LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 1

Literacy Assessment Case Study Report

Sarah Sproul

Responsive Literacy Education, University of Colorado - Denver

LCRT 5055: Literacy Assessment

Dr. Lori Elliott

December 6, 2021
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 2

Introduction

Compass Academy is a Title I school located in the Southwest Denver neighborhood of

Harvey Park. Our student presented in this case study, whom we will call AS, was born and

raised in this neighborhood with her two older sisters who also attend Compass Academy and

great grandmother as guardian. AS came from an unstable home life before moving in with her

great grandmother at the age of 8. I don’t have full details, but mom and dad are no longer in the

picture. I learned this information towards the beginning of the year as we read the book Percy

Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. There is a scene in the book that describes

Percy’s mother disappearing in a cloud of smoke, and Percy was convinced she had died and he

would never see her again. AS made a comment about this scene that went something along the

lines of “Yeah, I’ve been there buddy.” I questioned her about what she meant by this. She said

from Kindergarten through 2nd grade, she rarely went to school because mom didn’t make she

and her sisters attend. AS admitted that because she was out so much in younger grades, she

missed a lot of the foundations of reading.

This is evident through my own observations of AS in ELA class. I noticed through

classwork, read alouds, and STAR data that AS was significantly below grade level, and

struggled with grade level, rigorous texts. She gives up quickly when she got frustrated, and

needs extra support with her social emotional regulation. This leads into why I chose AS for this

case study. Firstly, AS’s story about why she struggles with reading really hit home with me. She

was able to identify her own root cause of where and why her gaps in reading and math started.

Also, AS is aware of this and works extra hard to get caught up to grade level. She is very driven

and dedicated to her studies when she is in an accepting and supportive environment. Through

this case study, I hope to learn where AS’s gaps are in her reading foundations and create a plan
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to fill in these gaps throughout the year. We can’t move mountains in a year, but we can provide

the tools and resources necessary to fill in the gaps.

School Data

Several pieces of data have been collected for AS since the beginning of the year.

According to Quarter 1 report cards, which are scored on a standards based grading scale, AS

scored 1’s and 2’s on her ELA and Social Studies assignments. These scores mean she scored

below grade level, in need of intervention with a score of one and below grade level, needs more

support with a score of two. Every other month, our school takes the STAR Assessment. In

August, AS scored a grade level equivalency of 3.1, in October, AS scored a grade level

equivalency of 3.0, and her most recent STAR score in December was a 2.5. AS’s slow decrease

in her STAR reading scores is a concern, as there are several affective filters that impact her

ability to focus and feel motivated on her assessments.

Every quarter, AS takes ANet, our end of unit assessment through our testing partners,

Achievement Network. In October, AS scored a 23%. According to her score, AS particularly

struggled with vocabulary, analyzing author’s purpose, and determining best evidence to support

her answers. The ANet assessment has an essay graded on a standards based grading scale for

Informational writing. AS scored a two for structure and organization, a two for content, and a

one for grammar.

Literacy Interview

AS has two older sisters that also attend Compass Academy. Because I have taught both

older sisters, I am very close and familiar with the family. I hosted lunch with AS’s two older

sisters and grandmother to talk about literacy practices and routines within their home.

Throughout the interview, I could tell how close and caring the three sisters were towards each
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 4

other. It was very clear that they have always been a strong support system amongst themselves.

To begin the interview, I asked how often they read at home. Their reaction was one of disbelief.

“Read at home? Why would we do that?” was exclaimed by all three sisters. Grandma said she

reads aloud from the bible every night before the girls go to bed. She also mentioned that while

the girls were growing up, they would sit in their grandma’s lap as she read them picture books.

She admitted that she hasn’t read them anything other than the bible in a while, and she is so

tired by the time the girls get home that she doesn’t insist on reading. Their grandma said, “As

long as they are under my roof, together and safe, then that is all I can manage. I am old, you

see.” I asked what kind of reading they do outside of reading books, and I was given a variety of

answers. LS, the eldest, texts back and forth with friends. AM, plays video games that tell

stories, has dialogue, and a chat room with friends. AS, our focus student, says that she reads text

messages and gets on Tik Tok.

