Literacy Assessments Assignment

Priyanka Prasad
EDL 650 Literacy Assessments
Medaille College
Professor Kristy Giardina
December 2021
 Student Name: Akshara Dhandara
Grade: 1
State of development: At grade-level
Assessor: Priyanka Prasad
Assessment Given:
Learning Styles & Student Interest
Inventory
Strengths and weaknesses of the
student:
This assessment indicated the
strengths of Akshara’s learning
styles. It indicated that her strengths the carpet to complete work. I would also consider introducing
lie in being provided bodily
kinesthetic opportunities for
learning, which include
opportunities to roleplay, create
Summary of results:
This was my first meeting with Akshara. She was excited to
work with me, and was open to telling me about herself. She sat
down right away and got right into a conversation about herself.
She did not indicate any nervousness. When answering
questions, she was excited to share and showed confidence in
answering. This assessment was taken orally. I read the
questions out loud, and she was asked to provide her answers
orally, which were then recorded by me. Akshara’s results
indicated that she enjoys coding and working with technology
and sciences. She explained that she enjoys drawing and coding
in her free time and enjoys science because you can do
experiments. Her results also indicated that she works best in a
quiet room, working in a group and enjoys flexible seating like
being able to work on the floor. When asked what she would
learn about, if she could choose, she would learn about wild
things like wild mushrooms and other things in nature. When
asked what subject can be challenging, she indicated math
because it can have challenging questions. (See Appendix A for
the assessment).
In the learning styles inventory, Akshara scored a 5 in “Say It”
and “Picture It”, and 6 in “Move It”. On the lower end, she only
scored a 1 on “Investigate It”, and a 2 on “Reflect It”.
Therefore, the results indicated that she was a strongly verbal
linguistic, visual spatial, and bodily kinesthetic learner, while
less of an intrapersonal and naturalist learner.
Instructional Plan for student:
Based on Akshara’s assessment results, I would consider
implementing opportunities for success in the classroom for
her. I would allow for flexible seating, so that she can work in
her best suited environment, where she is able to lie down on
coding into the classroom so that her out-of-school interests are
also being met within the school, too. Recognizing that Akshara
works best in a quiet room, I would make sure the classroom
provides spaces where she is able to focus and work well in a
models, develop inventions and
make videos. She would also
demonstrate strengths in learning
that included visual spatial or
verbal linguistic which would
incorporate writing fairytales or
stories, making pictures, and
posters. On the other hand, her
weaknesses would lie in naturalist
learning such as designing
exhibitions, making predictions, or
expressing opinions and using
music in the learning.
Assessment Given:
Dolch Sight Words Assessment
(Primary)
Strengths and weaknesses of the
student:
The student indicated strength in
decoding all of the sight words
presented. She indicated a need for
greater wait time in the words
“light” and “eight”. She showed a
great amount of confidence in all of
the pre primer, primer and grade 1
and 2 level words.
quiet area. For her interests, she also indicated an interest in
hands-on science experiments, which is something I will
continue to make use of, to help her engage in bodily
kinesthetic learning. She is a student who likes to touch and do,
and thus I will provide activities that involve the manipulation
of materials, in ELA centers. In the weekly literacy center
rotations, I will continue to provide more tactile experiences,
such as interactive games in phonemic awareness, and more
opportunities for her to draw illustrations with her Response to
Reading and Writer’s Craft centers. Recognizing that she
demonstrates strengths in visual spatial and verbal linguistic
learning, I would provide activities where she is able to
demonstrate her ELA skills through writing stories, making
posters, and including video responses to the Response to
Reading literacy center. I see that she indicated that math is
sometimes challenging because there are hard questions she
“doesn’t know how to solve”. As such, I will ensure to teach
students math problem solving strategies explicitly and provide
opportunities for Akshara to build confidence in this.
Summary of results:
Akshara scored 100% on the Primary Sight Words Assessment.
She was able to identify all 40 of the Pre Primer words, the 52
Primer words, 40 Grade 1 words, 46 Grade 2 words, and 41
Grade 3 words with 100% accuracy. Based on her results, she is
above grade level for her sight words. Akshara demonstrated a
lot of confidence as she read through the words. She was
motivated, engaged and enthusiastic about doing this
assessment. She did not demonstrate any level of nervousness.
As she got towards the middle of the assessment, she picked up
speed and showed even more confidence in her ability to decode
the words presented. (See Appendix B for the assessment).
Instructional Plan for student:
Based on the results from this assessment, it is evident that the
student continues to practice sight words and has a strong
foundational knowledge of pre primer, primer and grade 1, 2,
and 3 sight words. Moving forward, I would like to make sure
she not only is able to decode the word, but also understands the
word patterns, knows how to spell the words, and understands
the meanings of the words. While I may begin introducing the
Dolch Noun Sight Words by using them in the Writer’s Craft
center in the next term, my current recommendation is for
Akshara to continue to work with these words to understand the
 meanings and spelling of the words. For this, I will promote the
use of the words in the 1st grade list, in context. I will ensure her
book bin has books which use a variety of these words, and that
she continues using a word list of the grade 1 and 2 lists within
her journal writing. Since it is still the first term in grade 1, I
would like her to further work with the grade 1 list. Within her
word work, I will continue to monitor her working on the grade
1 word lists, because I would like her to develop a deeper
understanding of the meanings of these words and be able to use
them appropriately in context. This is a recommendation based
on her comprehension and spelling assessments, indicated later
in this document. As indicated in the later assessments, Akshara
needs improvement on comprehension and thus I would like her
to continue to work on the grade 1 and 2 word lists, before
moving on to working with the grade 3 list. In the upcoming
weeks, I will introduce the grade 1 list of words to her through a
variety of different activities, where she works with them to
better her phonemic awareness skills and interact with the words
in a way to build comprehension. As indicated by Jones (2021),
it is not sufficient to have students memorize sight words, but
also build meaningful connections to the whole word, by
connecting the letters to the sounds they hear. Therefore, I will
spend the next few weeks making sure this is the case for
Akshara and her understanding of the grade 1 Dolch list. To do
this, Akshara will be provided phoneme mapping segmentation
activities, and multi-sensory activities, where she can use play-
doh to fill in the sound boxes as she completes the words. This
will be great for her working with these words through a more
tactile approach, which is also indicated as one of her learning
styles.

