Our district has used both Rigby, Fountas & Pinnell and the DRA. (Don't ask me why; but teachers in this district have A LOT of autonomy.) First grade teahers wanted to stick with Rigby even though we needed the higher levels that are offered in the DRA kit. Then when F & P came out, I asked some teachers to pilot it because we used the F & P leveling system in our guided reading room. You are absolutely correct in that ONE system should be used. I hoped we could get to the point where a committee comprised of teachers who used each of the leveling systems could come together to identify ONE assessment for the district that would be admnistered two or three times each year. I hoped that would be reported to the district, but, alas, it wasn't. So, teachers really used the data for the classroom which was great for the teachers, but the district couldn't identify trends. Jennifer is correct, though, in stating that the district needs to identify how the data will be used. If it is just for the teacher, then it doesn't really matter. However, if it is to track progress for the district, then it is extremely important for the district to have one system in place. We found great differences in the three assessments. Also, I can't emphasize enough the importance of staff development. We had first grade teachers who would assess the students just on the running records and kind of ignore the comprehension part. When the students entered second grade, there was a big discrepancy (even after teachers took the loss of reading over the summer) between the comprehension of the students. That's why I liked the F & P--it had both fiction and non fiction and gave specific comprehension questions with points for possible answers. Now, however, we have a new administrative team in place. Teachers will only be allowed to use the adopted basal testing program (Don't get me started!) Also, the district uses MAPS for grades 2 - 8. To the teachers' credit, they want to continue using running records because it offered them so much information. (I retired because of the basal issue.) Carol ----- Original Message ----- From: "Angela Almond" <angela_alm...@scs.k12.nc.us> To: mosaic@literacyworkshop.org Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 8:54:26 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: [MOSAIC] Running Record/Reading Level Question(s)
I apologize in advance for this very lengthy and somewhat rookie question. I have been teaching for 6 years. My first year I was told I needed to complete running records on each student. That was it. No kit (didn't even know there was such a thing at the time) and no benchmarks or goals as to what fourth grade students should be reading at. I went into the Literacy Lab and made my own kit, pulling books from the leveled reader library. I did running records on each student 3 times that year with no clear purpose or goal. My second year, a Literacy Facilitator was hired. When I asked her about it, she told me my kit was fine and gave me a guide as to what levels were expected at each grade level. I was told that fourth grade needed to be reading at a level 40 by the end of fourth grade. That said, our leveled readers only went up to Level 40. So I've never been exactly clear as to what was expected of fifth grade. A few years ago, we got a new Literacy Facilitator. She made new levels. Third grade students should be reading at a Level 32 by the end of the year, fourth grade a Level 36, and fifth grade a Level 40. Once again, I thought this was terribly convenient, since our leveled reader library only went to Level 40. Also, she told us to formally assess the students every month. Suddenly, halfway through this school year, our principal decided everyone should have a kit for doing running records. He polled each teacher. K-1 had one kit (not sure of which one), 2-3 had Rigby, I (fourth grade) had my own make-shift kit, and fifth grade had a DRA kit. One was ordered for me. It was Rigby. It only goes up to Level 30 so this year I could have used it on a total of 2 students. I became very confused and began researching. Everything I have seen, says that students should be reading at a Level 38 by the end of third grade. I guess my questions are: Is it normal for schools to be so haphazard with what assessment they are using? What (if they exist) are standard expected levels for each grade? I am unfamiliar with DRA but the DRA kit that fifth grade uses has Level 24, 28, 34, 38, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80. What about the in-between levels? Our North Carolina End-Of-Grade tests are lexiled. Shouldn't the levels we expect our kids to be reading at match the state tests? I know all of this is very elementary and I should have probably figured this out before now. However, I am very confused about all of this (as you may be able to tell in my ramblings) and have asked all of this to our Literacy Facilitator who keeps telling me to just keep doing what I've been doing. Please help me understand this! If you have any great books, websites, or other resources, I don't mind learning on my own. I just need some guidance because I just can't seem to wrap my mind around this! Angela Hatley Almond, NBCT Fourth Grade East Albemarle Elementary School All email correspondence to and from this address is subject to North Carolina Public Records Law which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. _______________________________________________ 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. _______________________________________________ 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.