Description of Literacy Assessments

Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

The Vocabulary Knowledge Scale is a student self assessment of vocabulary terms and

phrases for the unit of study. The data from this assessment allows teachers to determine the

background knowledge to build before the unit, and allows students to preview the key

vocabulary and make connections to what they know. Seven words from the unit were chosen:

famine, wind turbine, maize, malawi, connotation, text structure, and context. The first four

words were major vocabulary that would shape the central idea of the focus text, The Boy Who

Harnessed the Wind. The last three words were content specific words that would be used

repeatedly throughout the unit. AS’s response to the VKS can be found in Appendix A. She self

identified that she had never heard of four out of the seven vocabulary terms, and the other three
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terms she could identify that they were familiar, but could not explain their meaning. This self

assessment scale provided the necessary data for how to proceed with building background

knowledge and mini lessons to teach content.

Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) Screening Inventory

The Developmental Spelling Analysis, DSA, is a spelling assessment that predicts a

students spelling stage. The assessment consists of twenty words with specific spelling patterns

to trace where mistakes are made, and what skills need to be developed. It provides specific

words that give the teacher the opportunity to understand why students are misspelling words.

The DSA assesses a student’s derivational constancy, letter naming, syllable juncture, and within

word patterns. Students receive an inventory score for each word spelled correctly. In order for

students to progress through the assessment, they must spell at least two of the five words in each

word set. If students do not spell two words correctly, they will stop the test. The inventory

scores lets teachers know where students are in their spelling skills, and provides specific data on

the skills needed to progress. The DSA can be found in Appendix B.

Informational Retelling Record

AS read an informational text called “William’s Electric Wind.” The purpose of the

Informational Retelling Record is to get a gauge on student comprehension with authentic and

open-ended questions that can be left for student interpretations. According to Stahl, “The

openness of the retelling task allows for observation of the child’s thought processes, what the

child values as important, and cultural influences in the story interpretation.” (p 204, 2020)

During the retalling record, students are guided towards retelling the story, first teachers allows

for the spontaneous answer about the key ideas and supporting details, then teachers start

prompting the student through questioning to help extract more information about the story.
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There are some drawbacks to retelling records, as the data collected can be limited. The set up of

expectations before students begin reading can impact the end results of the retelling record.

Therefore, it is imperative that teachers provide end expectations before students begin reading.

The retelling record can be found in Appendix C.

Index of Reading Awareness

To fully understand a student’s reading ability, we must first have an in-depth

understanding of students interest and attitude towards reading. Confidence and self awareness

of reading skills can have a major impact on a student’s reading growth during the year. The

purpose of the Index of Reading Awareness is to have students self-assess metacognitive reading

ability in four areas: evaluation, planning, regulation, and conditional knowledge. According to

Stahl, “Proficient readers can differentiate among different purposes for reading and can adapt

their strategies to accomplish those purposes.” (p230, 2020) The purpose of the Index of Reading

Awareness is to see how students rate themselves in these different purposes for reading. There

are twenty, multiple choice questions, with five questions assigned to each subtest. Each of the

three answer choices is assigned a numeric value of zero, one, or two. The values of the students'

answers are tallied at the end of the assessment for teachers to interpret the results. If a subtest

has a score between zero and five, then the student has a ‘serious need for instruction,’ if the

subtest score is between six and seven, then students need some instructional support in that area,

and if students have a subtest score between eight and ten, then students have no identified

weakness within that subtest. The Index of Reading Awareness can be found in Appendix D.

IRI: Word Lists and Screening Text

Qualitative Reading Inventory is an authentic assessment to test oral reading accuracy,

reading rate, and comprehension. For reading passages in sixth grade and below, a prosody rating
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system is included to grade for fluency while reading. IRI can be used from beginning readers to

more advanced readers. Reading passages are both narrative and informational to provide a well

rounded idea of reading skills in across multiple genres. The assessment has multiple steps to

perform before, during, and after reading. To determine the level of reading passage, teachers

start with the IRI word lists that can be found in Appendix E and Appendix F. Before reading,

questions are asked to gain information about a student's background knowledge on the topic

they will read about. The before reading questions can be found in Appendix G. During reading,

the teacher marks the passage for reading errors and miscues and graded on a prosody rubric

seen in Appendix H. After reading, the students are tested on comprehension through

summarizing the passage, answering text-dependent questions, and making inferences and

connections to the text. These components of IRI can be found in Appendix I and Appendix J.

