Curriculum Based Measurement
Instructor: Jane Singleton
Student: KB Miller
Grade: 4
Subject: Reading
Assessment Measure: Oral Read Fluency (ORF)/ Words Correct per Minute (WCPM)
Background:
KB Miller is a 9-year-old, African-American female in the fourth grade. She has been identified under the category of Specific Learning Disability(SLD), primarily in reading, as well as diagnosed with AD/HD (combined type). KB is an enthusiastic student who willingly participates in classroom discussion. Her hyperactive tendencies sometimes make it difficult for her to focus. She is not currently on medication, but used to be and has verbalized that it helped her focus in the past. She demonstrates appropriate oral language skills for her age; however, her reading skills are well below her grade level in both word recognition and fluency. She seems to guess at words in which she is unfamiliar, and inserts letter sounds not represented in the word. Additionally, she has difficulty with spelling-sound correspondence, which is evident in her writing. In observing her read aloud she often adds letters sounds such as “t” and “r” when they are not on the page.
The student’s independent reading level is grade 2, and her instructional reading level is at a 3rd grade level.. Therefore, all of her assessments were given at a 3rd grade level.
SOL objective: 4.3: The student will read fiction and nonfiction with fluency and accuracy.
Key instructional objective: Student will increase her Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM) rate using 3rd grade passages by two words every week for a 3-week period.
Specific objective: At the end of the three-week instructional period the student will increase her baseline mean WCPM of 33 to 39 WCPM on third grade level passages.
Justification of goal: The goal was set at an increase of two words per minute based on the norm referenced weekly growth rate for grade level 3, which is 1-1.5 WCPM (Honig, Diamond, & Gutlohn, 2008). I chose the ambitious goal of 2 words/week, which is above the norm, because of the wide range of her baseline scores.
Prepared Items to meet Curriculum Objectives:
To monitor KB Miller’s progress I used 3rd grade passages, around 100 words each. In acknowledging KB’s habit of guessing the words when they are unfamiliar, I decided to incorporate instruction on syllable types and division principles in order to give KB the decoding tools to segment and blend unfamiliar words. With this strategy she should be able to more quickly and accurately identify multisyllabic words (Honig, Diamond, & Gutlohn, 2008).
Each reading lesson consisted of teaching new words within the featured story of the lesson. Then we broke those words down into syllables using division principles, and also discussed differences in long and short vowel sounds as determined by open and closed syllables. The student was given one-minute to read 3rd grade passages following the lesson in order to track her progress.
Procedures:
**(All passages used during assessment and instruction were 3rd grade level reading passages)**
Session 1: KB Miller has been a student of mine for several weeks and we have built great rapport through the small remedial reading group that I teach almost every day. KB Miller says that she enjoys reading and reads at home, but often times she has trouble saying the words on the page, so her mom says them for her. When I asked what she does when she comes across a words she doesn’t know she said she sounds out the first few letters then guesses.
After taking her baseline data I noticed that KB tends to struggle with larger words and when she guesses on unfamiliar words she adds letter sounds that are not in the words such as “r”, “v” and “t”. To equip her with better decoding tools I decided to incorporate instruction on syllable types and division principles to get her in the habit of breaking an unfamiliar word into more manageable chunks which she could sound out. This instructional strategy was incorporated into my lessons for my remedial reading group as described below.
Session 2: Oct, 21, 2010, 30 minute lesson
The lesson started out with introducing new vocabulary words from the story we were going to read (The Case of the Missing Letter by Ben Farell). Prior to reading I modeled how to break words into syllables, in order sound out a word. After the words were broken into syllables I let the students practice sounding out each segment of the word and then say the word fluently. Next I pointed to each word and let the class pronounce the whole word chorally.
Vocabulary words: de/tec/tive, pos/i/tive, spe/ci/fic, def/i/nite/ly, case, a/ssis/tant, re/turned
After the words were introduced and the students practiced the words, they took turns reading them in context through the story The Case of the Missing Letter by Ben Farell. If any child came across a word they were struggling to pronounce, I reinforced the syllable division principle we had just practiced to help them sound out the word.
Reading fluency assessment was given on the passage Soccer retrieved from the Reading a-z Web site. KB read at a rate of 53 WCPM.
Session 3: Oct. 29, 2010, 30 minutes
Given KB’s increased WCPM score, after the first lesson we continued with the syllable division principle approach on the next story Just a Little Practice by Ben Farell. I modeled how to break words into syllables, in order sound out a word. After the words were broken into syllables I let the students practice sounding out each segment of the word and then say the word fluently. Next I pointed to each word and let the class pronounce the whole word chorally.
Vocabulary: Pre/ten/ded, fa/mil/iar, pro/fess/io/nal, cap/tain, aimed, mon/i/tor
Long and short vowel sounds were emphasized. Further emphasis was also given to the prefix “Pre-” because it commonly occurs in other words. So I provided students with examples of other words that start with pre- : prefix, prepare, predict, preheat, prejudge, pretend.
Reading fluency assessment was given on the passage Tip the Pouncer retrieved from the Reading a-z Web site. KB read at a rate of 42 WCPM.
Session 4: November 3, 2010, 30 minutes
I continued with the syllable division principle instructional approach, using the vocabulary from the story we were going to read, You are in the Olympics by Jared Jansen. I wrote all the new vocabulary words on the white board and allowed the students to apply their knowledge of the syllable division principle by letting come up to the board and segment the words into syllables and then pronounce the word in segments and then pronounce the whole word.
