M-CLASS YEAR LONG ASSESSMENT
M-Class: 3D reading assessment program measures the development of reading skills in K-5 students. The program assesses the developments of a student's reading skills through two main assessments: Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and The Reading Comprehension (TRC) assessments. These assessments are given to all students three times a year. These combined tests measure multiple important reading skills that children must develop to become a proficient reader. These skills are:
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Hearing and using sounds in spoken words and language (Phonemic awareness)
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Knowing the sounds of letters and being able to sound these sounds out correctly when reading words (alphabetic principle)
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Recognizing and reading words easily, correctly, and quickly
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Reading comprehension
I gather this data by administering the TRC and DIBELS assessments. These assessments are administered individually. The data is recorded in the mClass program and scores are calculated. The program disaggregates the data and provides individualized assessment information about each student’s reading progress. Students who are below proficient are given more opportunities to improve through progress monitoring.
The DIBELS Assessment is an umbrella name for many smaller tests. These smaller tests are administered the beginning of the year (BOY) middle of the year (MOY) and at the end of the year (EOY). The program takes the scores of these tests to calculate an overall score of students ability. The three main test that factor into a DIBELS score in Kindergarten includes:
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First Sound Fluency (FSF)
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Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
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Phonemic Sounding Fluency (PSF)
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Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)
First Sound Fluency (FSF)
This assessment measures a student's ability to produce the inital sounds of words after they hear them. FSF is an auditory task that measures a student's fluency in isolation initial sound in words. Most words in the assessment begin with single phonemes and a few words begin with blends. This assessment is administered only at the beginning and middle of the year in kindergarten.
Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
Students are asked to read lowercase and capital letters of the alphabet in random order. This assessment is timed and proficiency is based on the number of letters identified correctly in one minute. Students are expected to use their pointer finger to follow the letterboxes. The Red boxed letters mean the wrong letter name was said. A green box with an "sc" in the corner means that the student self-corrected their mistake. The grey line means the entire line was skipped. Students who are not proficient will receive progress monitoring and interventions throughout the year.
Phonemic Sounding Fluency (PSF)
In this assessment students are asked to say the appropriate sound of the letter. This assessment is timed and proficiency is based on the number of sounds correctly identified in one minute.
In the picture you can see that the student blended the /m/ and /ie/. The assessment will identify that the student has trouble distinguishing between two
separate sounds and will provide me with information on other students who are struggling with this. This will be useful to know while making small groups for reteaching.
Non-Sense Word Fluency (NWF)
In this assessment, students are given a list of “non-sense” words to read. If they are unable to read the whole word, they should say any sound they know. I record the student’s sounds. This assessment is also timed and students are given one minute to say as many nonsense words or sounds they know. Students are rewarded more points for saying the whole word without having to sound out each individual sound first. This test really helps identify students who will have a difficult time reading. If a student comes to a word that they do not know and is unable to sound it out they will not have good reading fluency. We practice this skill often during our phonics block because it is such an important skill to have. Students who struggle with this skill often meet one-on- one with our classroom volunteer to improve it.
Using Assessment Data
Dibels testing helps me adequately determine the skill my students need to be targeted during instruction and intervention time. I use assessment information to group students together who are struggling with the same skills. I then target individuals who need increased instruction time. The lesson plan to the left was created to improve the understanding of First Sound Fluency (FSF). Students in this group all scored red or intensive during the FSF section of the Dibels test at the beginning of the year. The goal of this small group is to move struggling student out of the at-risk range and into the yellow or strategic group.
The Reading Comphrension (TRC)
The TRC assessment measures reading comprehension. This assessment measures reading comprehension through a few different activities. Students receive prompting on the book and are asked to read through the book once. I record any mistakes a student makes while reading. Mistakes can include substituting a different word, pronouncing the word incorrectly, not knowing the word, only saying a portion of the word, or skipping over a word.
After the student reads the story, I ask them five reading comprehension questions. These questions usually require students to make predictions, summarize the story, clarify what a character did in the story, and give an opinion as to why an event happened in the story.
Benchmark Goals
Students are expected to meet benchmark goals in order to be considered proficient with grade level standards.
Data Tracking (BOY-MOY- EOY)
Student’s data is tracked throughout the year on the M-Class data tracker. From BOY to MOY and MOY to EOY you can see that most students in my class showed growth in their Dibels and TRC assessments. Last year, I saw the most growth from my students in their TRC reading levels. Twenty-one of my twenty-eight students finished at TRC Reading level D or above. Through monitoring students reading achievements and using data I collected from M-Class Assessments I was able to target students who were at-risk and give them individualized instruction to increase understanding of literacy. I was also able to group students who were struggling with similar skills and give them strategies for improvement. This helped move nine students above grade level reading standards and help push all students towards the end of the year reading goal.