Students first answer the questions without looking back in the text, then add to their answers in

the second round by using the text for support. This strategy helps the teacher understand what

the student can recall (without text support) and what students comprehend (with text support).

Writing Interview

The writing interview was conducted during an in class writing assignment. The prompt

that students answered was “You have read chapter 1-9 in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

and ‘William’s Electric Wind.’ What is the critical problem William faces and how does he

design a solution?” The writing response and interview questions and answers can be found in

Appendix K. During the writing interview, prompting questions were asked to determine the

reasoning behind what was written, the evidence that was chosen, and her analysis on the text.

The writing interview gives the teacher insight on the student’s thought processes during writing,
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while also providing immediate and actionable feedback. Questions that were asked followed the

writing process of before, during, and after written assignments.

Literacy Assessments: Data Analysis

Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

According to the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale in Appendix A, AS self identified to have

never heard of 57% of the words listed, and could identify but not define 47% of the words. Four

of the vocabulary words were text specific and three of the vocabulary words were content

specific. AS had never heard of three out of the four text specific vocabulary words, and had

never heard of only one out of the three content specific words. From this data, I can assume that

AS does not have high confidence in the vocabulary for this unit and will need direct instruction

in the content specific vocabulary terms with ample practice. As for the text specific vocabulary,

AS will need to have background knowledge built around some of the technical terms so we can

build comprehension of the text.

Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) Screening Inventory

The Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) was given during the reading instructional

block. Typically, the assessment is ended after the student misspells two or more of the five

words in one of the four sections of words. AS wanted to persevere through the difficult words

and wanted to try them anyway. AS spelled all twenty words on the DSA list shown in Appendix

B, however she only correctly spelled seven out of the twenty. According to the DS prediction

chart, this means that AS is struggling with within word patterns. This stage in spelling is

between the emergent stage and the intermediate stage of spelling. This data shows me that AS is

struggling with vowel sound digraphs and spelling multisyllabic words.

Informational Retelling Record

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The Informational Retelling Record, shown in Appendix C, was a great way to

informally assess student comprehension of nonfiction texts. After reading the text, AS only

focused on retelling what she learned at the beginning of the text and the ending. AS struggled

with providing details to support the central idea in the middle of the text. For example, AS

identified that the central idea was that ‘they couldn’t eat’ and this happened over Christmas one

year. This was detailed in the beginning of the text to set the scene for describing the solution to

his problem, however AS struggled to identify that the central idea was that Williams built a

windmill to support his family with food and electricity.

Another note about the retelling was that AS did not retell events in sequence. Instead,

she skipped around the story, starting with the end, and ending with what happened in the

beginning. This tells me that AS has trouble recalling information while reading texts since she

was only able to recount information that from the beginning because it was rephrased in the last

paragraph. This is supported by the fact that AS was not able to make inferential statements

about the text, even through teacher prompting. AS really struggled with making connections to

the text. This may be due to background knowledge that was missing for her to be able to fill in

the blanks with information, or the text was too difficult for her to comprehend on her individual

reading level.

Index of Reading Awareness

AS took the Index of Reading Awareness survey with the assistance of the teacher

reading aloud and explaining the answer choices. The questions and answers to this survey can

be found in Appendix D. AS scored the highest on the subtest of planning with a score of seven

and the second highest was in the subtest of conditional knowledge. These scores indicate that

only some instructional support is needed in these areas of reading. This means that AS needs
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some support in pre-reading strategies and planning beforehand what kind of reading strategies

may be necessary to comprehend the text. As for conditional knowledge, AS needs some

instructional support in how reading strategies can differ between genres and recalling the

information after reading. AS scored a four in both regulation and evaluation, which means that

serious intervention is needed in these areas of reading. Regulation is how a student is able to

self-assess their reading ability and what they do when they come across words they don’t know.

Evaluation is where a student identifies the most important parts of a story. This data shows me

that AS struggles with identifying central idea and key details from a text, as well as identifying

reading strategies during reading. This is prevalent in the data collected from the Informational

Retelling Record described above.

IRI: Word Lists and Screening Text

The data collected from IRI is extensive and provides a comprehensive view of AS

reading skills. To begin the IRI process, I looked at AS’s STAR reports to get an idea of what

reading level to begin with. AS is reading at a grade level equivalency of third grade. Therefore,

we began on level three of the IRI word lists which can be found in Appendix F. AS was able to

read 100% of words with automaticity on the level three word list, so we moved up to level four,

which can be found in Appendix E. According to this data, AS read 60% of the word list

correctly and automatically. 25% of the words were correctly identified after multiple attempts.

