Running head: QRI SUMMARY

QRI Summary

John Coffey

University of Kansas
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QRI Summary

Name of Student: Annie Oakley Evaluator: John Coffey

Grade: Fourth Date(s) of Eval: April 7-15, 2016

Age: 10 Years School: Eastland Academy

Word List Level: Level 5

Instructional Expository Reading Level: Level 5

I. Interest Inventory/Card Game, Book Tasting

The book tasting was an introductory event held before the assessments were

conducted. Twenty-nine books (Appendix A) were included in this activity, including

books that were above and below a Level 4 reading level. Fiction and nonfiction texts

were included.

The goal of this informal assessment was to gather information on what type of

texts that Annie favors, finds indifferent, or dislikes. The books were distributed on a

large table, and Annie was asked to place each text in one of the three piles: books to

read, maybe books, and books to discard. As Annie selected each text, she was asked to

explain her reasoning.

Annie mostly divided the books into the first two piles, only rejecting six texts.

Annie explained that she does not enjoy comic books, so the Marvel Comic Spider-Verse

and Transformers were quickly discarded. Annie selected books that either had a cool

cover or a personal connection. For example, she selected Summer and Splash by

Arnosky because her mom loves dolphins; similarly, Annie choose Dance Divas by Berk
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because she loves to dance.

The book tasting was informative because it provided information about what

motivates Annie to read. This is important because Annie will not always read on her

own, so she needs texts that will interest her.

The card game that was selected was the board game Minions, which is an

adaptation of the game Sorry. We agreed that anytime a 3 or 5 was rolled on the dice,

we would have to select a reading card. Anne really seemed to enjoy the game, especially

the question cards about reading. It became evident that even though she enjoys reading,

she only reads when directed by her mother. Annie mentioned during the game that she

enjoys non-fiction texts about history, and she enjoys funny books that make her laugh.

II. Word Lists

Annie began reading the word lists on Level 2. Annie recorded an independent

reading level on Level 2 and Level 3. On Level 4 (her grade level) she scored a 14 (70%),

which is an instructional reading level. On this list, 13 were identified automatically and

one word was identified.

On the Level 5 word list, Annie recorded a 14 (70%), placing her once again at an

instructional level. She read 14 words automatically. Finally, on the Level 6 word list,

Annie reached her frustration level, reading six words automatically (30% correct).

III. Oral Narrative and Expository Passages

Annie is in fourth grade, she began reading on a Level 3 narrative text: The

Friend. Annie read the entire text with no errors. Since she read with such proficiency,

the passage starting level was moved to the Level 4 expository text: Amelia Earhart. She

only had one miscue on the text, which was classified as a substitution. She scored 99%
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at an independent reading level for the Level 4 text.

On the Level 5 expository text, Margaret Mead, Annie had eight miscues (seven

substitutions/ one insertion). Four of these miscues were deemed to change the meaning

of the text. Once again she scored 98% to achieve an independent reading level.

Finally, she read the Level 6 expository text, The Lifeline of the Nile. Annie had thirteen

miscues on the text. Twelve of them were substitutions and one miscue was an insertion.

Annie had six miscues that changed the meaning of the text. Overall, she scored 96% to

achieve an instructional reading level.

Overall, Annie scored independent/independent/ instructional on the three

expository texts she read. Annie had 22 miscues overall, of which twenty were

substitutions and two were insertions.

IV. Comprehension of Narrative and Expository Passages

Overall, Annies highest level of comprehension is Level 5. Annie read three

expository texts at Level 4, Level 5, and Level 6. Annie answered three explicit

questions correctly without look-backs on the Level 4 text and six with look-backs,

which gave her an instructional level for comprehension. On the Level 5 text, she

answered three explicit questions correctly, without look-backs, and six correctly with

look-backs, which gave her an instructional comprehension level. Annie reached a

frustration level on the Level 6 text, as she was not able to answer a question without

look-backs. Annie was able to answer three explicit questions with look-backs.

On the concept questions, Annie scored below 50% on each of the leveled texts,

which meant she was unfamiliar with the material she was going to read for each passage.

Annie also exhibited significant difficulties retelling major details about each text,
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answering only one or two questions about the setting, events, and resolution.

