Katy Emerick

EDUG 787
Fall 2013

Final Paper
Background:
I am assessing my brother who is in 9th grade. He is 14 years old
and attends a public high school. He is in advanced math, taking
regents geometry in 9th grade as opposed to regents algebra, which is
usually taken in 9th grade. He took regents algebra in 8th grade. His
other classes are the usual 9th grade classes (English, Global and Living
Environment). His writing and spelling could use work because he is
very simple and to the point and just wants to finish things quickly. I
also think that he enjoys math and numbers more as opposed to
reading and writing.
He is an average student. He is okay with doing minimal work
and just doing what needs to be done to get a good grade. He
definitely needs to be pushed to complete his work and study. He
seems to rush doing his work just to complete it, and it does not help
him because he is really not letting the information sink in and
understand it. He enjoys sports and is great at math. He also enjoys
engineering. He is on the school baseball team and is a member of the
engineering club.
Behaviorally, he is a good student and is respectful to his peers
and the school staff. He wants to please but can be easily influenced

by his peers. He is chatty and will sometimes have to be reminded by

his teachers to stop talking. Because his peers can easily influence
him, he is not working as hard in school as much as he could. He is
happy doing the minimal amount of work and I think he could be
rushing just to get it done if his peers are done already so he is not
really grasping the material. I also think he is not being challenged
enough at school which is why he is okay with doing the bare
minimum.

Testing Results:
WIAT III:
TEST

STANDARD
SCORE

PERCENTILE

QUALITATIVE
DESCRIPTORS

Spelling

93

32

Average

Math FluencyAddition

121

92

Above Average

Math FluencySubtraction

127

96

Above Average

Math FluencyMultiplication

106

66

Average

Sentence
Combining

109

73

Average

Sentence
Building

86

18

Average

Reading
Comprehensio
n

65

Low

Math Problem
Solving

98

WritingPrompt

19/24

Writing- Free
Write

21/24

45

Average

I conducted the WIAT III on my brother. I did the

assessment over 6 sessions. I tested him in writing, reading, spelling
and math. When I tested him in math, he finished almost all of them
faster then the 60 seconds that is allowed. I knew that he liked math
and when I corrected the math portion of the assessment, he got all
the math problems correct except one.
For the spelling portion he seemed to have a slightly harder time
compared to the math portion. When he did not think he got the word
correct, he would look straight at me and repeat the word I said. To me
by saying the words out loud he was reassuring himself that he spelled
it correctly.
He also seemed to have a little trouble on the sentencecombining piece of the assessment. He had words capital that should
not have been. I think he was just copying the word as he saw it on the
paper as opposed to listening to the directions I read to him that said
grammar and spelling matter. One example of this was when he was
combining a sentence with the word dog and cat. He capitalized the c
in cat when the word was in the middle of the sentence.

I was somewhat surprised with the results that I got after

converting all the raw scores. When I converted the raw scores to
standard scores to percentiles, I noticed his math scores were very
high. He was in the 92nd percentile in Addition and 96th percentile in
subtraction. When I was giving the assessment to him I did notice that
he seemed to breeze by the math and had more then enough time to
complete the problems.
The spelling and reading comprehension I did on the same day. I
could tell he was getting frustrated when he was having trouble
spelling a word, and I think his frustration carried over to the reading
comprehension. When I was giving him the test I knew he was having
trouble, but when I was converting the scores I was surprised how low
he did on the reading comprehension.
The writing samples he did well on. I thought since he did not do
so great on the reading and sentence assessments, the writing
samples would be difficult for him as well. I gave him 45 minutes. I
think him just the 45 minutes to think for himself without me asking
questions was better for him because he was able to collect his
thoughts and edit it on his own before he gave it to me. His free write
was organized and put together compared to the writing sample that I
gave him a prompt. I think having him write his own thoughts was
better for him to organize and write.

When I first did the running record with my student, I did it on a

book he was already reading for school, Romeo and Juliet. He seemed
like he understood it but since William Shakespeare wrote very
differently then authors do today. When he was reading it to me I could
tell that he was just reading it because he knew he had to. He did not
seem interested especially with the writing being so different.
He is very interested and math and engineering. Recently he
bought a book on the Hoover Dam. Since it was hard to get an
accurate record of his reading ability with Romeo and Juliet, I decided
to read a chapter from the book with him and do a running record with
the chapter. I noticed he seemed more interested in it then the book.
When there were some words that he did not know what they meant,
he was able to make a good assumption on what the word meant
based on the context of the word and his knowledge of the Hoover
Dam and engineering. In Romeo and Juliet it was harder for him to
figure out what the words meant when he was reading them.
Since I assessed this student at home I think the results I got
could not be completely accurate. I tried to assess him at the same
time each day (5 pm), but a few times I had to do it later (8 pm). I think
this could be a factor in my results because later in the day he could
be getting tired. It also could have depended on what he did in school
that day. He could have had a few tests or quizzes the day I tested him
and was just tired. I also think the environment could have been a

factor as well. Even though I tested him in the same quiet place in my
house, it is not the same as testing him at a school. Houses typically
have more distractions then a school.

Recommendations:
I think that this student needs some help in Language Arts. His
math skills are above average. I think being in an advanced math class
is helping him because he is being challenged more. According to the
test results, he needs more guidance in spelling and comprehension. I
think he could benefit going to see his teachers for extra help or by
getting a tutor for further assessment of his spelling and
comprehension skills. He is an average student but his potential could
be much higher if pushed and given the proper intervention now before
it is too late.