In total, AS read 85% of the words correctly, which put her at an instructional reading level of

fourth grade.

After the word list, we moved on to reading the biographical text called “Amelia

Earheart.” Before reading the text, questions were asked to get a range of background knowledge

AS had about the topic of Amelia Earheart. These questions to build background can be found in
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Appendix G. Four concept questions were asked, and AS scored a 66%, meaning she was

familiar with the topic and had adequate background knowledge on the topic. Because AS had

adequate background knowledge, we continued on to the next step of reading the text. According

to the prosody rubric in Appendix H, AS received a score of 3 , reads primarily in

three-or-four-word phrase groups. Little or no expressive interpretation is present. As AS was

reading, her voice was robotic and stilted. There were several awkward pauses within sentences

that at times took away from the intended impact of the text.

As AS was retelling the information learned from the text, she was able to recall at least

one important detail from each section on the retelling scoring sheet. The retelling rubric can be

found in Appendix I. These sections include: setting/background, goal, events, and resolution.

AS struggled the most with recalling information from the middle of the text, which is consistent

with previous assessments. Eight text-dependent questions, both explicit and implicit, were asked

to measure comprehension of the text. These text-dependent questions, as well as AS’s answers,

can be found in Appendix J. The questions were first asked without looking back at the text. Out

of the eight questions, AS correctly answered three explicit questions and two implicit questions.

This implies that without looking back at the text to determine answers, this reading level is AS’s

frustration level. However, there was significant improvement when she was able to look back in

the text to determine her answers. With looking back, she answered five explicit questions

correctly and two implicit questions correctly. This signals that with look backs, the text is within

her instructional reading level.

In both sessions of answering questions, AS struggled with answering the implicit

questions correctly. She had a difficult time making inferences and connecting details of the text

with her own thinking. AS performed much better on the explicit questions when she was able to
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look back on the text. This supports the idea that she struggles with recalling information. Part of

this my be because she struggles with fluency, as her read aloud suggested that the pauses and

word phrasing while reading took away from the overall meaning of the text.

Writing Interview

During the writing interview, AS was able to determine what she was supposed to be

writing about from the prompt, but she had difficulty putting her ideas on paper and explaining

the reasoning behind her writing choices. When asked to explain why she chose evidence, she

understood the concept of textual evidence and could explain why it was needed, but she

struggled with choosing evidence that truly supported her thinking. AS was able to connect parts

of the text to her answer, but struggled with writing down her thoughts. When it came to

questioning the structure of her writing, she was able to reflect about what needed to change and

gave reasons why change was needed. AS’s written response, interview questions and answers

can be found in Appendix K.

Implications and Recommendations for Instruction

Through extensive assessment and surveys of AS, we have a well-rounded and thorough

picture of strengths and areas of growth in both reading and writing. It is important to first

review the implications of AS’s reading stamina and confidence discussed in our interview. AS

has very low confidence when it comes to reading and feels that she is behind her peers. As Stahl

states, “an individual with a growth mindset is open to the possibility of improving.” (p. 252,

2020) Changing AS mindset about reading can go a long way towards improving her reading

ability. Reading significantly below grade level impacts social and emotional aspects of her day

to day interactions with content and relationships with teachers and peers. To help boost her

confidence, I would recommend positive praise, ensuring you provide small and frequent
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opportunities for success, and scaffolding of reading materials. In order for AS to have a

thorough understanding of the text, it is important that she is given the opportunities to build

background knowledge on the topic in texts. This will also help AS boost confidence in reading

and comprehension of complex texts. Self-confidence is the best place to start in thinking about

boosting AS’s reading skills. She must first believe in herself before significant growth can

happen.

It is also recommended that AS work on her fluency and prosody. Because AS struggles

with reading words with automaticity, comprehension of the overall text becomes difficult

because she is concentrating on sounding out multisyllabic words. When this happens, she is

focusing on word to word comprehension rather than making connections about the ideas

presented in the text. To help with this, teachers should begin to incorporate fluency routines

within content instruction, since this is something that could benefit all students, not just AS.

Choral reading, teaching word parts such as prefixes and suffixes, and partner reading are just a

few classroom routines that could help AS, as well as others, increase their fluency skills.

