How to Determine Skill Deficit
Please begin this module with Fluency Assessments. Watch the video for how to administer a fluency assessment. Proceed to Phonics and Decoding Assessments and watch the video. Finish this module by watching the Phonological Awareness video and writing a reflection in your Guided Notebook.
Fluency Assessments
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessments measure reading rate and accuracy. They are usually timed for one minute and are expressed in terms of the number of words read correctly per minute (CPM). Oral Reading Fluency has a high correlation with reading comprehension. An ORF assessment would be given to a student that struggles to read fluently and/or struggles with reading comprehension. Having the student retell the story to check for reading comprehension is optional. Please watch the video to the right to see how to administer an ORF assessment.
Please click the links below to view and/or make a copy of the directions on how to administer the assessment and the reading passage used in the video.
2:07 seconds CC
Transcript... I'm going to use Graded Passages to assess oral reading fluency. And also retell I will time her for one minute, and then I will ask her to tell me about what she read. If you come to a word that you do not know, I will tell you the word. Are you ready? Yes, begin. Folding paper for peace. Everyday people use paper, we write on it and read from it. We use it in books, newspaper magazines, and letters, it will seem that the uses for paper are nearly endless. Back in the 1950s, a young girl named s s. Sadako Sasaki even use paper as means of hope and inspiration. Sadako was two when she was exposed to deadly radiation from the atom bomb dropped, dropped on Hiroshima in World War Two. At first, she seemed fine. But as the years progressed, she became sick from the effects of the bomb when she was in sixth grade. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia. In the hope of helping in her recovery, she said about so make 1000 paper cranes. Every day she bought a paper into tiny cranes believing that they would somehow help her recovery. Unfortunately, after fighting against the disease for eight months, Sudoko died. Stop. Read this passage for me starting with the title. Now, can you tell me about what you just read? So this girl was exposed to radiation. And she started changing over the years and she used paper cranes to help her and she died. Can you tell me anything else? The paper cranes were not to help her but what like, make her feel happy.
Phonics and Decoding assessments are used to measure students' ability to recognize sounds in words, blend sounds together to make a word, and read high-frequency words, single-syllable words, and multi-syllable words with short vowels, diagraphs, and blends. Phonics and decoding are given to students that have difficulty recognizing common words and reading fluently. Please watch the video to the right to see how to administer a phonics screener.
Please click the link below to view and/or make a copy of the Quick Phonics Screener Assessment used in the video.
Phonics and Decoding Assessments
1:50 seconds CC
Transcript... I'm going to use the Quick Phonics Screener to determine if the student has a decoding or phonics deficit. I'm going to ask you to read some words and sentences to me so I can find out what kinds of words are easy for you to read and what kinds of words you still need to learn. I want you to try to do your best. We probably won't do this whole page will stop if it gets too hard. Any questions? Begin reading from left to right. Discount, dismiss, nonsense, nonstop, index, intent, prefix, prepare, return, regard, unable, uncertain, confident, concert, station, motion, famous, joyous, madness, witness, portable, drinkable, fastest, dampest mouthful, fearful, honorary, literary, instrument, fragment All right, the next sheet I want you to read these words. Mascot, basket, moment, chowder, bacon, handle, puzzle, cartoon, order escape, Continue. amputate, liberty, Dominate, elastic, entertain, Practical innocent, electric, volcano, segregated. Continue. particular, contaminate, community, superior vitality, vitality, evaporate, inventory, prehistoric, solitary, emergency
Phonological Awareness Assessments
Phonological awareness is the ability to manipulate spoken parts of sentences and words. Phonological awareness assessments are used to measure students' ability to hear and use sounds in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is a sub-category of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness is the ability to listen to individual sounds or phonemes in spoken words. Please watch the video to the right to see how to administer the PAST Phonological Assessment.
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Please click the link below to view and or make a copy of the PAST Phonological Awareness Assessment used in the video.
Reflect on what you have learned about administering assessments to students to determine their skill deficits. Type your reflections into the Guided Notes. Is there a student in your class who is struggling with reading? If so, how can you use this information to help this student?
3:23 seconds
Transcript... I'm going to use the PAST phonological awareness screener and I'm going to start with level J. Say ran. ran. Now say ran but instead of /a/ say /u/run. Say kit. kit. Now say kit but instead of /i/ say /u/ cut. Say beak, beak. Now say beak but instead of /ea/ say /a/. back bake. bake. Say Fine. Fine. Say fine, but instead of /i/ say /o/. phon. phon, phone. Phone Good. Say Bread, bread. Now say bread but don't say /r/. bead. say that will be bed. Say sneak. sneak. Say sneak but don't say /sn/. eek, seek, seek. Say crew, crew. Now say crew but don't say instead of /r/ say /l/, clue. Say scale, scale. Say scale but instead of /k/ say /n/ snail. Say sneeze, sneeze Say sneeze but instead of /n/ say k/ sneak.,ski skis. Say some, some. Say some but instead of /m/say /n/ sun. Say night, night. Say night but instead of /t/ say /s/nice. Say rhyme, rhyme. Say rhyme but instead of /m/ say /d/. red, ride. Say seem, seem. Say seem but instead of /m/ say /t/, seat. Say keep, keep, say keep but instead of /p/ say /z/, keys. Say ghost ghosts. Now say ghost but don't say /s/ ghost. Goat. Say roast, roast, say roast but don't say /s/ wrote. Say sift, sift. Now say sift but instead of /f/ say /p/, sipped. Say trust, trust. say trust but instead of /s/ say /k/ truck. Say deft, Deft. Say deft but instead of /f/ say /k/ deck. decked. Don't forget the ending sound.
This page introduced how to determine a student's skill deficit by using quick assessments. The research available goes well beyond what has been given to you on this page. If you would like to learn more about the research behind the practice, we have provided material for further study for you to explore. The material for further study is not all-encompassing but will give you a deeper look into the science behind reading. You can access these resources by clicking on the link in this paragraph or the additional resources tab at the top of any page on this site.
Once you have completed all sections above, click the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to continue to the following page: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness. This next page will explain phonological and phonemic awareness in more detail and provide activities for students that may have a skill deficit in the area of phonological and/or phonemic awareness.