Pamela M. Santerre's Teaching Portfolio - Introduction



Case Study:

Peter

Pamela Marie Santerre

University of New England

EDU 741 Literacy Assessment

Professor Lacasse

October 21, 2011

Background Information

Peter is thirteen-year-old boy in eighth grade who was recommended for testing and SRBI tier two intervention because classroom observations, standardized test scores, and benchmark testing indicated that Peter is struggling with literacy and is several grade levels behind his peers.

Peter lives with his mother and stepfather. He attended school in Thompson, CT from grades kindergarten through sixth grade. In October 2010, Peter’s family moved to Alabama. His school was destroyed by a tornado in the spring of 2011, and, as a result, we do not have his records or test scores from seventh grade.

Notably, Peter has a fluency disorder. Peter’s mother reported that he began to stutter at four-years-old, and Peter has had speech and language therapy since kindergarten. Mrs. Orlowski indicated that Peter’s stutter is exacerbated by anxiety and low self-confidence.

Peter was tested with the Connor’s Rating Scale in November 2008; the test indicated globally clinically significant levels for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Inattentive Type.

Connecticut Mastery Test results were available for third through sixth grade. In third grade, Peter was tested at “Proficient” on both the Reading and Writing Tests. In fourth and fifth grade, Peter scored at the Below Basic level on the Reading Test and at the Basic level on the Writing Test. In sixth grade, Peter scored at the Below Basic level on both the Reading and Writing tests. Standardized test scores were not available for seventh grade, due to his move to Alabama early in seventh grade.

It is worth noting that Peter’s name was legally changed in July 2009. Grades prior to that time (sixth grade) were mostly in the “B” to “C” range. Beginning in sixth grade, he did have some “D”s. Peter’s cumulative file sent from Thompson includes many conduct and bus discipline reports from 2009. There were no behavioral reports from other years.

Since Peter is new to the district, I chose to test him with a variety of tests that would measure his oral reading fluency, silent reading fluency, writing ability, and comprehension skills. Since testing indicated significant levels of ADHD—inattentive type—I chose a selection of tests that would have both constant and direct examiner interaction as well as more independent tasks to determine how much Peter’s ADHD was impacting his testing.

The assessments took place during Peter’s SRBI Tier 2 intervention time. During the testing sessions, Peter was friendly and willing to complete the tasks. He enjoyed telling stories about his family, particularly about his younger brother. Peter did need directions restated and explained several times. He appeared to take the testing seriously, and often asked for reassurance about his answers. During the tests that are done more independently, Peter did get distracted, but responded well to gentle redirection.

Tests Administered

STAR Reading

Grade Equivalent 6.2

Percentile 28

Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency (Form A)

Raw Score 81

Percentile Rank 21

Standard Score 88 Below-Average

Reading Age 10.0

Grade Equivalent 4.7

Gray Silent Reading Test (Form A)

Raw Score 33

Percentile Rank 27

Silent Reading Quotient 91 Average

Reading Age 11.0

Grade Equivalent 5.2

Woodcock Reading Mastery Test

Subtest Standard Score Percentile Rank

Basic Skills Cluster 96 39 Average

Word Identification 98 44 Average

Word Attack 94 34 Average

Reading Comprehension Cluster 98 46 Average

Word Comprehension 98 44 Average

Passage Comprehension 98 44 Average

Total Reading 97 43 Average

Developmental Reading Assessment

Reading Engagement 4/8 Instructional

Oral Reading Fluency 11/16 Independent

Comprehension 14/24 Instructional

Test of Written Language (Form A)