To help with comprehension and recalling information, reading graphic organizers and

consistent checks for understanding while reading could potentially help AS recall the

information afterwards. Explicitly teaching note-taking skills and annotation strategies could be a

strategy to help give her something to refer back to while answering text dependent questions.

AS should also be provided with a comprehension self-assessment check list to make she she can

start getting into the habit of checking her own understanding before moving on with the text.

Afflerback states, “Students who self-assess use their awareness of their own thinking processes,

their understanding of what is needed for learning, and their regulation of cognitive strategies,

skills, and the learning process to read successfully.” (p. 231, 2018) It is important to model these
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metacognitive strategies, so for the next few times that AS is independently reading a teacher

should sit with her and think aloud about their own comprehension. On top of teaching self

assessment strategies, strategies for what to do when she realizes she doesn’t understand is going

to be beneficial for her comprehension.

To improve AS’s automaticity and word recognition, it is recommended that AS

transition into a targeted reading intervention class with the HD Word curriculum. This

curriculum teaches foundational reading and phonics skills with hands on approaches and

manipulatives. Consistency in phonics instruction will do wonders to improve her reading skills

and get her caught up closer to grade level by the end of the year.

Suggestions for Family

AS and her family are very close-knit. To help AS improve her reading skills, I think the

first step is providing opportunities for AS to feel successful with reading at home. AS’s family

can start boosting her confidence by encouraging her to read more often and praising her

attempts. The family could have reading nights at home, grandma could begin to encourage the

girls to take turns reading out loud during their time together in the evenings, and they can even

start playing video games together. Involvement and encouragement from the family are key to

helping AS improve her reading. It is also important to build a print environment at home. The

school can help provide materials such as books, posters, magazines, etc. to allow AS and her

sisters more opportunities to read at home. Reading can become a family activity if the time,

space, consistency is provided in the home.

Conclusion

Assessment and feedback is an important part of a student’s reading journey.

Assessments and data collection gives a fuller picture of a student’s reading ability. When
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teachers understand where students are academically and can pinpoint the reasons why, then we

are able to meet specific needs and can help students grow towards grade level. For AS, the

assessments provided gave me an in-depth look into her literacy profile. Interviewing her family

gave me insight on the reasons why she is reading below grade level, as well as insight on how to

proceed with future discussions about literacy. Each assessment provided another piece of

information to paint a picture of AS reading abilities, which in turn guided myself and other

teachers on how to help AS show reading growth through the year. This progression of

assessments has taught me the importance of finding the root cause of reading deficiencies, as

well as the importance of finding reading strengths so students feel success with reading.

Understanding student’s strengths and weaknesses allows for teachers to build in supports and

interventions for reading while giving students opportunities for success. In the future, when I

want to know more about students' literacy journeys, I will be sure to have several data points

and interviews before moving forward with intervention.

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Appendix A: Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

Directions: Read each vocabulary term. Decide which option best fits your knowledge of the
word.

I have never heard of I have heard of this I can tell you what
this term before. term, but I can’t tell the term means and
you what it is. give an example.

Famine x

Wind Turbine x

Maize x

Malawi x

Connotation x

Text Structure x

Context x
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Appendix B: Developmental Spelling Analysis Screening Inventory

Spelling Word Student Spelling Inventory Score

1. Hen Hen 1

2. Wish Wish 1

3. Trap Trap 1

4. Jump Jump 1

5. Brave Brave 1

6. Smile Smile 1

7. Grain Gran 0

8. Crawl Crawl 1

9. Clerk Ckert 0

10. Clutch Cluch 0

11. Palace Palis 0

12. Observe Avbsove 0

13. Shuffle Sufer 0

14. Exciting Exanded 0

15. Treason Treereasand 0

16. Column Colmoom 0

17. Variety Freaed 0

18. Extension Exentend 0

19. Competition Competednes 0

20. Illiterate Exliaerted 0

** Teacher was going to stop test after the eighth word, however the student insisted she wanted
to finish the spelling test. The data was included because the student was proud of their efforts.
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Appendix C: Informational Retelling Record

Title: “William’s Electric Wind” Level: 6th Grade
S or P Does the student include... Student quotes and
other notes