Assessment Given: Summary of results:

Words Their Way Primary Spelling
Inventory (PSI)
Akshara scored 68/82 on her Primary Spelling Inventory. She
got 48/56 Feature Points and spelled 20/26 words correctly. She
scored all points in initial and final consonants, and short
vowels. She also scored 6/7 in digraphs, and 7/7 in her blends.
She scored 6 of 7 in common long vowels. However, Akshara
scored 3 out of 7 in the other vowels column, and a 5 out of 7 in
the inflected endings, indicating that she is in the late within
word patterns spelling stage. When completing the spelling
inventory assessment, she began with a lot of confidence, and
began to slow down as she progressed. She took her time and
made corrections as she did the spelling test and seemed nervous
during this assessment. (See Appendix C for the assessment).
Strengths and weaknesses of the
student:
Akshara demonstrated strength in
recognizing initial and final
consonants. She scored 100% in
this, demonstrating mastery in the
emergent stage. She also
demonstrated strength in the short
vowels, digraphs, blends, and
common long vowels. Although she (2008) Words Their Way Word Study in Action “Within Word
is in the spelling stage of late within Patterns” text. I will be providing her with word sort activities
word patterns, Akshara
demonstrates next steps within
word patterns and syllables and
affixes.
Assessment Given:
Running Records PM Benchmark
Assessment #1
Book: “The Swimming Race”
Level: 17
Instructional Plan for student:
Akshara is in the spelling stage of late within word patterns.
For her next steps, I will continue to provide practice in working
with other vowels and inflected endings. I would like her to first
continue to work on other vowels for the next 6-8 weeks. To do
this, I will provide her with activities in the word workstation
that focus on other vowel words, during the literacy center
rotations. I will begin with Sort 12, “Short a (CVC) and Long a
(CVCe, CVVC-ai, and open syllables) from Invernizzi et al.’s
that focus on working on this sort list first, before moving on to
Sort 13, focusing on the vowel o. I will pair her with another
student who is in the same spelling stage, for speed sort
activities that will happen throughout the week during the
morning bellringer. By doing this, Akshara will get to work on
speed sorts, regular word sorts, blind sort, and word hunt to stay
engaged in working with words in meaningful ways. I will
assess her progress through informal assessments, and then
determine whether she is ready to move on to focusing on r-
influenced vowel patterns once she has successfully completed
Sorts 12-23. I will also make sure that literacy center activities
are differentiated for Akshara’s learning needs. In the phonemic
awareness station, I will ensure she has opportunities to focus on
activities that focus on common long and other vowel sounds.
Specifically, over the next 2 weeks, I will ensure her phonemic
awareness activities incorporate work using vowel a and o
sounds. I will be using a progress chart to keep track of
Akshara’s success with the word sorts. (See chart attached in the
Appendix).
Summary of results:
Akshara totaled a reading record of 6 errors and 1 self-correction
while reading the text. Akshara scored a Self-Correction Rate of
1:7. She scored a reading rate ratio of 1:23, which according to
the PM Benchmark Kit, fell between a 95-96% reading rate
accuracy. 95% would be considered instructional, whereas 96%
would be considered independent. Because she scores lower on
the comprehension piece of the assessment, I believe this text is
an instructional level text for her. She scored low in the retell, as
she was unable to retell the main events without assistance, and
did not include supporting details of the main events/facts. She
was able to use some appropriate vocabulary but did not retell
the main events confidently. In the comprehension questions,