Annie did not exhibit frustration during the assessments. In fact, Annie was often eager to

learn. Even after reading three texts, Annie was asking for more. Even when she

struggled to answer question or sound-out words, she smiled and laughed. Sometimes

Annie stroked her hair or put her head down on the table when she was trying think of an

answer, but she never displayed any significant signs of frustration.

V. Fluency

Over all three assessments, Annie exhibited that she is a fluent reader. Annie read

117 WPM on the Level 4 (average range 57-115), 111 WPM on the Level 5 text (average

range 65-121), and 75 WPM on the Level 6 text, which are all acceptable rates for oral

readings (Leslie & Caldwell, 2015, p. 49). Annies readings are smooth, consistent, and

accurate, except for the occasional miscue. The only deficiency in her fluency is her

prosody. Annie rarely exhibits intonation in her readings.

VI. Other Pertinent Information

Overall, Annie was very positive during all aspects of the book tasting, card game,

and QRI assessments. Annie was a provided a safe, quiet, and comfortable environment

for each part. Still, she has been subjected to some stressful situations at home, which

could have affected her overall abilities.

It might be pertinent that Annie was assessed on three expository texts. It is

reasonable to conclude that her fluency level would be similar for narrative texts;

however, her comprehension level might be different, especially since she reads mostly

narrative texts at home. Annie might achieve a higher score because she is more familiar

with these texts.

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VII. Summary of Assertions

Annies approximate reading level for expository texts is Level 5. She was able to

achieve an instructional level on the Level 5 reading list. Annie reached frustration on the

Level 6 word list.

On the reading passages, she achieved an independent reading level on the Level

5 expository text; Annie also scored an instructional level on the Level 5 comprehension

text with look-backs, which led her overall reading level to be rated at Level 5. The

comprehension questions for Level 6 text proved to be too difficult, as she achieved a

"frustration level."

VIII. Instructional Recommendations

Prosody

Annie exhibits a high rate of fluency for narrative and expository texts because

she reads accurately and at a sufficient rate of words per minute; however, The typical

fluency probe only assesses rate and accuracy, but prosody is an important component of

fluency (Caldwell & Leslie, 2013, p. 120). This is an area of concern because there is a

lack of prosody in her readings. Annie does not pause for commas or show expression for

question marks or explanation marks.

It is recommended that more guidance and feedback be provided to her as she

reads. Annie can also benefit from working with a more experienced reader, who exhibits

strong prosody traits. Assisted, paired, and echo readings would all be helpful, since they

provide the struggling reader with a model of fluency (p. 109). It would also be

beneficial to record her readings, so she can hear herself read. As Annie improves her
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prosody, she can compare new readings to past readings, so Annie can monitor her

improvement.

Comprehension

Annie needs the most support in reading comprehension. Annie has had

difficulties with her reading comprehension in both narrative and expository texts. There

are many strategies that can be used to support and improve her comprehension.

Primarily, Annie can benefit by reading the text aloud. Of course this may be

difficult inside a classroom with many students around, but as Annie learns this strategy,

she can whisper to herself. As noted in Caldwell and Leslie (2013), Good readers think

as they read (p. 247). Currently Annie has been observed to read the text rapidly without

thinking about the meaning. Annie needs to pause between paragraphs and

summarize/question what she has read (p.247). This strategy will allow her to maintain

fluency but gain comprehension in chunks, rather than as a whole text.

Similarly, Annie can benefit by annotating the texts that she reads. If she

understands what she is reading, Annie can put a (+); if she does not understand a chunk

of text, she can write a (!); if she has a question, Annie can use a (?) in the text (p. 252).

This strategy will be useful as Annie works with a tutor or teacher. They can help her

focus on the areas that are causing the most confusion. As Annie becomes more a more

proficient at annotation, she can begin to seek the information on her own, so Annie can

decipher the texts.

Next, Annie can improve her comprehension of narrative texts in two ways. First,

she can benefit by using pre-reading strategies that connect the text to her prior

knowledge. Annie should be able to make at least some connections to her daily life.
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Second, Annie can gain comprehension by using graphic aids, such as story maps. This

will allow her to have a visual picture of the major literary elements in each story, which

she can use to answer questions at the conclusion of each text.

Similarly, Anne struggles with her comprehension of expository texts, so a great

emphasis should be made on building her skills. Along with the re-alouds, Annie should

be given explicit instruction on the different text structures found in expository texts.