Raw Score Percentile Rank Descriptive Rating

Vocabulary 10 16 Below-Average

Spelling 12 16 Below-Average

Punctuation 10 25 Average

Logical Sentences 9 16 Below-Average

Sentence Combining 9 37 Average

Contextual Conventions 15 50 Average

Story Composition 11 75 Average

Observations During Testing

Intervention Screening

STAR Reading

The STAR Reading Assessment is an online, multiple-choice skills-based test that instantaneously provides data for screening and instructional planning based on standards benchmarking, progress monitoring, and skills mastery. After completing the practice test, students are given questions, one at a time, based on the student’s estimated ability level. If the student answers correctly, STAR bumps up the difficulty level of the next question. If the student answers incorrectly, STAR lowers the level of the next question. This allows the software to calculate exactly what the student’s ability level is. Students are only given a specific amount of time to answer each question, though the teacher may extend the time limit for specific students with the understanding that doing so may skew the norms, reliability, and validity of the test. STAR Reading tests measure 36 distinct reading skills across five separate strands: Word Knowledge and Skills, Comprehension Strategies and Constructing Meaning, Analyzing Literary Text, Understanding Author’s Craft, and Analyzing Argument and Evaluating Text.

All students at Woodstock Middle School are assessed according to the STAR in the fall, winter, and spring. The STAR Reading indicated Peter’s grade equivalent score is 6.2. His test performance is therefore comparable to that of an average sixth grader after the second month of the school year. Peter also achieved a national percentile rank of 28. This means that Peter scored greater than 28% of students nationally in the same grade, though his score is below average when compared to the scores of other eighth graders at Woodstock. Since this test is taken on and scored by the computer, a miscue analysis is not possible.

These scores indicate that Peter has chosen appropriate reading materials when he reads independently for pleasure. Peter is likely beginning to appreciate more advanced forms of literature. However, he may often be tempted to stay within the easier reading range of popular novels. Peter currently reads independently from content area materials to gain information. He is beginning to use specialized vocabularies, such as scientific or mathematical terms. Peter is continuing to improve his study skills. For the fastest reading growth, Peter should be challenged to read more difficult books and to sample a wide range of literature.

Reading Fluency

Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency.

The Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency (TOSCRF) measures the speed with which students can recognize the individual words in a series of printed passages that become progressively more difficult in their content, vocabulary, and grammar. The passages are printed in uppercase with punctuation or spaces between words, as show in this example:

AYELLOWBIRDWITHBLUEWINGSSATONMOTHERSPRETTYHAT

Students are given 3 minutes to draw lines between as many words as possible, as follows:

A│YELLOW│BIRD│WITH│BLUE│WINGS│SAT│ON│MOTHERS│PRETTY│HAT

The TOSCRF measures a wide variety of essential interrelated silent reading skills, including the ability to recognize printed words and know their meaning; use one’s mastery of grammar to facilitate understanding of the meaning of written sentences and passages; incorporate grammar knowledge to quickly grasp the meaning of words, sentences, paragraphs, and all contextual material; reading and understand contextual materials at a pace fast enough to make silent reading practical and enjoyable.

Peter’s reading age equivalent of 10.0 means his performance is consistent with that of students in the TOSCRF normative sample who were age 10 years 0 months. Peter’s grade equivalent of 4.7 indicates that his performance is similar to that of students in the normative sample who were in the 7th month of 4th grade. The TOSCRF assigns a descriptive rating of “Below Average” to students who have standard scores between 80 to 89.” Students who have a standard score of 90-110 are assigned a descriptive rating of “Average.” Peter’s standard score of 88 translates of a “Below Average” descriptive rating, as advised by the TOSCRF manual. He will likely show deficiencies in all kinds of reading skills, including decoding, word identification, and comprehension skills. He is likely to be a poor content reader. Because he is a poor reader, he is likely to have problems in written language skills, such as composition and spelling. Though the TOSCRF indicates that Peter is reading at a level below age expectancy, it does not indicate which reading skills are impaired or why the reading is below average. The TOSCRF recommended that Peter should receive additionally testing with a well-built reading battery to test a broad spectrum of reading skills.

Comprehension

Gray Silent Reading Tests

The Gray Silent Reading Test (GSRT) is a norm-referenced, reliable, and valid test of silent reading comprehension that is appropriate for individuals aged 7 years through 25 years 11 months. The GSRT has two parallel forms, Forms A and B, each containing 13 separate paragraphs (stories) followed by 5 multiple-choice comprehension questions.