P Main Idea? This book was about

The main idea was all about how they like how William
couldn’t eat. One christmas they did eat and Kaw… idk that word,
another they didn’t. One christmas all he ate his last name, but he
was boiled goat skin. umm he couldn’t pay
for his fee of 1200 for
S Key Ideas Supporting Details school and he was
1. “William was 1. He couldn’t kinda poor, but kinda
kinda poor, pay the 1200 not poor, yeah but uh.
but kinda not kwacha for The main idea was all
poor.” his school about how they
2. They didn’t fees couldn’t eat. One
have food 2. A drought christmas they did eat
happened in and another they
2004. didn’t. One christmas
all he ate was boiled
S Application of text structure to organize goat skin.
retelling? They didn’t have
food because of the
Student did not retell things in order. Instead, drought that
the retelling skipped around. If you look at the happened in 2004.
script of the retelling, you will notice that she
told us about the end first, then worked Prompted:
backwards to the beginning, and then told us What else do you
about the middle. remember?
That ummm...
P Importation and inferences?

Student did not make any inferences about the

text, even through prompting. (What do you
think that means for William and his family?)

S Utilization of conceptual vocabulary?

Text Vocabulary used:
- Kwacha
- Drought

S Clear ending or resolution?

No clear ending or resolution from the text
(that Williams wanted to determine a solution
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 19

to help his family out of the famine)

Was there anything that you read/saw that was interesting to you or that was new to you?
- That name (Kamkwamba) was confusing. I can’t pronounce that. Also, I didn’t know that
kwacha was money. How many dollars is that?
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 20

Appendix D: Index of Reading Awareness

Evaluation
1. What was the hardest part about reading for you?
a. Sounding out the hard words. 1
b. When you don’t understand that story.
c. Nothing is hard about reading for you.

2. What would help you become a better reader?

a. If more people would help you when you read.
b. Reading easier books with shorter vowels. 0
c. Checking to make sure you understand what you read.

3. What is special about the first sentence or two in a story?

a. They always begin with “Once Upon a Time…” 1
b. The first sentences are the most interesting.
c. They often tell what the story is about.

4. How are the last sentences of a story special?

a. They are the exciting action sequences. 1
b. They tell you what happened.
c. They are harder to read

5. How can you tell which sentences are the most important ones in a story?
a. They're the ones that tell the most about the characters and what happens.
b. You're the most interesting ones. 1
c. All of them are important.

Planning
6. If you could only read some of the sentences in the story because you were in a hurry, which
ones would you read?
a. Read the sentences in the middle of the story.
b. Read the sentences that tell you the most about the story. 2
c. Read the interesting exciting sentences.

7. When you tell other people about what you read, what do you tell them?
a. What happened in the story. 2
b. The number of pages in the book.
c. Who the characters are.

8. If the teacher told you to read a story to remember the general meaning, what would you do?
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a. Games for the story to find the main parts.

b. Read all of the story and try to remember everything
c. Read the story and remember all of the words. 0

9. Before you start to read, what kind of plans do you make to help you read better?
a. You don't make any plans you just start reading
b. You choose a comfortable place 1
c. You think about why you are reading

10. If you had to read very fast and could only read some words, which ones would you try to
read?
a. Read the new vocabulary word because they are important.
b. Read the words that you could pronounce.
c. Read the words that tell the most about the story. 2

Regulation
11. What things do you read faster than others?
a. Books that are easy to read.
b. When you read the story before.
c. Books that have a lot of pictures. 0

12. Why did you go back and read things over again?
a. Because it is good practice.
b. Because you didn't understand it. 2
c. Because you forgot some words.

13. What do you do if you come to a word and you don't know what it means?
a. Use the words around it to figure it out.
b. Ask someone else.
c. Go on to the next word. 0

14. What do you do if you don't know what a whole sentence means?
a. Read it again. 1
b. Sound out all the words.
c. Think about the other sentences in the paragraph.

15. What parts of the story do you skip as you read?

a. The hard words and parts you don't understand. 1
b. The unimportant parts that don't mean anything for the story.
c. You never skip anything.
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 22

Conditional Knowledge
16. If you are reading a story for fun what would you do?
a. Look at the pictures to get the meaning.
b. Read the story as fast as you can.
c. Imagine the story like a movie in your head. 2

17. If you are reading for science or social studies, what would you do to remember the
information?
a. Ask yourself questions about the important ideas. 2
b. Get the parts you don't understand.
c. Concentrate and try hard to remember it.

