4.4.1 Assessment in Reading
Schools measure the effectiveness of reading initiatives in many different ways according to PDST (2013) but to do this it is crucial that we gather and analyse information before we begin an initiative, so that on conclusion we can repeat a similar assessment in order to measure the success of the initiative.
Assessment is the process of generating, gathering, recording, interpreting, using and reporting evidence of learning in individuals, groups or systems, which relies upon a number of instruments, one of which may be a test. Educational assessment provides information about progress in learning (Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum, Guidelines for Schools, NCCA, 2007, p. 4).
PDST (2013) outlines some of the many sources of evidence that we can use to monitor pupils’ reading development and the impact of our reading initiatives:
• Self-assessment – Using questionnaires, Reading logs, Use of tools to reflect on positive aspects of work and area for improvement – WWW – what went well, Two stars and a wish, Ladders (NCCA, 2007, p. 85), Rule of thumb when choosing books, Prompts, KWL - know already – what I want to know and what I have learned
• Conferencing – Guided reading, independent reading and conferencing record sheet teacher/parent
• Portfolio Assessment – Running Records, Taped Reading • Concept Mapping – Graphic Organisers
• Questioning – using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Questioning (NCCA, 2007, pp. 86-88) • Comprehension Development using CSI
• Teacher Observation – using checklists, running records and Drumcondra English Profiles
• Teacher-Designed Tasks and Tests – including oral assignments, individual tasks, group tasks and cloze tests
• Standardised Testing – The NCCA (2007, pp. 62-65) gives advice to schools on interpreting standardised test results in English reading and reporting of these to parents. Examples: Middle Infant Screening Test (MIST), Micra T, Drumcondra Reading Test. Whole school analysis of standardised tests can be done with Excel – a simple tool which can be used to compile and analyse whole school results in English.
• Diagnostic tests – Neale Analysis, Running records, Aston Index are some examples and these are carried out by at trained teachers (PDST, 2013, pp. 31-34).
Teachers are continually gathering evidence of their pupils’ progress in class and use this information to inform their planning. Standardised test results may be interpreted in different ways and at different levels and can feed into the building of a whole school picture. This whole-school picture allows teachers to identify trends, whole school strengths and areas for improvement and can be used as a basis for whole school planning in English (PDST, 2013, p. 33).
4.4.2 Trinity Early Screening Test in Reading and Writing (TEST2r)
Pauline Cogan (2015) has been engaged in research to develop the Trinity Early Screening Test for Reading and Writing (TEST2r) for some time with the support of the Department of Education and Skills. In April 2015, Pauline along with Blackrock Education Centre published a manual for teachers as the first step towards launching this new test instrument in the Irish context.
TEST2r (Trinity Early Screening Test in Reading and Writing) comprises both an initial screening test for 5- and 6-year olds and a follow-up diagnostic test for individual children who may be at risk of developing dyslexia. It is designed to be administered by classroom teachers, and is intended to identify potential difficulties before children fail. Appropriate interventions can take place early in the child’s school career when they can have most effect and will enable the teacher to intervene early, thereby avoiding the trauma of reading failure….. Up to 200 teachers from all over Ireland voluntarily gave a great deal of time to administering the research instruments over a period of 6 years. By such active participation in their own professional development, they have ensured the authenticity of the research and have exemplified the best standards of professionalism (Cogan, 2015, Foreword)
TEST2r is divided into two parts. Part one constitutes a rapid screener test, which is made up of five subtests (tasks) for use by the classroom teacher:
1. Letter knowledge: Upper and Lower Case: Muter and Snowling (1998), Riley (1996) and Clay (1985) all found that the ability to identify and label the letters of the alphabet was a powerful predictor of successful reading (Cogan, 2015, p.4)
2. Rhyme Recognition Oddity: The research of Bradley and Bryant (1983) has demonstrated that failure to learn to categorise sounds has negative implications for reading acquisition (Cogan, 2015, p. 8)
3. Phonetic Spelling: Snowling, Gallagher and Frith (2003) found that a task involving transcoding sounds to letters can identify 6-year-old high-risk children (Cogan, 2015, p. 16)
4. Copying: The development of copying skills is considered to have implications for the development of later letter formation, writing skills and perceptual matching skills (Cogan, 2015, p. 16)
5. Rapid Automatised Naming (RAN) Digits: RAN assesses the speed with which a child can access the names of a series of digits set down in print and is very important for later reading comprehension skill (Cogan, 2015, p. 28). Badian, McAnulty, Duffy and Als (1990) found that RAN by kindergarten children differentiated dyslexics from normal readers in fourth class literacy tests with 98% correct classification.
These five subtests will be administered to all the children in the class as a means of formative assessment. If a child does not perform well in a particular subtest (or subtests), then the Learning Support will administer Part 2 which are more diagnostic in nature in order to clarify any literacy subskill needs. These diagnostic subtests will further examine the child’s emergent
literacy skills and will lay out an intervention programme as necessary. Resources for interventions can be accessed at www.ldr.ie. How the child performs will determine the intensity and duration of the intervention.
In April 2015 training sessions were conducted with interested teachers who have volunteered to be involved in the norm-gathering stage of TEST2r. These teachers have been trained in the administration of TEST2r as well as in how to randomly select the children. Parental consent will be obtained and parents will be informed that TEST2r is made up of tasks which assess the child’s progress towards literacy. This testing will be conducted in October 2015 and will be completed by the end of October 2015 in order that national norms can be made available to every school who wishes to use TEST2r. The availability of TEST2r is a very exciting development in Irish primary schools as it will answer a number of needs which exist today, such as objectively identifying young children at risk of literacy difficulties early on, diagnosing the cause of these and providing interventions to address them.
In the next section I refer to some effective interventions for struggling readers and ways of helping pupils to progress their literacy skills.