Vocabulary: an/cient, sta/di/um, host, com/pete, earned med/als, rec/ord, cer/e/mo/nies
In addition to emphasizing long and short vowels in multisyllabic words, we also discussed how the “r” influences or bosses the vowel sounds before it. For example the word “earned”. Also we discussed the affix –ed and came up with a list of words that ended in –ed.
Reading fluency assessment was given on the passage Mars retrieved from the Reading a-z Web site. KB read at a rate of 33 WCPM.
While her score dropped it may have been somewhat attributed to the subject of the passage not being as interesting to her. I have also noticed her having some difficulty in differentiation in the long and short vowel sounds with “e”.
Session 5: November 8, 2010 30 minutes
Today’s lesson was on the story titled The Dinosaurs Brunch by Deborah Eaton. We reviewed all of the new vocabulary focusing on pronunciation and guide students to learn how to say words through using the syllable division principle approach (ex: e/rupt/ing). I surveyed students first to see if they are already familiar with the word and know the definition and provided a visual and/or oral example of the definitions as needed. Students practiced using the words in sentences.
Vocabulary: la/va, e/rup/ting, peace/ful, escape, brunch,
After reviewing the new vocabulary the students practiced pronouncing the new vocabulary in the context by reading the words in sentences on the fluency builder worksheet in a round robin style manner.
Reading fluency assessment was given on the passage One Big Storm retrieved from the Reading a-z Web site. KB read at a rate of 46 WCPM.
Session 6: November 10, 2010
Today’s lesson was on the story titled Miss Mack’s Tricks by Maria Santos. All of the new vocabulary (listed below)was reviewed using the syllable division principle strategy. Next I guided the students in helping define the new words and gave a visual and/or oral example as needed.
Vocabulary: Stub/born, grum/ble, mum/bled, lan/guage, ex/plod/ed, dart/ed and streak.
Students then practiced using the words in context by reading aloud on the fluency builder worksheet.
A reading fluency assessment was given on a passage titled Almost Perfect by De De Mack. KB scored a WCPM of 34.
Session 7: November 12, 2010 Post-Test
I did a post-test assessment by having KB Miller read for one-minute without having any specific reading instruction prior. The passage she read was titled How Janey Stopped Time by DeDe Mack and she achieved reading 46 WCPM.
Analysis of Results:
Prior to the baseline data, it was clear in my observations and through interviewing her teachers that KB Miller was a struggling reader. Her baseline reading rate ranged from 22- 43 WCPM on third grade passages. The norm WCPM range for KB’s fourth grade level is 84-104 WCPM, with 94 marking the 50th percentile (Honig, Diamond, & Gutlohn, 2008). The weekly growth rates for someone at a 3rd grade reading level is 1-1.5 words, and the mean of KB’s baseline data was approximately 33, so I decided to make her aim-line increase at a rate of 2 words per week, increasing her WCPM to 39 when reading third grade passages.
With the syllable type and division principle strategy in place KB’s WCPM rate ranged from 33-53 WCPM, with a mean of 41.6, and a median of 33. Her post-test score was 46 WCPM, which exceeds the aim-line goal of 39 WCPM. While the ranges of her scores were wide in both her baseline and instructional WCPM data, it is evident that her performance improved through the use of the multisyllabic segmentation instructional strategy.
It is recommended that KB continue to receive instructional support at school and at home that help her practice sounding out unfamiliar words, as well as practice sound/spelling correspondence. An outlying factor that may be contributing to KB’s reading errors, could be her lack of medication for her AD/HD, which inhibits her ability to stay focused. Many times it seemed as though her excess energy/hyperactivity inhibited her from slowing down and sounding out the words on the page. Additionally KB’s desire for attention also seemed to interfere with her progress. During my remedial reading group I have noticed some inconsistencies in her performance and it almost seems that she makes mistakes sometimes so that she can get extra attention from me. The instructor should make sure equal emphasis is given to those reading fluently.
Given KB’s hyperactive nature it is important to incorporate movement during lessons. For example during my lessons I allowed to students to stand up and clap out the syllables when we reviewed new words, or come up to the white board to demonstrate the division principles of syllables. Differentiation between vowel sounds in the context of open and closed syllables should continue to be emphasized and reinforced when the student struggles with words as she reads aloud.
References:
Blizzard. (2010). Received on October 10, 2010 from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html
Caffrey, S. (Ed.). (2004). Measuring Up to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
Saddlebrook, NJ: Peoples Publishing Group
Eaton, D. (2002). The Dinosaurs’ Brunch. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Farell, B. (2002). Just a Little Practice. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Farell, B. (2002). The Case of the Missing Letter. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
Honig, B., Diamond, L., & Gutlohn, L. (2008). Teaching Reading Sourcebook. Novat,
California: Arena Press.
Jansen, J. (2002). You are in the Olympics. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Mars. Received on October 10, 2010 from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html
One Big Storm. Received on October 10, 2010 from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html
Santos, M. (2002). Miss Mack’s Tricks. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Soccer. Received on October 10, 2010 from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html
The Great Candy Caper (2010) Received on October 10, 2010 from
http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html.
Tip the Pouncer. (2010). Received on October 10, 2010 from http://www.readinga-z.com/fluency/index.html.