are not, we gain information about the students negative feelings toward his or her
own reading ability. Often, with practice, students become more familiar with selfevaluations, can think more deeply about their reading and learning, and can in turn
provide more complete, valid, and reliable assessments of themselves.
Observations and Other Data Sources
When I observed Helen in her RTII classroom before I began working with her, I
noticed that she rarely spoke, but she always completed her work on time. Even if she
was unsure of the answer, she would still put something down so that she could turn in a
completed assignment. When I observed this I noted that I would want to talk to her
about why certain questions were hard to answer and strategies she could use to come up
with a more well thought out response. Data from ongoing RTII Achieve 3000
assessments showed me that her comprehension on nonfictional texts remained at a 3rd
grade instructional level and she particularly struggled with inferential questions. This
additional information informed the texts I selected for my student and the
comprehension skills that I gave extra attention during our sessions.
4. Summary and Recommendations
Overall, the results from the variety of assessments I administered showed me that
Helens strengths include oral fluency, voice and ideas in her writing, and self-awareness
of her reading abilities. As a reader, Helen can decode the majority of words she reads
automatically up to a 5th grade reading level, she can read fluently up to a 5th grade
reading level, and she can pronounce almost all single syllable words. As a writer, Helen
can formulate clear and strong ideas, express her opinions, and logically organize her
thoughts when writing narratives. Helens self-awareness allows her to be a reflective and
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critical learner. She knows what her gaps in knowledge are, which makes her more
receptive to instruction on specific reading strategies. She is eager to comprehend more
complex texts and wants to know how to become a better reader.
In terms of areas for improvement, Helen has not yet shown proficiency in
comprehending texts beyond the 3rd grade reading level, pronouncing words with vowel
pairs or similar-sounding letters, spelling many multisyllabic words, and demonstrating
command of language and grammar conventions in her writing. Her instructional reading
level is 3rd grade so it is not surprising that she struggled with comprehension in texts
above this reading level. In order to address this need, I would recommend starting with
literal comprehension strategies including think aloud, creating visuals, and writing your
own questions and thoughts on sticky notes as you read. First, I think I should read out
loud and pause while reading to share with Helen what I am thinking about while I am
reading. She needs to see what a good reader does so she can then practice the same
approaches to reading. On a second reading, I can have her think out loud so I can see
what kinds of questions or observations she has while reading and we will write these
down on sticky notes and put them in the text. Finally, I think it could be helpful for
Helen to draw a visual representation of what she reading. A good activity for this is
sketch to stretch, in which you pause after each paragraph and draw what has happened
so far.
For pronunciation and spelling, I would recommend doing word studies in which
we focus on morphemes and how to break words down into smaller, more manageable
parts. We can specifically focus on commonly used prefixes and suffixes, as well as
patterns in pronunciation for vowel pairs. I would want to work on word families so
Helen can begin to see similarities in words and can recognize which sounds go with
which words when she sees them. This would benefit her spelling as well because she
could work backwards and use the sounds of the letters to determine how the word
should look when written on the page. I should also read more out loud so Helen can hear
correct pronunciations modeled. She has a good ear for language so I think this could be
particularly beneficial because she will pick up on how I am saying words she is
unfamiliar with. The comprehension strategies will also positively influence
pronunciation and spelling due increased word knowledge.
For writing, I will want to build on the strength of her ideas, but I will also want
to address sentence structure and organization, particularly for expository writing. It can
be beneficial for students to read their own writing out loud because they often pick up on
syntactic or spelling miscues once they hear them, rather than when they read them. If
Helen has trouble reading her own writing then she can recognize a miscue herself, rather
than always having me tell her when something is wrong. This will improve her
proofreading skills and help her see that writing is a process with many drafts and
revisions. For grammar conventions, I will need to be explicit with the rules and provide
many examples of when, how, and why to use different punctuation, parts of speech, or
capitalization. Continued oral reading will build on Helens strong fluency, and continued
narrative writing will give Helen confidence in her ideas. However, specific instruction in
literal and eventually inferential comprehension, pronunciation and spelling, and standard
writing conventions will improve Helen as reader and student.
Key questions I have include why Helen struggled with ending sounds on the
spelling inventories, but excelled with suffixes on her decoding assessment as well as
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what the most effective comprehension instructional approaches for Helen will be. While
I am aware of many different strategies to use for comprehension, I will not know which
one works best for my student until I explore this further with time and practice. As listed
previously, I have specific strategies in mind, including think aloud, creating visuals, and
writing thoughts and questions on sticky notes as she reads. Once I try these strategies out
with Helen, I will know what resonates with her and what I should continue using to have
the most productive impact on her learning.
Finally, there are a few assessment results that need further exploration in order
for me interpret them in a way that can effectively inform my instruction with Helen. I
need more information on why Helen struggles to organize her ideas when writing
expository texts. Helen can respond to narrative writing prompts with strong ideas and a
clear voice, but when asked to summarize or make an argument about a text, she lists
details instead of framing these details around a larger main idea. I will likely need to
start by reviewing main idea as well as getting her to rethink the steps she should take
when approaching expository writing. I also want to further explore Helens struggle with
making inferences so I can pinpoint why this skill is so difficult for her. Many students
struggle with making inferences, but for Helen this struggle might be related to her
schema and lack of prior knowledge on the topics she is being asked to make inferences
about. I need to get more information about what Helen already knows and what she
doesnt so I can start by teaching inferences with familiar content. I will also need to
determine if her struggles with inferring are caused by more than just a lack of
background knowledge. Once I get more information from Helen and have a better idea
of what she knows, I can address areas in need of further instruction appropriately.
5. Implications for the Use of Literacy Assessments
I learned that literacy assessments can take many forms and be used for many
purposes. You can really use any information you gather about your student as an
assessment if that information shows you what your student has learned, or if the
information is used to inform instruction. Oral fluency assessments and QRIs are
screeners that give teachers an idea of the students independent and instructional reading
levels. Teachers can then use this information to choose appropriate texts for diagnostic
assessments that help teachers pinpoint the specific areas in which the student is in need
of more reading instruction. I learned that comprehension assessments are the hardest to
analyze because they are the most subjective. Comprehension questions could be asking
for literal, inferential, or critical comprehension and the assessor determines what counts
as an acceptable answer. Finally, I learned that it is essential to use a variety of
assessments before drawing a conclusion about a students reading strengths and areas for
improvement. If I only administered an oral fluency assessment with my student, then I
would think she was a stronger reader than her comprehension responses show her to be.
Furthermore, it is important to administer the same type of assessment multiple times to
ensure reliability in the results. I used multiple spelling inventories with Helen and could
then more accurately state what spelling patterns she was struggling with. Administering
the same assessment multiple times also allows teachers to monitor the progress of the
student and determine if the instructional approaches have been effective.

