This worktext applies current theory to classroom practice by providing, in each chapter, a brief explanation of major concepts followed by guided practical experience in administering, scoring, and interpreting reading assessment techniques. Like the popular previous editions, the Fourth Edition:*emphasizes the use of assessment and diagnosis for instructional decision making--rather than for simply giving grades;*stresses the use of informal assessment techniques--reflecting the current emphasis in educational assessment theories--but also includes coverage of standardized test scores;*provides both classroom-tested results and interpretations of the data, giving students step-by-step experience in administering, scoring, and interpreting assessment techniques; and*includes numerous "hands-on" activities.For children to be good readers, they must be taught phonemic awareness, phonics skills, how to read fluently, and how to apply comprehension strategies. Linking Reading Assessment to Instruction: An Application Worktext for Elementary Classroom Teachers, Fourth Edition, covers all four areas. This text is designed for undergraduate or graduate reading methods courses that include a diagnosis component, reading diagnosis courses, exceptional education courses, and inservice courses on reading/literacy development.Changes in the Fourth Edition:*discussion of the text's relationship to the areas of reading proposed by the National Reading Panel Report: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension;*updated "Suggested Readings" for all chapters;*additional references to diagnostic assessments for word-analysis skills and spelling stages;*additional grouping scenarios;*new section on determining a diagnostic path, with instructional suggestions;*relevant ESOL information added in several places; and*revised Instructor's Manual includes more activities.
The recent push to use a whole language approach in the classroom has generally focused on the primary grade level. However, the integrated reading/language arts model described in this article was designed to meet the needs of Chapter I sixth grade students. The program provides for the integration of reading with the other language arts: speaking, writing, and listening. Q A lHIol1st1c Re~d1rng ~rnd L~rngu~ge Arts Appro~ch for the ~rntermed1ate Grades Susan P. Homan Herbert G. Karl Vilma Vega Doretha Edgecomb The recent push to use a whole language approach in the classroom has generally focused on the primary grade level. However, the integrated reading/language arts model described in this article was designed to meet the needs of Chapter I sixth grade students. The program provides for the integration of reading with the other language arts: speaking, writing, and listening. One of the basic tenets of this model is that children learn best by actively participating in language activities, not just reading about language skills. The IMTC (Integrated Model for Teaching and Conferencing in Reading/ Language Arts) was developed specifically for use with Chapter I students; however the heart of the model, activities and patterns that successfully integrate reading with the other language arts, has ramifications for all classrooms. Several conditions were taken into account before the program was designed. The first set of conditions included: • the observation that the students enrolled in the program would be those whose past achievements in reading and language arts had been minimal at best; • the realization that many of the students came from low income, sometimes single parent, families. Page 16 READING HORIZONS, Winter, 1990 It was further presumed that such conditions tend to create other problems. Consistently poor achievement, for example, reduces the motivation of students to try harder. Conditions of poverty are likely to be associated with nutritional and general health problems, as well as feelings of insecurity on the part of the children. There were other conditions considered by the program developers. Among these were (a) the training and commitment of the Chapter I teachers; (b) the pupil-teacher ratios for the reading/language arts classes; (c) the availability of teacher aides; (d) patterns of scheduling within the target schools; and (e) the availability and use of materials and instructional media such as textbooks, TV cameras and recorders, and personal computers. The five day sequence A unique feature of the Integrated Model for Teaching and Conferencing in Reading/Language Arts (IMTC) is its organizational structure a structure built around certain activities which recur each week. While this arrangement may appear rigid, in practice quite the reverse appears to be the case insofar, at least, as the results of a recent pilot study indicate. In point of fact, the five-day sequence allows for a great variety of individual activities within the weekly pattern. The sequence, which is presented graphically below, can be summarized as follows: Day 1: Reading Focus pre-reading activities Writing Focus pre-writing activities Day 2: Reading Focus silent and oral reading Writing Focus drafting/informal conferencing Day 3: Reading Focus silent and oral reading Reading Aloud literature selection read aloud by teacher READING HORIZONS, Winter 1990 Day 4: Reading Focus silent and oral reading Oral Language/Related art Activities dramatic & art activities designed to extend and develop reading/writing abilities. Day 5: Individual Conferences pre-scheduled ''tutorials'' designed to focus on reading and writing matters which are unique to individual students Page 17 The reasoning behind the five-day sequence began with the belief that an approach was needed which would restore the target students' self-confidence the kind of self-confidence capable of reversing a pattern of low achievement. It was felt that each student needed to see a pattern and purpose for daily learning tasks. The five-day sequence, by providing a sense of what to expect, was intended to create such a pattern. Providing a sense of purpose In addition to creating a sense of what to expect, the program developers wanted to give both students and daily activities a sense of purpose. The daily activities typically evolve from a simple and direct purpose: children learn language by using it. They learn to speak by speaking, to write by writing, and to read by reading but more importantly, they gain significant knowledge from anyone of these experiences, which extends to all the others. In order to convey this sense of purpose, the program is designed to engage students in activities which show the relationship or connection among the language arts. Knowledge about structure and meaning underlies all language oral or printed; spoken, heard, read, or written. Page 18 READING HORIZONS, Winter, 1990 THE INTEGRATED MODEL FOR TEACHING AND
The technique of path analysis was used to test the role of student task engagement as a mediating process variable linking teacher behavior and student achievement in math and social studies classes. Forty teacher-interns and their respective elementary level classes participated in the study. Two measures of teacher behavior and a measure of student task engagement were obtained during lessons from two-week instructional units designed specifically for the study. Achievement was defined as the class mean residualized gain score, residualizing student post- test scores on both content pretest performance and scores on relevant subtests of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. Results suggest different causal paths from teacher behavior to achievement in the two contexts. In social studies classes, task engagement emerged as a mediating variable as hypothesized, while in mathematics classes it played no causal role in achievement. Results were interpreted as an example of the added information obtained from testing path models rather than examining only zero-order correlations.