Strengths and weaknesses of the
student:
Akshara did really well on the
fluency component of the running
record. She was fluent in her ability
to decode words, read at a good
pace and was able to reach a 95-
96% in her reading rate accuracy.
Level 17 PM Benchmark books are
typically for grade 2 students, but
Akshara as a grade 1 student
demonstrated strength in her
decoding abilities. However, her
next steps are in comprehension.
She struggled with answering the
retelling portion of the
comprehension. In being asked to
retell the story, she demonstrated
difficulties in being able to retell
the main events without assistance
and included little supporting
details. While her comprehension
questions were answered
confidently, she struggled in the
inferential questions component.
Assessment Given:
Running Records Assessment #2
Using Fountas & Pinnell
Book: “Surprising Sand”
Level: J
she was able to answer all 3 comprehension questions that were
straight forward. However, she was unable to answer the
inferential questions. She demonstrated confidence in her
reading, but less confidence when answering the retelling
portion of the section. She also indicated words she recognized
when asked to retell the story. This assessment was taken right
after lunch in the second half of the day, and she seemed more
tired and quieter than the previous days. (See Appendix D for
the assessment).
Instructional Plan for student:
Akshara’s results indicated that the Level 17 text fell between
the instructional and independent levels, so she will continue
work on Level 17. While she was able to decode words easily,
her comprehension skills were not as strong. Based on this, and
analyzing the reading comprehension section, I will continue to
use Level 17 books, as the purpose for reading is
comprehension. I feel that Akshara’s leveled reading text must
match her comprehension ability. For her instructional plan, I
will provide her with meaningful strategies to improve her
reading comprehension skills. As learned from the interest
inventory, I believe that incorporating more text-based projects
will serve beneficial to Akshara. This will include an increased
use of graphic organizers to organize the main idea, with
supporting details. I will be asking Akshara to complete story
maps upon reading books and providing explicit instruction on
metacognition and reading comprehension strategies and
answering text-based questions. I will model how to think about
the text and provide guided practice. I have also attached a
graphic organizer and chain of events activity I would like her to
work on as she reads guided reading text (See appendix).
Akshara will be asked to focus on the Response to Reading
literacy center, and encouraged to make predictions, inferences,
and critically think about the text. I will provide intensive
intervention to help Akshara build the reading comprehension
skills she needs to be successful in her reading.
Summary of results:
In the Level J Fountas & Pinnell reading assessment, Akshara
scored a 98% for accuracy, had a 1:3 self-correction ratio,
demonstrated a fluency level of 2, and received a 3 out of 6
score for comprehension. Akshara had 4 errors and 2 self-
corrections in reading 255 words from the text. In her reading
fluency, she received a score of 2 as she was able to read in
three- and four-word groups with some smoothness and