23

In my future work I will need to listen to my students read out loud to assess for
fluency and pronunciation miscues. I will also constantly be assessing my students
comprehension through questions, written responses, discussions, and oral presentations.
I will need to assess spelling and vocabulary, which will be embedded in my writing
assessments. As a high school teacher, comprehension and writing will be my main
focuses and the assessments that I will administer most often and need to progress
monitor most closely. When assessing for writing, I will look for strong ideas,
organization, and grammar conventions. When working with other teachers, I will help
administer QRIs to determine students reading levels as well as modeling writing
workshops that include instruction of the Six Traits writing rubric. Teachers and I can
also work together to determine the comprehension assessments that work best for her
students and then create and administer the materials as a team. Finally, assessments
dont mean anything if we dont do anything with them. I will help teachers analyze the
data collected from different assessments so that we can then discuss instructional next
steps that will best meet the needs of their specific students.
The QRI, the San Diego Quick Assessment, the Motivation to Read Profile
Survey, comprehension questions, and writing samples are the most promising
assessment tools I encountered. I did not find fluency assessments or decoding
assessments as useful for high school students. I am wondering how to make grading
writing samples less subjective, if this is even possible. Using the same rubric across
samples can help provide consistent feedback and progress monitoring, but a different
assessor could see alternate strengths and weaknesses in a students writing. This might
just be something we have to accept and even embrace the multiple interpretations of
what qualifies as good writing. While some assessments were more useful than others
when working with a high school student, I still gathered valuable information from each
assessment that I administered. Now I am looking forward to using this data to create an
instructional plan that will build on my students strengths and target the skills she needs
to become a stronger reader.

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