ShayAne Hakala

10/20/14
EDUC 5165
Assessments
Assessing Sam
After subsequent meetings with Sam, it became clear that Sam truly enjoys reading. We
spend meetings talking about the books he is currently reading, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: series and
the rate in which he is reading them; quickly! Sams reading is thoroughly supported at home by
his parents. They make sure to keep him reading by buying or renting new books as often as he
finishes them. During his Reading Attitude Survey, Sam reports that he likes to read at home
more than he likes reading at school. When asked to provide more detail he replied that reading
at home is quieter and he can read for longer. His general feelings about reading are that he
enjoys reading; however, he likes to play a little bit more during his free time. Although Sam
equally likes both reading for pleasure and for information, he claims to dislike comprehension
questions and answering worksheets following reading assignments. He went on to explain that
he didnt understand why teachers ask these sorts of questions and that answering the questions
to a worksheet is pretty boring. In Sams classroom there are mostly fictional stories that are
leveled for students to pick from. With Walk to Read intervention program, that 2-6th graders
partake in, he generally reads informational texts. Sam has had little to no exposure to textbook
reading and claims to have never been required to read aloud to the class. The survey showed
that Sam has some test anxiety issues, but being a well natured student he didnt mind them too
much. Overall, Sam is a strong reader whose knowledge of print concepts, reading abilities,
and interest in reading are all above average.

Due to Sams English Learner status, his teacher reports that he may have some difficulty
with consonant sounds such as the hard L and consonant blends. For example, he does not
always include the hard L in his inventive spelling, and when he is segmenting words he breaks
the word splash into s-p-lash, or wolves into wu-ves. Sams Yopp-Singer Test also
determined that he has some phonic issues surrounding the C sound such as race and ice.
For example, Sam groups the sounds in race as r-ace, and he does not segment the word
ice into i-s. With the exception of ice, it is possible that Sam has difficulty segmenting
words that have 3 parts as he seems to segment one or two sounds but clump the following
sounds. His prior years instruction on the task is unknown. Although Sam has leveled out of
English Language Development services he might still benefit from one-on-one instruction from
the Bilingual Education teacher. Should ELD instruction be inappropriate, Sam may need Speech
services regarding the lack of hard L sounds in his speech.
Sams reading tests, which were administered at the beginning of this academic year
(July, 2014), state that he can read between a midyear, second grade level to a beginning of third
grade reading level. However, Sams Running Records would suggest he read at a second grade
reading level in order to improve his comprehension and vocabulary. Although Sam is a fluent
reader with only 1 miscue, he struggles with comprehension questions at this level such as
details, sequences, and vocabulary. Sam also read a leveled reader, Rabbit Stew, and then
answered similar comprehension and vocabulary questions. Nearly all of Sams miscues were
visual and therefore implies that Sam might be reading too fast and needs to slow his pace in
order to accurately read all the words. He did substitute or skip over words that would have been
vocabulary words. For example, the word scrambled was substituted for scampered. When
questioned about these vocabulary words, Sam was unable to answer; however, he was able to

infer meaning once he used the text for clues. Again, Sam incorrectly answered some sequencing
questions about Rabbit Stew. Since Sam is a capable reader, it would be important that he has a
good vocabulary program so that as the curriculum becomes more advanced he is not delayed
with unknown words. It might also help his comprehension of sequence should he read at a
lower level. On the other hand, it is important that Sam remain interested in reading and since he
is dedicated to reading it might be advantageous to have him read a little outside of his Zone of
Proximal Development in order to further his abilities. In Early November, Sam is due for
another assessment in reading, which may determine his abilities and suggested reading level
more clearly.
The school Sam attends has adopted the Common Core State Standards curriculum as of
last year. Due to this, the District Office has required more writing samples to be submitted and
scored from each student. Sam has had some writing requirements for both in school writing and
for District Office sampling. The DO writing sample was administered prior to the school break
and asked that students write about a shared experience. The class voted and decided to write
about a philanthropy event they hosted a few weeks prior. The teacher demonstrated a Circle
Thinking Map in order to generate ideas. The students were permitted to choose their own ideas
to write about. Next, the students used a Flee Thinking Map to sequence their ideas into a logical
progression. Last, the students were asked to write their retelling and include a picture to support
their retell. The students were not able to redraft their writing as required by the DO. Sams
writing was nicely sequenced, supported the prompt, and was mechanically appropriate for the
age group. However, Sam does not capitalize or punctuate with 100% accuracy, his supporting
details are somewhat confusing, and he did not provide a closing sentence as required from the
teacher. During the second writing opportunity, Sam used a Flow Thinking Map to generate

ideas regarding the prompt What did you do over Fall Break? The teacher did not provide a
model for this writing prompt; Sams teacher intentionally planned the writing this way in order
to assess the students abilities without the directions provided by the teacher. Sams writing was
less structured and less coherent. Implications for this are that Sam needs improvement on
organization, coherence and mechanics.