Peter’s reading age equivalent of 11.0 means his performance is consistent with that of students in the GSRT normative sample who were age 11 years 0 months. Peter’s grade equivalent of 5.2 indicates that his performance is similar to that of students in the normative sample who were in the 2nd month of 5th grade. The GSRT assigns a descriptive rating of “Below Average” to students who have standard scores between 80 to 89.” Students who have a standard score of 90-110 are assigned a descriptive rating of “Average.” Peter’s Silent Reading Quotient (SRQ) score of 91 translates to an “Average” descriptive rating, as advised by the GSRT manual, though he is at the low end of the range.

Since Peter’s SRQ is below his grade level and physical age, the GSRT recommends that Peter be tested be with a more comprehensive battery of reading tests. I chose to test Peter with two separate batteries—the Developmental Reading Assessment and Woodcock Reading Mastery Test—because prior testing indicates that Peter is at risk of ADHD, inattentive type. Since one test (Developmental Reading Assessment) required Peter to complete tasks independently while the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test has constant examiner-student interaction, I wondered if the results would be impacted by the ADHD. If it was proven that Peter’s ADHD impacts his comprehension, a case could be made to place him on a 504 plan.

While testing, Peter did demonstrate that he does have reading strategies. He often read the questions out loud to himself, though he did look to me for affirmation that he was correct. Answering the questions for his “ceiling” story, he often said that the comprehension questions didn’t make sense, indicating that his difficulties may lie in understanding the comprehension questions, not the actual material.

Developmental Reading Assessment, Grades 4-8, Second Edition

The Developmental Reading Assessment, Grades 4-8, Second Edition, known as the DRA2, 4-8, assesses student reading achievement in Reading Engagement, Oral Reading Fluency, and Comprehension. The DRA2, 4-8 is administered in four main steps: student reading survey, one-on-one student reading conference, Independent Study Work, and an analysis of student performance. It provides information to identify students’ independent reading levels and the next steps to take to help students improve their reading skills.

Prior to testing, Peter filled out a student reading survey. On the survey, Peter indicated that he enjoyed reading adventure and animal books because he enjoys both those things. He chooses his independent reading material based on the title and blurb on the back of the book. Peter indicated that while he likes reading, he is a slow reader, but wants to get faster as a reader so that he could read the longer books, like the Percy Jackson series, that his peers are reading.

For the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension test, Peter chose to read The Amazing Octopus, a nonfiction text which was within his independent reading level, as identified by the STAR, TOSCRF, and GSRT. Throughout the oral reading fluency subtest, Peter’s fluency disorder was noticeable, particularly at the beginning of words beginning with hard consonant sounds (backbone, coldblooded, etc). However, Peter read with expression and generally appropriate phrasing, heeding most punctuation. While reading, Peter had several miscues, but self-corrected all except for two. Both miscues were insertions that did not changed the meaning of the text. For example, the text said “These suckers help an octopus to pick up and eat food;” Peter read, “help an octopus to pick up and eat their food.” Though this was an insertion, it fit into the semantics and syntax of the sentence. It is apparent that Peter monitors his comprehension as he reads orally. At one point, Peter had a miscue, read ahead to the previous sentence, and then went back and self-corrected. This did not count as an error against him. Peter’s total score for the Oral Reading Fluency fell within the Independent range on the continuum. While he read with a 99% accuracy rate, after self-corrections, he only read 80 words per minute, which can be partially attributed to his fluency disorder.

On the comprehension test, Peter’s questions and predictions represent an instructional response. He asks two specific and reasonable questions: “How do octopuses change color?” and “Can they really spray ink?” He has three predictions that are related to the text, though his predictions are very basic: “How they live,” “How they eat,” and “How the [sic] hide.”

Peter’s summary demonstrates an Instructional response in his understanding of the story. He uses his own language to compose a summary that includes some ideas and supporting facts from most sections of the text. This indicates that Peter would benefit from instruction to help him grasp the overall intent of the book and add more supporting information from each section of the text to his summary.