For many students, traditional testing procedures may result in a reflection of poor reading ability rather than of ability in the area being tested. This study examined the effects of different procedures for administering test items. Third graders of varying reading levels—below average, average, and above average—were administered items by three procedures—oral only, look-listen, and silent. Students were questioned about their preferences of procedure. For all three groups, the highest performance was associated with the look-listen procedure; the oral procedure resulted in somewhat higher performance than the silent. The results were most pronounced for average readers.
Abstract This study examines the effects of repeated reading and assisted nonrepetitive strategies such as echo reading, cloze reading, and unison reading on reading rate, error rate, and comprehension. There are many repeated-reading studies with results demonstrating unproved fluency; however, the current study investigated the transfer effects of the previously mentioned procedures on both comprehension and fluency with sixth-grade Chapter I students. Results indicated equivalent benefits for repetitive and nonrepetitive methods, with significant comprehension improvement in a 7-week period.
Abstract Early literacy interventions have been critiqued for their propensity to remove “reading problems” from classroom teachers’ responsibility. In the current study, classroom teachers were trained so that they could provide specialized early intervention lessons to at‐risk students in their own classes. The results of the project compare favorably with a “pull‐out” model of early literacy intervention. In contrast to pull‐out approaches, this “push‐in” model of early literacy intervention may have pervasive effects on classroom teachers’ entire teaching repertoires.
A persistent yet unresolved question about the informal reading inventory (I RI) is, What word recognition criterion and comprehension criterion are appropriate for identifying instructional reading levels of elementary students?1I The fact that identification of appropriate recognition of words and comprehension criteria have not received wide attention by researchers is surprising, in view of its importance for the placement of students in reading material that will insure optimum progress in reading. A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE I R I WORD RECOGNITION CRITERIA Susan r. Homan and Janell P. Klesius College of Education University of South Florida Tampa A persistent yet unresolved question about the informal read i ng inventory (I RI) is, IIWhat word recogn it i on cri terion and comprehension criterion are appropriate for identifying instructional reading levels of elementary students?1I The fact that identification of appropriate recognition of words and comprehension criteria have not received wide attention by researchers is surprising, in view of its importance for the placement of students in read i ng material that will insure optimum progress in reading. Killgallon's study in 1942 seems to have been the first to assign specific criteria for defining the instructional reading level: 95% word recognition accuracy and 75% comprehension accuracy (cited in Beldin, 1970). These criteria were probably identified by Betts (cited in Pikulski & Shanahan, 1982). In 1952, Cooper studied the Betts criteria by measuring the progress of students. He concluded that the word recognition level for primary level students should be 98% and the comprehens i on I eve I shou I d 70%. However, for i ntermediate level, he found that word recognition should be 96% and comprehension 60%. He indicated that with more stringent criteria children progress more rapidly in reading. Powe II (1970) reported that younger ch i I dren in grades I and 2 could tolerate a 15% error rate in word recognition and sti II maintain a comprehension level of 70%, whi Ie students at the intermediate level could tolerate only a 5% word recognition error rate to maintain a 70% comprehension level. Hays (1975) used second and fifth grade students to determine word recognition criteria. He reported that students at these levels need to achieve a word recognition performance of at least 98% or 99% in order to have a comprehension score of at least 70%.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reading placement (instructional level vs. above instructional level) on reading achievement of at‐risk sixth grade students with reading problems. Achievement differences for students who were slow learners vs. disabled readers were also examined. The sample consisted of 304 sixth graders in a special Chapter I reading program. Data were subjected to a two‐factor multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) procedure. Results indicated that scores of students placed one‐half to one year above instructional level were not significantly different from scores of students placed at instructional reading level.