18. If you are reading for a test, which would help the most?
a. Read the story as many times as possible. 1
b. Talk about it with somebody to make sure you understand it.
c. Say the sentences over and over.

19. If you are reading a library book to write a report, which would help you the most?
a. Sound out words you don't know. 1
b. Write it down in your own words.
c. Get the parts you don't understand.

20. Which of these is the best way to remember a story?

a. Say every word over and over. 0
b. Think about remembering it.
c. Write it down in your own words.

Subtest Score Interpretation

Evaluation 4 Serious need for instruction in

this area.

Planning 7 Some instructional support

needed.

Regulation 4 Serious need for instruction in

this area.

Conditional Knowledge 6 Some instructional support

needed.
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 23

Appendix E: IRI Word Lists

Fourth Identified Automatically Identified

1. Sunlight ✔

2. Desert ✔

3. Crops ✔

4. Traveled ✔

5. Favorite ✔

6. Adaptation ✔

7. Terribly ✔

8. Predator

9. Illustrated

10. Ocean ✔

11. Pilot ✔

12. Dynamite ✔

13. Struggled ✔

14. Symbolized ✔

15. Competition ✔

16. Passenger ✔

17. Memorize ✔

18. Environment

19. Adventurer ✔

20. Invented ✔

Total Correct Automatic - 12/20 = 60%

Total Correct Identified - 5/20 = 25% Fourth is an Instructional Level
Total Number Correct - 17/20 = 85%
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 24

Appendix F: IRI Word Lists

Third Identified Automatically Identified

1. Finished ✔

2. Celebrate ✔

3. Believe ✔

4. Confused ✔

5. Motion ✔

6. Rough ✔

7. Engines ✔

8. Tongue ✔

9. Crowded ✔

10. Wool ✔

11. Removed ✔

12. Curious

13. Silver ✔

14. Electric

15. Introduced ✔

16. Enemies ✔

17. Glowed ✔

18. Clothing ✔

19. Interested ✔

20. Explained ✔

Total Correct Automatic - 14/20 = 70%

Total Correct Identified - 4/20 = 20% Third is an Independent Level
Total Number Correct - 18/20 = 90%
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 25

Appendix G: IRI: Level Four Biography: “Amelia Earhart”

Concept Questions

Question Answer Score

Who was Amelia Earhart? I don’t know. Some girl? 1

What were the dangers of Umm. Well they were 1

flying a small plane 100 years probably really small and
ago? couldn’t sly that great. They
probably crashed a lot.

What is an adventurer? Where someone goes out to 3

find something like at
different places to explore or
do a mission.

What are women’s rights? Women have to be free and 3

men can’t like hit them. Men
can’t do anything if they have
rights. Because everyone in
the world needs to be treated
the same.

Score:
8/12 = 66%
Familiar
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 26

Appendix H: Oral Reading Prosody Scale - IRI 6

4 3 2 1

Reads primarily in Reads primarily in Reads primarily in Read primarily

larger, meaningful three- or -four-word two-word phrases word-by-word with
phrase groups. Some phrase groups. Little with some three- or occasional two-word
or most of the story if or no expressive four-word groupings. or three-word
read with expression. interpretation is Word groupings may phrases.
present. be awkward.
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 27

Appendix I: Retelling Scoring Sheet for “Amelia Earhart”

Setting/Background

● Ameila Earhart was an adventurer.

● During WWI she was a nurse who cared for pilots who had been hurt.
● Earhart watched planes take off and land.

Goal

● She knew that she must fly.

● Earthart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in a plane.
● Someone else flew the plane.
● She wanted to fly a plane across the ocean.

Events

● Earhart trained to be a pilot.

● In 1932 she flew alone across the Atlantic to Ireland.
● Earhart faced dangers.
● Airplanes were smaller.
● There were no computers
● Earhart said women must try to do things as men have tried.
● Earhart planned to fly around the world.

Resolution

● Her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.