Peter’s response to the Literal Comprehension yielded an Independent score. Peter gives three specific facts that come from the text: “They are coldblooded,” “They can change color,” and “They can spray ink.” However, his response to the Interpretation question reflects an Instructional score. It is evident that he used some information from the text to identify what would happen if there were no octopus predators in the ocean. His response, however, is only a partial answer and is not adequately explained: “The shrimp will live.” While taking this portion of the test, Peter struggled to understand what the question was asking. He was not sure if the question was asking about octopuses as predators or predators of octopuses.

Peter’s Reflection response represents an Instructional score. In response to the prompt “what do you think is the most important thing about octopuses,” Peter responded, “The [sic] keep having more kid octopus.” Though Peter’s response does reflect the text, it focuses on less significant pieces of the text.

Peter’s response to Metacognitive Awareness represents an Independent response. Peter articulates that he used his background knowledge of octopuses while he read. In addition, he pictured what was happening.

On Peter’s referral for testing, teachers indicated that Peter was often resistant to written tasks. His short answers with lack of supporting detail on the DRA2, 4-8 could be indicators of this resistance, not just comprehension difficulties. I decided to assess Peter’s writing abilities using the Test of Written Language.

Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised

The Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT-R) is an individually administered norm-referenced diagnostic battery of tests, which provides various measures of reading achievement. In the Word Identification test, students are required to read words in a list format aloud. They have five seconds to identify each word before they are prompted to move on to the next word. In the Word Attack test, students are required to read words that are not real. Nonsense words allow the evaluator to determine how the child recognizes words without using compensatory strategies (i.e., looking at pictures, guessing based upon context, or reading words by sight). Students have five seconds to respond before they are prompted for a response, and then moved on to the next word. The Word Comprehension subtest has three sections: antonyms, synonyms, and analogies. Students have fifteen seconds before they are prompted for a response, and then moved on to the next item. In the Passage Comprehension subtest students are required to read passages to themselves, then fill in the blanks to demonstrate their understanding.

On the Word Identification subtest, Peter received a standard score of 98, which put him into the 44th national percentile, which is translates to an “Average” rating as defined by the WRMT-R manual. The Word Identification subtest measures an individual's ability to recognize words at sight. An analysis of Peter’s miscues shows that when Peter is reading an unfamiliar word, he looks at the beginning and end, and supplants it with another familiar word.

Examples are included below.

Word Peter’s Reading

garage garbage

transient transit

Peter also demonstrated that he had an awareness of decoding strategies because when faced with a word he did not know, he attempted to sound the word out. Examples are included below.

Word Peter’s Reading

grandiose grah-di-os

xerograph ex-ero-graph-y

jujitsu ju-di-shoo

On the Word Attack subtest, Peter received a standard score of 94, which put him into the 34th national percentile, which is translates to an “Average” rating as defined by the WRMT-R manual. The Word Attack subtest measures the ability to use phonic and structural analysis skills to identify nonsense words. An analysis of miscues reveals that Peter was familiar with words that were phonetically regular, with very few exceptions. However, he has difficulty with words that have silent letters, such a “k” as in “knife” or “h” as in “phone.” Examples are included below:

Word Peter’s Reading

Phet pah-het

whumb hw-u-mp

mieb meh-b

On the Word Comprehension subtest, Peter received a standard score of 98, which put him into the 44th national percentile, which is translates to an “average” rating as defined by the WRMT-R manual. The Word Comprehension subtest measures knowledge of word meanings through formats utilizing antonyms, synonyms, and analogies. An analysis of the miscues shows that, in some cases, Peter is somewhat familiar with the meanings the cue words and uses some logic to answer, but he is probably lacking in semantics to come up with the correct word. Examples are included below:

Word Peter’s Reading

Baby - Antonym- grandmother

Finale- -Antonym- first

Funnies -Synonym- laugh

Buy -Synonym- receive

Street: automobile::canal:___ -Analogy- water

Other miscues in this test seemed to happen because Peter misread the cue word. For example, one cue for the analogy subtest was “machine is to patent as book is to ______.” Peter read the word “patent,” as “parent,” and answered the analogy with “kids.” Miscues of this type again show how Peter looks at the beginning and ends of the word and guesses a familiar word.

