Chesney 1 Amber Chesney EDSE 321 Dr.

Ann Sebald 2 December 2013 Informal Assessment Assignment For my informal assessment assignment, I chose a student from my volunteer placement at Mountain Ridge Middle School in Highlands Ranch, whom I will refer to as Steven. Steven is currently in the eighth grade and is in the special education program under a physical disability due to his diagnoses of cerebral palsy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He also has major gaps in his cognitive and adaptive abilities. Stevens challenges in the areas of visual motor integration, visual perceptual skills, motor coordination and motor planning affect his learning across all areas of curriculum. He requires accommodations for these challenges.

Students Strengths Steven is an extremely positive person and has a huge heart. He wants all kids to be engaged and learning. He especially looks out for kids that are in wheelchairs and/or with significant support needs. He asks them to be his partner, he engages them in conversations, and lets them know how much he cares about them by his actions. Stevens teachers love him and comment that he is always willing to try anything and everything. He is able to repeat what he is learning and is able to follow directions well. Verbal communication is a personal strength for Steven. He enjoys reading to himself and to other classmates. Math is also a strength for Steven. While he still struggles with learning new concepts, he has a good foundation of knowledge and is able to think mathematically at a fourth grade level with modifications and accommodations.

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Present Level of Performance

Reading Steven was reading fluently at a 4th grade instructional level at a rate of 121 words per minute a year ago. His most recent reading CBM scores are 151 wpm at a 5th grade level, 130 wpm at a 6th grade level, and 106 wpm at a 7th grade level, and 94 words per minute at an 8th grade level. His comprehension when he reads silently is 70%. It increases to 85% when he listens to the story. He does not pay very close attention to punctuation and that can affect his comprehension. He is able to retell 2-3 details from the story, but they are not always accurate or the most important details. He is not able to state the main idea after reading a short story. He is able to make good predictions before and during reading. He considers himself to be a good reader, but thinks he should slow down a little so that he can remember important details. His most recent reading CBM scores are 151 wpm at a 5th grade level, 130 wpm at a 6th grade level, and 106 wpm at a 7th grade level, and 94 words per minute at an 8th grade level.

Math Steven is currently working on a modified instructional level math curriculum at a 4th grade level. He is able to work independently on math at a 3rd grade level with minimal support. He understands patterns, place value, even and odd numbers, comparing numbers, and basic money skills.

Chesney 3 The reading comprehension curriculum based measure (CBM) that I conducted with Steven, comes from a book called Six-Way Paragraphs; 100 Passages for Developing the Six Essential Categories of Comprehension. Based upon a conversation I had with Stevens special education teacher, I chose three stories from the level four reading passages in the book. I chose stories based upon what I thought he would be interested in. Steven read each story out loud and then answered the comprehension questions that were included with the story. I then scored his answers as indicated in the book.
Pauk, W. (2000). Six-way paragraphs. (3rd ed., pp. 154-155,158-159,178-179). Chicago Illinois: Jamestown Publishers.

The above graph shows the number of answers Steven answered correctly on three occasions of testing. The results on the graph indicate that he did improve the number of questions he was getting correct by the time he had taken the third test. Based upon the types of questions he answered, it is clear that he has difficulty answering several types of questions. He also had consistent difficulty with determining the main idea and identifying questions that were too broad or too narrow. I think that having him identify statements in the text that are too broad or too narrow may not be appropriate at this time for his abilities, but I think he should be able to identify the main idea. He was unable to do that in all three of the passages.

Chesney 4 This single digit multiplication CBM that I gave to Steven was generated through the website superkids.com. On the site, you can choose the number of questions, types of operations, and which digits should be included, then it randomizes the problems into a worksheet format. To make the worksheets, I requested that there be twenty five problems per page and that the problems consist of single digit multiplication problems with numbers between zero and nine. I created a total of three packets of multiplication problems each with three pages. No pages were duplicated in any of the total of nine pages. I followed the testing protocol that is outlined in the book The ABCs of CBM in which each packet was administered with a two minute time limit and the student was allowed to cross off any problems he was unable to do.

The results of this math CBM indicate that Steven was able to increase the total number of problems that he answered correctly over the span of the three CBM assessments. A closer inspection of the three assessments also shows that he was also able to increase the number of questions he was able to complete with each test as well. He was able to complete twenty two problems on his first test and thirty seven by the third one. While administering the test, it was clear that Steven knew exactly which problems he would not be able to do. Without even thinking about what the answers might be for certain questions, he immediately crossed off or skipped some without giving them any consideration.

Chesney 5 Two educational goals 1. When given a fourth grade leveled reading passage, Steven will read the passage and answer comprehension questions with 75% accuracy as measured by weekly reading CBMs that are administered three times a week at a minimum. 2. When given a math CBM consisting of single digit multiplication, Steven will increase the number of problems he is able to complete within the two minute time period by 25% and with an accuracy of 75% as measured by bi-weekly curriculum based measurements.

Five instructional recommendations 1. Steven should continue to work on his reading comprehension by reading appropriately leveled passages and answering questions about what he has read. Questions should include facts, inferences, vocabulary in context, and identify the main idea of the passages he reads. 2. Having Steven do re-tells of passages and short stories that he has read will help him improve his comprehension. 3. Teach Steven about meta-cognitive reading strategies. These include; Thinking out loud, connecting text to prior knowledge and experiences, using text to draw conclusions, making predictions and connections, forming opinions, ask yourself questions about the text before, during, and after reading, deciding what is important in the text, summarize main points, give your reading a purpose, visualize what you are reading. 4. Steven can improve his knowledge of single digit multiplication by using flashcards to practice. 5. Using manipulatives to help Steven answer the single digit multiplication that he finds more difficult, will help him to visually understand the answers and make them more concrete.