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Reflection: Case Study Assignment

Carmen L. Boyer

Department of Special Education, University of Kansas

SPED 898a: Masters Project

Dr. Irma Brasseur-Hock

May 30, 2022

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Reflection: Case Study Assignment

The Case Study Assignment for SPED 741 included a written component and a video

presentation. The video can be viewed by clicking on this link. The assignment was intended to

demonstrate what I had learned about assessing and interpreting data from the reading and

writing assessments. Based on my interpretations of the assessment, and the information I knew

about the student as a person, I made two research based instructional strategy recommendations

for addressing the learning gap. I presented a description of the reading and writing assessments I

administered and the two intervention recommendations in a video. The written product includes

the information in the video as well as a sample lesson plan to demonstrate the intervention and

it includes copies of the actual assessments in the appendices.

Revisions

I received 50 of 50 possible points on this assignment. Dr. Robinson stated that the

project was, “very well done.” She agreed with the target goals I suggested as ways that should

result in the student’s improvement in basic literacy skills. I made some formatting and minor

edit changes to the original case study. Some of the font was not consistent and some sentences

were awkward.

Reflection

The skills and knowledge I learned while completing the Case Study were immediately

applicable in my job then and for the position I currently hold. The school where I was working

at the time used DIBELS to assess K-2 students 3 times a year. It used the overall results,

combined with another reading assessment, to place students into homogenous reading groups

and to show progress through the year. The assessments, in my view at the time, were a hassle

because they took up so much class time. I now have a better understanding of how to read and
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interpret data from DIBELS and similar assessments. I can also create a plan, based on my

interpretations, to close any literacy gaps I observe.

I currently work with upper elementary students in a different district and in a different

state, where I have much more autonomy in my classroom. Although our assessments are not the

same as we practiced in this course, I was able to transfer the skills of interpreting the data and

form my own literacy groups. This year, my groups were much more fluid because I could create

groups based on the students’ needs and strengths of any skill, teach the skill, then return to the

data to determine the next skills I would teach and to form new groups.

Although I was able to make informed decisions about my instruction, and I was able to

locate evidence-based teaching strategies for specific skills, I fell short in two areas. First, I did

not thoroughly analyze the writing assessments I gave to my students. I think if I would have

done that, I could have given more purposeful writing instruction that met their individual needs.

Second, I did not take a wholistic look at each of my students. I had a few students this year that

did not make the progress I had expected. When I notice inexplicable lack of progress, I plan to

make time to gather information about the student as a person as well as their literacy skills

information to form and implement a more relevant plan with precise target goals.