Strengths and weaknesses of the
student:
Akshara is a fluent reader for her
grade-level expectations. She is
able to read a Level J book with
98% accuracy and a self-correction
rate of 1:3. This leveled text is
intended for a grade 2 student.
While Ashkara demonstrates strong
word recognition skills, her next
steps are in comprehension and
making meaning of the text.
Ashkara reads smoothly, but at
times increases her pace to a level
where she may not be thinking
about what she is reading. Areas of
next steps include considering the
key details of the text and thinking
about the text in a meaningful way.
Reflection of the process
Literacy assessments are critical to the success of students’ literacy skills development.
Throughout the EDL 650 course, we have been introduced to several valuable literacy assessment
expressive language and paused at appropriate punctuation. She
scored a 2 in the within the text comprehension conversation out
of 3 and scored a 1 out of 3 in the beyond and about the text
section. As such, her score for comprehension conversation lies
in the limited proficiency level. While she scored high in
accuracy and self-correction scores, the fluency and
comprehension levels remain low, which together, making this
text a hard level text for the student. Overall, her reading level is
still above grade-level expectations. During the reading, she
showed some nervousness, and read too quickly at times. She
showed less confidence in the comprehension piece. She also
mentioned sight words she saw in the text, during the retell
portion of the assessment. (See Appendix E for the assessment).
Instructional Plan for student:
For Akshara’s instructional plan, I will be assessing her using a
Level I nonfiction book next time. While Level J and Level 17
are aligned, the results indicated that Akshara’s fiction reading
level may be a Level 17, but she needs to continue to develop
her reading skills in nonfiction text. As such, I will assess
Ashkara on a Level I nonfiction text, to determine her
comprehension score in it. Based on these results, she will most
likely be placed in a leveled reader I group for guided reading if
the book for the month is nonfiction. Although she is a strong
reader when decoding words, it is important she works on
understanding what she is reading. I will also provide Akshara
explicit instruction on non-fiction text parts, so she is able to
learn the different characteristics of nonfiction text, to further
guide her in reading nonfiction text. I will also provide
opportunities for Akshara to work on differentiating between the
main idea and interesting details in a text. To do this, she will be
given graphic organizers to work on in response to texts, in both
the mini ELA lessons, and during the Response to Reading
Literacy Center. To ensure learning is tailored to her needs, I
will provide fiction and nonfiction texts for her to critically think
about to complete the graphic organizers. Akshara will also be
provided with short write activities, where she will be provided
with a writing prompt, discuss within her guided reading group,
and write a response based on the discussion.
tools, cumulatively cultivating differentiated, individualized instructional plans for all of our students.

For the purposes of my literacy assessments assignment, I assessed Ashkara Dhansara. It is evident

that she is meeting grade level expectations and is above grade level in areas including decoding

words, spelling, and reading, which is determined from her results in the different assessments. Areas

that were focused on in the assessments included high frequency sight word recognition, fluency,

decoding strategies, and comprehension. The assessments used in this project include: (1) Interest

Inventory Survey, (2) Dolch Sight Words Assessment, (3) Words Their Way Primary Spelling

Inventory, (4) PM Benchmark Level 17 Running Record, and (5) Fountas & Pinnell Level J Running

Record. Through the literacy assessments assignment, I was able to develop a strong appreciation and

recognize the value in assessing students. This reflection will examine the areas I found challenging

and meaningful, and a reflection on the different assessments used, and its importance to student

success.

First, I found that the assessments were so useful in learning more about the students. For

instance, in taking the student interest survey, I was able to see what my specific student enjoyed both

inside and outside of school, allowing me to gain knowledge on how to weave her interests into

classroom activities. It also gave me an opportunity to think about the use of Gardner’s Theory of

Multiple Intelligence within my classroom, as I learned about my student’s multiple intelligences. By

learning about students’ learning styles, I can make sure my lessons take students’ best learning styles

into account, to maximize their success in their learning. Since I had no previous knowledge about

this student, it was also a good starting point for me to build rapport with her and learn background

information about the student. Similarly, in taking the other assessments, I was also able to further

learn about the student’s different areas of literacy skills. For example, her Dolch Sight Words

Assessment and PSI Assessment indicated that she was doing very well in comparison to her grade
level expectations in word recognition and spelling. This would have been enough for me to think

that she doesn’t need differentiated support and is exceeding grade-level expectations. This

assignment however, required me to consider the differentiated support needed to provide students

who are above-grade level, so that they are also being challenged and provided meaningful learning

opportunities.

Next, I also recognize the value in assessing students using several different assessments, as it

provides a more comprehensive understanding of students’ skills. For example, when only

considering Akshara’s Dolch Sight Words, and Words Their Way assessments, we see that she is

doing really well, and above grade-level, and there are very few areas of concern. However, by

analyzing her reading record, we can get a more complete picture of her literacy skills, recognizing

that an area she continues to struggle with is comprehension. By completing this assignment, I truly

recognize the value in getting a whole picture of the student, to be able to create instructional plans

that will be beneficial for them. While each assessment individually provides some information about

the students’ literacy skills, I see the value in using a collection of literacy assessments to develop a

full picture of the student’s abilities and skills to create instructional plans suited to their needs.

Next, I examine the challenges I faced as I conducted the literacy assessments. One area I

found challenging was keeping up with the reading record. Some students will read quickly, and thus

as we continue to practice completing running records, we will become quicker in recording and

scoring them. I found this entire process beneficial as it allowed me to apply the concepts learned in

class, into real life. Ironically enough, I felt very confident when working on it in class with Professor

Giardina. However, when completing it on a student, I found myself fumbling more often, and a lot

slower in keeping up with my student. This simply highlights the need for practice to become better

and faster in recording. I also found that it took me a while to accurately score the running record
assessments. I chose to do two different programs for the running records assessments, to be able to

familiarize myself with both programs. For the running records, I chose to use the PM Benchmark

and the Fountas & Pinnell program to conduct running records, using equivalent leveled reader

books. Personally, I was more comfortable in using the Fountas & Pinnell Assessment booklet, as I

found it was more teacher friendly, provided the text on the page making it easier to follow along,

and the scoring for comprehension was more detailed. I did however, like the PM Benchmark