● People searched for a long time. And many gave up.
● Earhart and her plane were never found.
● But people are still looking.
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 28

Appendix J: Questions for “Amelia Earhart”

1. What was Amelia Earhart’s main goal? (Implicit)
Without Looking Back: Ummm… To be the first woman to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Looking Back: Be a pilot
2. What was Amelia Earhart doing in a plane when she first crossed the Atlantic? (Explicit)
Without Looking Back: She was a passenger
Looking Back: she was being a nurse
3. How long did it take Amelia Earthart when she flew alone across the Atlantic? (Explicit)
Without Looking Back: Ummm 3 hours or 20.
Looking Back: 2-0 hours, I mean no 14 hours
4. Why would flying alone across the Atlantic be an especially dangerous thing to do?
(Implicit)
Without Looking Back: Because if something happens, then no one knows what
happened.
Looking Back: because it was a really long trip
5. What was one of the dangers of flying in those early days? (Explicit)
Without Looking Back: Cause there were no computers and the airplanes were new.
Looking Back: Because they were just being invented
6. How do we know Ameila Earhart believed in equal rights for women? (Implicit)
Without Looking Back: Hmmmm. Idk.
Looking Back: She tried to do things, men have tried and when they failed it was a
challenge to others
7. What was Amelia Earhart trying to do when her plane disappeared? (Explicit)
Without Looking Back: Cross the world.
Looking Back: She was planning to fly around the world
8. Why do you think her plane was never found? (Implicit)
Without Looking Back: There were no computers in there and…
Looking Back: Mmmm because there were no trackers in the plane.

Without Look-Backs

Number Correct Explicit: 3

Number Correct Implicit: 2

Total: 5

Independent: 8 correct
Instructional: 6-7 correct
✔Frustration: 0-5 correct

With Look-Backs
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 29

Number Correct Explicit: 5

Number Correct Implicit: 2
Total: 7

Independent: 8 correct
✔Instructional: 6-7 correct
Frustration: 0-5 correct
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 30

Appendix K: Writing Interview

You have read chapter 1-9 in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and
“William’s Electric Wind.” What is the critical problem William faces and
how does he design a solution?

Student Response to Prompt:

William Kamkwamba is solving a problem. William is from malawi. What his family does is
maize\ corn . What happened in Malawi is that there is a drought and there is no food and
people are dying. William's family doesn't have electricity and water because they are poor
farmer . William built a windmill because he's family needed electricity and water. When
William did not have power they didn't shower, wash dishes, they couldn't give water to the
plants,when they didn't have power they rely on fres for everything from cooking to heating
bath water . The windmill could give them light and water.

Writing Interview Q&A Transcript:

T = Teacher S = Student

T - What is the prompt asking you to write about?

S - Umm. It is asking me to write about William and the critical problem he faces. So like, what

is the problem and how he solved it…

T - How did you answer the prompt?

S - I answered it by thinking about what I read about. Then I tried to think about where I read

about the problem. I remembered that it talked about him not having any power… I mean

electricity. So I went to that Chapter.

T - What chapter was that?

S - I think it was chapter 4. [looks back in text] Yes it was in chapter 4.

T - What evidence did you use to support your answer?

LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 31

S - The sentence that says stuff about the dishes and cooking and stuff, that I got from the book. I

chose that evidence because it talks about all the reasons why he needed to have electricity and

all the problems and stuff from not having it.

T - What is your topic sentence? Why did you decide to write your topic sentence as you did?

S - My topic sentence is “William Kamkwamba is solving a problem.” I write this sentence

because the question is about how William has a problem, so I thought I would use the word

problem in the first sentence. You always tell us to use the words in the question in out answer.

T - Why did you decide to state where William was from and what his family did for a living?

S - Umm. I don’t really know… I think that it was important because… a problem William is

facing is that he doesn’t have electricity, and so I thought that I should say where he was from.

T - Why did William build the windmill?

S - Because he didn’t have electricity and needed to get water. It helped his family get those

things that they needed to live.

T - How did you conclude your paragraph?

S - Ummm. The last sentence says “The windmill could give them light and water.” So this is

saying that the windmill does. I guess I should add in more about how he solves his problem.

T - Do you think your writing fully answers the prompt?

S - Ummm. I don’t think so. I think I see that I don’t talk too much about the solution and how it

could help his family and stuff. Maybe I should add in another sentence? Should I?
LITERACY ASSESSMENT CASE STUDY 32

References

Afflerbach, P. (2018) Understanding and using reading assessment, K-12 (3rd ed.). USA:

International Literacy Association.

Dougherty Stahl, K. A., Flanigan, K., & McKenna, M. C. (2020). Assessment for Reading

Instruction (4th ed.). Guilford Publications.