On the Passage Comprehension subtest, Peter received a standard score of 98, which put him into the 44th national percentile, which is translates to an “average” rating as defined by the WRMT-R manual. The Passage Comprehension subtest is a modified CLOZE procedure and measures the student's ability to read and understand a short passage and then supply a key word missing from the passage. An analysis of miscues demonstrates that Peter understands the main idea of a passage and syntax, but struggles with semantics and context clues.

Example: Although there are now more people who speak English than people who speak French, the French language was once the most widely spoken language in the world, and it had a strong influence on the English language. This influence began in 1066 when England was conquered by the Normans—people who lived in _______________________.

Correct answer: France, Normandy

Peter’s answer: England

In the above example, Peter demonstrates an understanding about the main idea of the passage and recognizes that the word in the blank is a country or place. However, Peter misses that the story is talking about a time when the French influence on the English language began. He also doesn’t recognize that it is logically impossible for England to be conquered by people who lived in England.

The Total Reading Cluster is a combination of all the subtests administered and provides one measure of reading achievement. Peter received a standard score of 97, which put him into the 43rd national percentile, which is translates to an “average” rating as defined by the WRMT-R manual. The tests did indicate areas, such as identifying graphophonic and semantic cues. Additionally, the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests, in which the examiner has constant and direct interactions with the student, reflects a set of higher reading comprehension scores than the DRA2,4-8, TOSCRF, and GSRT, which are tests Peter has to do independently. This discrepancy suggests that Peter’s reading comprehension is being impacted by his ADHD. Without continual adult supervision, Peter’s attention wanders and he rushes through tasks without proper attention to meaning.

Written Expression

Test of Written Language- Fourth Edition

The Test of Written Language (TOWL-4) is a norm-referenced, comprehensive diagnostic test of written expression. The TOWL-4 has seven subtests that represent the conventional, linguistic, and conceptual aspects of writing: vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, logical sentences, sentence combining, contextual conventions, and story composition.

On the Vocabulary subtest, Peter scored in the 16th percentile, which has a below average rating according to the TOWL-4 manual. In this section, the student writes a sentence that incorporates a stimulus word. For example, for “ran,” a student writes, “I ran up the hill.” The students are not allowed to change the ending of words. Thus, “ran” cannot become “run.” After three errors, the test is ended. By these rules, the test was scored on questions 1 to 14 after Peter was unable to write sentences for “humble” and “though.” For the cue “confusion,” Peter wrote “She had a confusion of the test.” In my opinion, this sentence demonstrates that Peter understood the meaning of the word “confusion,” but wasn’t sure how to use it in a sentence.

On the Spelling subtest, Peter scored in the 16th percentile, which yielded a below average rating according to the TOWL-4 manual. In this section, the student writes sentences from dictation, making proper use of spelling rules. An analysis of the miscues demonstrates that Peter utilizes the rules of phonics to while spelling. Examples are listed below:

Word Peter’s Response

Sure shour

Political politicle

In the Punctuation subtest, the student writes sentences from dictation, making proper use of punctuation and capitalization rules. Peter scored in the 25th percentile, which yielded an average rating according the TOWL-4 manual. Throughout the test, Peter properly utilized end punctuation. He consistently capitalized the first letter of every sentence, though he had often forgot to capitalize proper nouns, like “March” and “Dallas, Texas.” Most of Peter’s punctuation miscues involved commas. He did not seem to be aware of that a comma is needed to separate the city and state, as in “River City, Ohio,” Peter also did not use commas to set off introductory clauses, as in the sentence “For example, you must comply with the rules.” Finally, Peter did not utilize commas to set appositives, such as “Mrs. Hill, the new teacher, was very political.”

On the Logical Sentences subtest, Peter scored in the 16th percentile, which yielded a “below-average” rating according the TOWL-4 manual. In this test, the student edits an illogical sentence so that it makes better sense. For example, “John blinked his nose” is changed to “John blinked his eye.” The purpose of this subtest is to measure the cognitive and syntactic components of writing. A analysis of his miscues reveals that Peter has difficulty with pronoun-antecedent agreement. For example, the cue sentence was “The glasses were so dirty they could hardly see.” Peter did not identify an error in this sentence since he rationalized that someone could not see through dirty glasses. However, he did not recognize that “they” is erroneously referring to “glasses,” and which violates logic because inanimate glasses do not have eyes.