Assessment for the scoring tables found within each booklet, making it easy to follow along and

determine where the book falls for the student’s reading level. I felt that by using two different

programs for conducting a running record, I was able to also develop my own preference for reading

assessments and see what could be more beneficial within the reading program in my future

classroom. When using the Fountas & Pinnell program, I was able to focus more on listening to the

student read, because the words were also right in front of me unlike the PM Benchmark.

Of the five assessments, I found each assessment useful and valuable for its own purpose. The

first assessment I chose to use focused on student interests and learning styles. I believe this was

important as the first assessment, to be able to learn a little bit about my student first. Working with a

student I hadn’t had any interactions with previously, it was important I built a rapport with her by

first building conversation and then introducing this assessment to her. This assessment proved the

importance of relationship building, and getting to know students’ preferences, interests, and learning

styles. This helps me in my whole-class planning, and ensuring that students have a learning

environment that they can be successful in. The second assessment I used was the Dolch Sight Words

Assessment, which provided me valuable information on the student’s ability to decode words. This

assessment would be helpful in guiding differentiated learning for sight words, word work, and

differentiated learning for the student’s needs. I think that by doing this project, I gained an
appreciation in the importance of differentiated learning opportunities for students. For instance, the

student I assessed, flew through the Dolch Sight Words. She scored 100% in this, which included

words above her grade level. As such, if my class was generally focusing on the primer and grade 1

list of words, I feel that I would be doing a disservice to this student, as she needs to be further

challenged. However, without conducting this assessment, I would not recognize that. As mentioned

previously, one big takeaway from this assessment for me was, how to provide students who are

above grade level and higher achieving students with work that will be meaningful to them.

The next assessment I used was the Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory. I found

this assessment so useful, because it didn’t just assess whether or not the child knew the spelling, but

also looked at the specific area the student needed to focus on. I felt that this assessment was so

useful in creating differentiated instruction for students to focus on their level and the areas they are

struggling in. I think the biggest takeaway from this assessment was exactly how important

differentiated instruction is. For instance, while one student may be at ending consonants, and one is

at blended vowels, providing instruction in a totally different area would not be serving their needs in

the most effective way possible. When I was first introduced to Words Their Way, I did not think I

would use it. However, after taking this assessment, analyzing the results, and then reflecting on the

purpose, I can truly appreciate the value it holds in planning for differentiated instruction, literacy

centers, and effective word work and word lists for a class of students.

In conducting running records, I was able to develop a more wholesome understanding of the

student’s literacy skills. The running records provided me an opportunity to not only get an insight on

the student’s ability to decode words, but also assess oral reading, fluency, and comprehension. These

are all essential literacy skills. The entire purpose of reading is comprehension, and although the
student scored high on the other assessments, it wasn’t until I conducted the running records that I

learned about her comprehension levels.

Overall, the entire literacy assessment assignment served as useful and informative. I believe

this experience was a valuable one, as I was able to practice the assessments taught throughout the

course and apply the results to an instructional plan to provide meaningful learning opportunities for

my student. The entire process encouraged me to reflect on the way in which I determine which

assessments to use, the assessing, as well as the process of analyzing and creating an instructional

plan, based on the results. I found that this challenging, but important assignment also made me

consider organization styles best suited to track assessments. Since in a classroom setting, it will be a

class set of assessments and instructional plans and not just one student, I recognize that time

management and organization will be key. There were several important lessons retrieved from this

assignment process, and I continue to look forward to conducting many more assessments in the

future.
References:

Invernizzi, M.A., Johnston, F.A., Bear, D.R., Templeton, S.A. (2008) Words their way: Word sorts

for within word pattern spellers (2nd ed.). Pearson.

Jones, S. (2021, April 18). How to teach sight words - science of reading// sight word activities for

struggling readers [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRuuvC-vmU4

 Appendix A
Inventory Interest Survey
 Appendix B

Dolch Sight Words Assessment

 Appendix C

Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory

 Appendix D
Level 17 Running Record
 Appendix E
Level J Running Record
 Appendix F

Sample Activities for Instructional Plan

F.1 Progress Chart

F.2 Sample Other Vowels Game Board for Literacy Center:

Accessed from:
http://mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com/2013/02/phonogram-connect-four.html
F.3 Story Map
F.4 Chain of Events Activity