School-Wide Literacy Assessments

and Implications for Teaching

Overview of Assessments
Our literacy program will include various types of formal and informal, summative and
formative assessments for each of our four literacy goals. Here is a link to our Goals Chart for a
reminder. Further descriptions of each assessment can be found in the Teacher and Parent
Report Form below. These assessments are intended to help teachers with instruction. If you
have any questions about any of these assessments, or the R.E.A.D program in general, please
contact us at (812) 322-6808.
Teacher and Parent Report Form
This forms summarizes three major assessments for each of our four literacy goals. All
assessments are done at the beginning, middle, and/or end of the year by all the teachers at our
school. Therefore, all students who participate in this years R.E.A.D. program will undergo each
of these assessments several times a year. You may use this document to share scores and
valuable assessment information with parents. Each assessment is described briefly and space is
provided for you to indicate your students score/stage.
R.E.A.D ASSESSMENT REPORT
Student:
Parent(s)/Guardian(s)
Name(s):

Grade:

School Year:
Telephone:

GOAL 1: Improving Reading Comprehension

Name of Assessment
MAP

Description of Assessment
MAP assessments are achievement tests in Math and Reading. The computer adjusts the
difficulty of the questions based on how well the student has answered previous questions.
Since this is a norm-referenced test we know the results are reliable.

Scores
Fall:

Spring:

Informal Reading
Inventory (IRI)

An Informal Reading Inventory is a series of assessments a teacher gives to an individual

student to get a sense of a students strengths and weaknesses in terms of reading. We will be
able to measure your students fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and grade level reading.

Strengths:

Needs:

Recorded Think Aloud

with Self-Assessment
Sheet

A Think Aloud is a chance for a student to share with a teacher and peers the metacognitive
strategies he or she is using to unpack a text. Each student has been asked to record
themselves during a think aloud on a challenging text, then to watch the video and rank
themselves on their strengths and weaknesses as a strategic reader using the self-reflection
sheet.

Strengths:

Needs:

GOAL 2: Improving Vocabulary

Name of Assessment

Description of Assessment

Peabody Picture Vocabulary

Test (PPVT)

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test is a test which measures what a student hears in terms
of vocabulary. The results are normed, so there is a comparison between your students age
and the nation. The results that you will see are grade level equivalents (GLE), percentile,
and age equivalency.

Scores
GLE:
Percentile:
Age Equivalency:

Words Their Way (WTW)

Semantic Feature Analysis

(Before Unit and after)

Words Their Way is a developmental word study program that places students in a certain
stage depending on where each student is in terms of spelling and word knowledge. The
Words Their Way Assessment will be given once in the beginning of the school year and
once again at the end of the school year.

Fall Stage:

The semantic feature analysis strategy uses a grid to help students explore how words or set
of words are related to one another. By completing and analyzing the grid, students make
connections, predictions, and master vocabulary/concepts. This can be used before a unit to
see what your student already knows and after a unit to assess what your student has
learned.

Before and After Fall

Unit/Percent Correct:

Spring Stage:

Before and After Spring

Unit/Percent Correct:

GOAL 3: Improving Writing

Name of Assessment
RAFT (before and
after)
Major Process Paper with

Description of Assessment

Scores

Raft is a writing strategy that helps students understand their role as a writer, the audience
they will address, the varied formats for writing, and the topic they will be writing about.
Teachers will use this before and after teaching a topic, in order to assess how much your
student is learning about each particular topic. This assessment will be used across the
curriculum.

Fall Score:

Each year all students will write two major process papers in all classes. This means the
student has had a chance to work on a first, second, and third draft while receiving feedback

Fall Score:

Spring Score:

rubric and peer/teacher

feedback
Self-reflection essay of
writing according to CCSS
Standards with examples
from student writing
portfolios.

from both peers and teachers. You will see the final rubric and all drafts with teacher and
student commentary. The main point here is that we measure growth of the student from first
to final draft.
Since self-reflection is such an important part of student growth, students will reflect on
their strengths and needs as writers according to the writing standards of the Common Core.
Students will type an essay which states their strengths/needs and provides specific,
highlighted examples from their writing across subjects, classes, and genres.

Spring Score:
Fall Score:

Spring Score:

GOAL 4: Improving H.O.T. (Higher Order Thinking) Reading Skills

Name of Assessment
A collection/portfolio of
annotated texts from various
units.

Says/Does Chart from

before and after a unit

Fishbowl discussion rubric

Description of Assessment

Scores

Student annotations (words written on the actual text that show what the student is thinking
about what is being said) are a great way to see into a students mind while reading. Is the
student questioning the text and the author for bias, purpose, validity, etc. Can the student
think critically about the impact that text structure and features have on the overall message?
Can they make judgments about the quality of the evidence and ideas presented. Their
annotations should show these skills.