In the Sentence Combining subtest, the student integrates the meaning of several short sentences into one grammatically correct written sentence. For example, “John drives fast” is combined with “John has a red car” making “John drives his red car fast.” The purpose of this test is to write a sentence that is grammatically correct according to the rules that govern “informal standard English.” This is the level of English used most often by educated persons in their correspondence and other functional situations. A general scoring rule is that the proper use of informal standard English will never result in an awkward or confusing sentence. Peter scored in the 37th percentile on this test, which has a descriptive of “average.” Two of Peter’s miscues involved sentences being combined into awkward sentences. For example, Peter combined the cue sentences “Kathy has a hat. It is blue. She wears it at night,” into “Kathy has a blue night hat.” While it holds true to the rules governing the sequencing of adjectives, the sentence is awkward. His third miscue demonstrated that Peter had trouble with the rules governing the sequence of adjectives. For example, Peter combined cue sentences “The bush is green. The bush has berries” into “ The bush has green berries,” which changes the information presented in the cue sentences.

Peter’s scores on these four subtests—the Contrived Writing composite—are in the “below average” to “low average” range. Peter has the knowledge of how to apply the conventions of writing, but he does not always apply those conventions.

In addition to contrived writing, the student writes a story in response to a stimulus picture. Students are given five minutes to brainstorm ideas and fifteen minutes to write. In the Contextual Conventions subtest, the student’s story is graded and points are earned for satisfying specific arbitrary requirements relative to orthnographic (punctuation, spelling) and grammatic conventions (sentence construction, noun-verb agreement, etc). On this test, Peter scored in the 50th percentile which yields a descriptive rating of “average.” As shown in the contrived writing tests, Peter knew to capitalize the beginning of a sentence and proper nouns, though he did have some errors. He writes in complete sentences and uses compound sentences and coordinating conjunctions appropriately. Peter did have several misspelled words and his story did not include the contextual conventions often found in more advanced pieces of writing, such as dialogue, exclamation points, and parentheses.

In the Story Composition subtest, the student’s story is evaluated relative to the quality of its composition (vocabulary, plot, character development, etc). Peter scored in the 75th percentile on this test, which yields an “average” rating, as defined by the TOWL-4 manual. While Peter demonstrated the basic concepts of a creative writing—story beginning, characters with emotion, plot—Peter still needs to work on writing towards a clever, inventive end for his story, since he abruptly ended in the middle of the plot, even though he still had time left to write.

When given the freedom to write a creative composition, Peter can write a fairly well-constructed pieced. His skills as reflected in the spontaneous writing composite are in the average range. It is noteworthy however that Peter needed to be encouraged to continue writing until the end of his fifteen minutes. This is indicative of his resistance to written tasks that may be impacting his independent reading scores, like the DRA2, 4-8.

Summary and Recommendations

Peter is an eighth grade student having difficulty with reading. On tests, such as the TOSCRF, TOWL-4, and GSRT, Peter scored in the low average range. On tests, such as the WRMT-R, where the examiner has constant and direct contact with the student, Peter scored in the average range. This suggests that Peter does not concentrate well or put forth a strong effort when there are no prompts or interactions with an adult. Since previous testing yielded clinically significant indicators for ADHD, the difference between scores suggests that Peter has difficulty maintaining focus during independent work.

Though Peter’s fluency disorder does impact his oral reading, Peter reads with good expression and enthusiasm, and his reading is generally well phrased, mostly in clause and sentence units. He is aware of punctuation marks and is able decode most words. On the oral reading component of the DRA2, 4-8, there were occasional breaks in smoothness caused by difficulty with specific words, but Peter does monitor his comprehension and self-corrects when needed.

