I am wondering if part of the issue here is the drive to test a child until he or she drops! Here in our district we have been encouraged to do just this, resulting in a drive to higher and higher levels. I am encouraging us to consider setting some grade level benchmarks and STOPPING assessment with any child who tests one year above grade level. I had a discussion with a teacher just recently who had a 3rd grade student who did not do well on oral fluency with a level 70 (although by no means word for word reading) but scored 99% accuracy and 23 pts for comprehension. I don't think the child failed the test, but it is my opinion that there is not much point to pushing a 8 year old to this level because most of the reading at this level, at least fiction-wise, is simply not developmentally appropriate for him. He wants to read Dr. Suess, adores picture books and loves informational text. Let's celebrate our talented reader without robbing them of the world of literature at their fingertips. Perhaps my passion here is colored by my experience as a gifted reader. I was pushed hard, reading classics at 11 and when my youngest sister started brining home books like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and I started reading them on the sly as a teenager, I felt gypped. Celebrate success, support our strugglers and somehow, honor childhood along the way.
Lori On 5/18/07 5:40 AM, "kandrews-babcock" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > With the DRA2, the accuracy rate has moved up to 95%. The fluency piece is > really important as well. If a student does not pass the fluency they should > not read the story, you need to "stop and drop" them. I had issues with this > myself when testing a child and went ahead and had them do the entire > test...to find that their oral reading score was in the instructional range > and the comprehension was low as well. I think it offers us a lot of > information about what we need to do to instruct that child. A lot of > fluency 'teaching' has not been stressed as much because of the much needed > strategy work being done. But let's face it as Tim Rasinski says, "If > students are putting so much energy into trying to read the words - there's > no energy left for comprehension." > So I would not pass the child at that level - that becomes their > instructional level and they are independent at the next lower level > (assuming they have been tested at that level already.) We are really > following it by the book and it has increased the instruction in fluency in > our building. > Kelly AB > > > On 5/17/07 5:12 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> A question for all of you who use the DRA as part of your assessment >> practices. > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > -- Lori Jackson District Literacy Coach & Mentor Todd County School District Box 87 Mission SD 57555 http:www.tcsdk12.org ph. 605.856.2211 Literacies for All Summer Institute "Literate Lives: A Human Right" July 12-15, 2007 Louisville, Kentucky http://www.ncte.org/profdev/conv/wlu _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