Strengths:

In using a says/does chart, the students are able to focus on the purpose of a text rather than
just summarizing what the text says. Using the chart, students will practice identifying what
the author says and what the purpose and function of those word are in the overall text in
the does column.

Strengths:

The fishbowl discussion is a strategy that helps students practice being contributors and
listeners in a discussion that focuses on higher order thinking and analysis of texts read.
Those sitting in the fishbowl circle ask questions, present opinions, and share information,
while those on the outside listen to ideas presented. The roles will eventually reverse.

Fall Score:

Needs:

Needs:

Spring Score:

Why make the MAP test central to our programs data analysis?
Good instruction is based on good assessment. Most of our assessment is done within the
framework of our classroom (this is good assessment too), but every once in a while, we need to
compare a childs strengths and weaknesses to their age-level peers across the nation so that we
can more accurately target instruction and bring our students and district up to speed. There are
several great reasons to use the the Northwest Evaluation Association Measure of Academic
Progress (MAP) test as our outside, nationally norm-referenced test. The first reason is that the
test is given once in the fall and then again in the winter and/or spring so teachers can see how
much growth a student has had under the teachers instruction according to the content goals of
the Common Core (upon which MAP is designed). The second reasons is that the test adjusts in
difficulty (to easier or more challenging questions) based on the students ability. This prevents
students from giving up altogether when a test feels too hard or too easy, resulting in a more
accurate sense of where exactly each student is. Third, there is no time limit: its about
comprehension not speed. Finally, as mentioned before, MAP is nationally normed and
referenced, so we can trust that the results it yields are accurate.

In 2011, NWEA completed a RIT Scale norm study to determine the validity and reliability of
their growth norms with different populations. The studys results are based on grade-level (K11) samples, choosing 20,000 students per grade level out of a pool of over 5.1 million students
from over 13,000 different schools and 50 different states. Because the data for the norms is
being being pulled from such a diverse, large, and longitudinal sample, we can be sure that it is
reliable and valid. Additionally, the normative RIT scale that was generated takes into account
the month the test was taken and is being taken again and calculates how much the student
should have grown in that given time period compared to average growth rates over a similar
amount of time.
Below you will find an analysis from C. Wallaces 8th grade classes at Grove Junior in Elk
Grove Village, Illinois. The RIT scores given are for winter 2014-15.

Section

Literature
Mean

Informational
Text Mean

Foundations/Vocabulary
Mean

Period 1
Period 4
Period 7

222.2
222.9
248

223
222
237

221
223
238

Overall:

231

227.3

227.3

8th Avg:

222

Overall Mean Scores

According the scores above, all three language arts classes scored above the school-wide
8th grade mean. Students in all three classes earned an overall RIT score of 231 versus the total
school score of 222. The highest area of need was Foundations/Vocab, especially in Period 1.
The MAP assessment was based on Common Core State Standards. The skills that fall under
this category are focusing upon finding the meaning of multi-meaning words using the context of
the word, Greek and Latin roots, and using references to determine the meaning of a word
(English Language Arts Standards; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8). Instruction in this area would be
beneficial for this class. Teacher can the CCSS as a guide. The areas highlighted in the
standards are: using evidence to support an analysis of the text, determine the theme or central
idea, determine and describe the plot development of a story, and comparing and contrasting
ideas from multiple texts (English Language Arts Standards; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL). Overall
there was actual no difference between the overall means in the areas of literature-informational
and foundational skills.
Period 1

Mr. Andersons 1st period reading class average of 222.2 was above the 8th grade
average of 222 at Grove Junior High. This classs highest strand was Informational Text with an
average of 223. This means that Mr. Anderson should plan and provide engaging and
meaningful instruction that incorporates vocabulary and reading strategies. The Informational
mean however was virtually the same as the Foundations/Vocab mean. In this way, the teacher
may be able to effectively continually challenge students in each of the strands equally to
improve the learning of his students.
Period 4
Mr. Andersons 4th period reading class average of 222.9 was above the 8th grade
average of 222 at Grove Junior High. This classs highest strand was Foundations/Vocab with an
average of 223. This means that Mr. Anderson should plan and provide engaging and
meaningful instruction that incorporates instruction with challenging informational texts and
explicitly teach strategies for informational text comprehension. The Informational mean
however was virtually the same as the Foundations/Vocab mean. In this way, the teacher may be
able to effectively continually challenge students in each of the strands equally to improve the
learning of his students.
Period 7
Mr. Andersons 7th period reading class average of 248 was above the 8th grade average
of 222 at Grove Junior High. This classs highest strand was Foundations/Vocab with an average
of 238. This means that Mr. Anderson should plan and provide engaging and meaningful
instruction that incorporates instruction with challenging informational texts and explicitly teach
strategies for informational text comprehension. The Informational mean however was virtually
the same as the Foundations/Vocab mean. In this way, the teacher may be able to effectively
continually challenge students in each of the strands equally to improve the learning of his
students.
MAP vs. ACT
Next year these students will enter high school and their MAP scores will follow them.
Junior year students will take the ACT. The ACT is an achievement test, measuring what a
student has learned in school. The ACT has up to 5 components: English, Mathematics, Reading,
Science, and an optional Writing Test. The EXPLORE test is an above-level, multiple choice test
that measures academic achievement in English, math, reading, and science. The EXPLORE test
is written and produced by ACT, Inc. It is a test that was developed for 8th grade students to
measure their academic achievement through middle school grades. It is also given to students
their freshman year of high school. Mr. Andersons classes overall literature mean score, or RIT
score, was 231. This means that on average the class would have about a 64% chance of
meeting the EXPLORE college readiness benchmark in Reading and about a 91% chance of
meeting the EXPLORE college readiness benchmark in English their freshman year of high
school. If the class had taken the ACT today, they would have a 32% chance of meeting the ACT

