Bridgette Buhlman

CIL 604
LEA 5
Assessing Assessments
I am going to be explaining multiple assessments, both formative and summative, that I use to
assess phonemic awareness. I chose these assessments because phonemic awareness is a skill that is
critical to students reading ability. Research has shown that phonemic awareness is a more potent
predictor of reading success than IQ or measures of listening comprehension or vocabulary, and that if it
emergent readers are lacking phonemic awareness skills they are unlikely to gain mastery over print
(Yopp, 1995). Additionally, children who have acquired solid phonemic awareness, understand and can
demonstrate the knowledge that sounds and letters are related in a predictable way. Consequently, they
are able to relate sounds to letters as they spell words (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001). Because I
understand the importance of phonemic awareness, I closely monitor student progress, use the
information to guide my instruction, and strive to have all students master phonemic awareness skills
before leaving kindergarten.
The summative assessment that I use to determine mastery of phonemic awareness is part of an
interactive software program called I-Station. I-Station is a differentiated program that improves
students basic reading skills through interactive games, stories and assessment. In kindergarten, the
program includes instruction to promote the development of letter knowledge/phonics, phonemic
awareness, and vocabulary. Students take a computerized assessment at the beginning of each month,
with the final assessment taken in June, that places them into a Tier 1, 2, or 3. The tiers correspond the
those of RTI. See below for tier descriptions.
Tier 1: Students performing at grade level
Tier 2: Students performing moderately below grade level and in need of intervention
Tier 3: Students performing significantly below grade level and in need of intensive intervention
Once each individual student has completed the assessment, the program will immediately start lessons

for each individual students assessed reading needs (Dever, 2014). After each monthly assessment, I
can log into my teacher account and view the results for each student and for the class as a whole. See
below for examples. I also share this data with the students and each student graphs his/her tier level
from month to month. This helps make the practice, assessments, and results meaningful for each
student.

Each student is listed in the far left column so I can determine what overall tier the student placed in as
well as the tier for each skill. Then, if I click on an individual student, it breaks down the monthly
assessments.

Next, clicking on the blue + to the left will give me more information about the specific assessment
answers. See next page.

Because of the format of this program and its assessment schedule, there are 2 ways to look at
the monthly assessments. One way is that the monthly assessments act as formative assessments for the
final June summative assessment where all students should place in Tier 1. Another way to look at this
is that each month is a summative assessment that determines the effectiveness of my instruction, and
use of formative assessment data, throughout a given month.
The formative phonemic awareness assessment that I use between monthly I-Station assessments
is one that is built into the Success for All reading program. I use a printed weekly record form that I
print from the database, put on a clipboard and complete throughout the week. I can assess the
designated skills one-on-one, in small group, or through observation during a lesson/activity. I also take
anecdotal notes during whole group and small group instruction. Below are two examples of weekly
record forms that show specific phonemic awareness skills for the given week.

The data is then entered into the computer. Below are examples of data entry that show additional
phonemic awareness skills that are assessed.

I use the data from the weekly record forms and monthly I-Station assessments to form small
groups and plan high-quality instruction. The monthly I-Station assessments give me significant data to
learn specifics about my students development of phonemic awareness. By using the information from
the SFA weekly phonemic awareness checks, anecdotal notes, and monthly I-Station assessments, I am
able to provide my students with highly effective instruction and ensure they develop strong phonemic
awareness skills. During the 2014-2015 school year, as a result of implementing the aforementioned
assessments and using the data to drive my instruction, 100% of my students placed in Tier 1 for
phonemic awareness on the June summative assessment! Mission accomplished!

References
Armbruster, B. B., Lehr, F., Osborn, J., & Adler, C. R. (2001). Put reading first: The research building
blocks for teaching children to read: Kindergarten through grade 3 (3rd ed.). Washington:
National Institute for Literacy, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S.
Dept. of Education.
Dever, L. N. (2014). I-station reading intervention. The Eagle Feather, 11. doi:10.12794/tef.2014.308
Yopp, H. K. (1995). A test for assessing phonemic awareness in young children. The Reading
Teacher, 49(1), 20-30. doi:10.1598/rt.49.1.3