Caldwell and Leslie (2013) explain that the Understanding of text structure is critical to

comprehension and of retellings or summaries (p. 191). Currently, Annie does not seem

to understand that different texts have different structures, so learning this skill should be

beneficial to her.

Inferences:

Annie needs extra support in finding the answers to implicit questions. Annie was

not able to provide correct answers to any of the implicit comprehension questions in the

three texts that she read. Primarily, she needs to have this skill (inferences) modeled for

her; she needs to learn how to make important connections throughout the text; however,

the following strategies should help her as well. First, she needs to build her overall

vocabulary. It is evident that Annie struggles with the comprehension questions because

she does not always know the words. Second, as mentioned previously, Annie will be

able to answer these implicit questions once she has the skills to recall pertinent

information. For example, Annie often reads the entire text before reading the questions.

If Annie reads the questions first, and she learns to chunk the passages into smaller parts,

she should be able to answer the questions more proficiently.

Background Knowledge:
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Perhaps one reason Annie struggles with reading comprehension is that she does

not appear to have sufficient background knowledge of the information she is going to

encounter during the texts. Annie can improve on this aspect by reading a greater range of

texts. Currently, she tends to read only one or two genres of narrative texts, so she needs

to be exposed to many more types of fiction and non-fiction.

Annie should also begin using more graphic organizers to help her activate her

prior knowledge. During the assessments of concept knowledge on the QRI-6, Annie

scored below 50% on all three of the expository texts; therefore, it is recommended that

she use a expository expectation grid because it will prepare her to read about a

specific topic by activating prior [her] knowledge, and it will [set] general expectations

for the content of the text (Caldwell & Leslie, 2013, p.194).
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References

Caldwell, J. S., & Leslie, L. (2013). Intervention strategies to follow informal reading

inventory assessment (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2016). Qualitative reading inventory (6th ed.). Boston, MA:

Pearson.

Lipson, M. Y., & Wixson, K. K. (2013). Assessment of reading and writing difficulties:

An interactive approach (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Appendix A

Book Tasting

Araujo. C. (2015). Warzones: Spider-verse. Canada: Solisco Printers.

Arnosky, K. (2013). Summer and splash. J. New York: Sterling.

Berk, S. (2015). Dance divas: The show stopper. New York: Bloomsbury.

Bloom. J. (2014). Blubber. New York: Atheneum Books.

Bloom. J. (2014). Freckle juice. New York: Atheneum Books.

Border, T. (2015). Happy birthday cupcake! New York: Philomel Books.

Brown. P. Children make terrible pets. New York: Little Brown and Company.

Cabot, M. (2008). Allie Finkles rules for girls: The New Girl. New York: Thorndike
Press.

Cleary, B. (1985). Henry and the paper route. New York: Harper.

Colfer, C. (2012). The land of stories. Brandon Dorman. Boston: Little Brown and
Company.

Dahl. R. (2007). BFG. New York: Puffin Books.

Demi. (2016) President Lincoln: From log cabin to Whitehouse. China: Wisdom Tales.

Francis, S. (2015). The good dinosaur: The junior novelization. New York: Random
House.

Frederick. H.V. (2012). Once upon a toad. New York: Simon and Schuster Books.

Goodman, S.E. (2016). The first step. Bloomsbury. New York.

Jessica Burkhart (2013). Canterwood Crest. New York: Alladin Mix.

Kelly, E. (2016). Land of the forgotten girls. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Lowery, L. (2013). Dear America: like the willow tree. New York: Scholastic.

Lowry. L. (1989). Number the stars. Boston: Houghton Miffin Company.

Lucie-Smith. E. (2011). The face of Jesus. New York: Abrams.

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Mabbitt, W. (2015). The unlikely adventures of Mabel Jones. New York: Viking.

Moss. M. (2012). Amelias boy survival guide. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books.

Sazaklis, J. (2015). Transformers: Bumblebee versus scuzzard. Boston: Little Brown and
Company.

Scott. E. (2015). Our moon. Boston: Clarion Books.

Segret, S. (2011). Vordak the incomprehensible: Rule the school. New York: Egmont.

Thorpe, K. (2016). The never girls into the waves. New York: A Stepping Stone Book.

Vail, R. (1998). The friendship ring. New York: Puffin Books.

Vernon, U. (2015). Dragonbreath: Knight napped. New York: Dial Books.