On the independent reading component of the DRA2, 4-8, Peter demonstrated that he was capable of literal comprehension, which indicates that he has no trouble decoding the words. He also demonstrated a metacognitive awareness of strategies he used during reading. The DRA2, 4-8 indicates, however, that Peter has difficulty with Questioning/Predictions, Summarizing, Interpretation, Reflection.

On the TOWL-4, Peter demonstrated that he has knowledge of the conventions of writing, but he does not consistently apply those conventions. When given the freedom to write a creative composition, Peter can write a fairly well constructed piece, though he needed to be encouraged to write more than he did originally, which demonstrates a resistance to written tasks. His skills as reflected in the composition are in the average range

I recommend the following goals for Peter:

1. Increase rate and accuracy of oral reading. Peter’s oral reading will improve by asking him to consistently read new text—fiction and nonfiction—aloud. Additionally, Peter will continue to work with the speech and language pathologist on stuttering modification and fluency-shaping therapies.

Peter’s oral reading could also benefit through buddy reading. During buddy reading, the reader picks a book that would be interesting to younger children and practices the book until he or she feels comfortable. The student then reads the book to a younger child or an entire class. During testing, Peter often talked about his younger brother and how he would like to some day become a kindergarten teacher. Peter has also volunteered to work as a mentor to the fifth grade. Since Peter’s independent reading level has been tested at approximately fifth grade, this allows Peter to practice appropriate material while maintaining his self-esteem.

Since Peter enjoys participating in class and seeks positive attention from his peers, reader’s theater is another strategy to improve his oral reading. As part of a whole class activity, Peter should be given a substantial role and allowed ample time to practice before the class performance.

2. Improve reading comprehension: inferences. Peter would benefit from direct instruction that explains, provides strategies for, and shares examples of inferences.

The KIS Strategy (Key Words, Infer, Support) is a mnemonic strategy that helps students remember the three steps in making and supporting inferences. Students underline key words and facts from the text, make inferences using those key words, and list the background knowledge used to support their answers.

Another strategy is for the student to use sticky notes to keep track of thoughts and questions during reading. The student can then refer to these sticky notes during class discussions or writing assignments. Since Peter does demonstrated ADHD behavior, these two strategies would help him slow down and focus on what he is reading.

In addition, Peter should be given opportunities to respond to and construct inference questions orally and in writing. The teacher should model and provide opportunities to support inferences with examples from the text. The skill of making inferences can be practiced with a variety of texts, including Aesop’s Fables, wordless picture books, cartoons, and textbooks.

Since the ability to make inferences is a skill that transcends reading and writing, it can be encouraged through practical application. Both parents and teachers can model and encourage metacognition by wondering out loud. For example, a teacher might ask, “Where are the ants hiding?” When the student responds, inquire, “What helped you figure that out?” Peter’s inference skills could benefit from games like twenty questions, where he tries to guess the identity of a mystery person or thing by asking questions.

3. Improve summarizing abilities

On both the DRA2, 4-8 and TOWL-4, Peter struggled with summarizing. Peter would benefit from direct instruction about the characteristics of good summaries. As part of this instruction, the teacher should model and support how to distinguish between more important and less important ideas and facts and how to use examples from the text while summarizing. Peter would benefit from practice summarizing fiction and nonfiction passages of increasing length and complexity.

4. Improve ability to answer written questions and follow written directions

During testing and in class, I have noticed Peter struggling with answering written questions and following written directions and not struggle when those same questions or directions are read aloud. Since prior testing showed clinically significant indicators for ADHD, Peter may struggle with following a task to completion, and would benefit from direct instruction, modeling, and support of strategies that help him to follow directions. A good strategy to use is CUCC: Circle, Underline, Check Off, Count, CheckOff/Complete. Using this strategy, students Circle the directions words. Then, they Underline all important information after each direction word. Then they Count the actual number of directions words; last, they Check Off each item as they Complete it.

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Name: Peter Orlowski

Grade: 8

School: Woodstock Middle School

Date of Report: October 21, 2011

Dates of Testing: October 12-13, 2011

Date of Birth: February 2, 1998

Age at Testing: 13 years, 8 months

Examiner: Pamela M. Santerre

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