benchmark in Reading and 56% chance of meeting the ACT benchmark in English. This
information is pertinent to high school teachers as it should guide instruction and assessments.
Paired T-Test Background
Paired t-tests are used to compare the means of two samples, a pretest and a posttest,
in which observations in one sample can be paired with observations in the other sample. They
can help determine if the two means are significantly different from one another or if they are
relatively the same. If the probability of it happening comes out to less than .05, then there is a
significant difference and if the probability of it happening is greater than .05, then they are
relatively the same. (Bohr, 2015) By using the t-test, the administrator can determine if there
was a significant change in the results from the pretest to the posttest. An independent t-test is
not a useful assessment to apply to pre- and posttest scored because the pool is chosen at
random for each set of scores.
The data that we used came from the Words Their Way Intermediate Spelling Inventory.
The students are given this assessment two times per year, once as a pretest and once as a
posttest. The pre mean score was 61.6, which is a 95% confidence interval for mean scores
52.74 through 70.46. In this pretest sample, the highest score was a 94 and the lowest score
was a 19. The post mean score was 72, which is a 95% confidence interval for mean scores
63.19 through 80.91. In the posttest sample, the highest score was a 99 and the lowest score
was a 29. The probability is less than .05, which means there is a significant difference in the
pre- and posttest scores. The students had statistically significant growth.

Paired T-Test Results

The results of an unpaired t-test performed at 16:16 on 16-FEB-2015
t= -1.69
sdev= 19.6
degrees of freedom = 38 The probability of this result, assuming the null hypothesis, is
0.00
Group A: Number of items= 20
19.0 29.0 34.0 44.0 46.0 49.0 50.0 52.0 63.0 63.0 64.0 65.0 67.0 74.0 74.0 77.0 88.0 90.0 90.0
94.0
Mean = 61.6
95% confidence interval for Mean: 52.74 thru 70.46
Standard Deviation = 21.2
Hi = 94.0 Low = 19.0
Median = 63.5
Average Absolute Deviation from Median = 16.7
Group B: Number of items= 20

29.0 48.0 50.0 55.0 59.0 61.0 68.0 68.0 70.0 75.0 77.0 77.0 78.0 79.0 83.0 88.0 90.0 92.0 95.0
99.0
Mean = 72.0
95% confidence interval for Mean: 63.19 thru 80.91
Standard Deviation = 17.8
Hi = 99.0 Low = 29.0
Median = 76.0
Average Absolute Deviation from Median = 13.8
Group A-B: Number if Items= 20
-2.0 -2.0 -2.0 -3.0 -4.0 -5.0 -5.0 -5.0 -8.0 -9.0 -10.0 -10.0 -14.0 -14.0 -14.0 -16.0 -17.0
-20.0
-23.0 -26.0
Mean = -10.4
95% confidence interval for Mean: -10.45
Standard Deviation = -3.4
Hi = -5.0 Low = -10.0
Median = -12.5
Average Absolute Deviation from Median = -2.9

GROUP A

GROUP B

63
67
65
74
88
94
50
52
34
90
77
74
63
44
46
49
19
64
29

68
75
88
77
90
99
70
68
48
95
79
83
77
61
50
59
29
78
55

90

92

References

Bear, D. R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2013). Words their way:
pearson new international edition word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling
instruction. (5th ed., international ed.). Harlow: Pearson.
Dunn, L., & Dunn, D. (2007, January 1). Speech and Language. Retrieved February 16,
2015, from http://www.pearsonclinical.com/language/products/100000501/peabodypicture-vocabulary-test-fourth-edition-ppvt-4.html
Johns, J. L. (2012). Basic reading inventory: student word lists, passages, and early literacy
assessments (11th ed.). Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub.