Designing and using assessment
systems to prevent reading
difficulties in young children
Dr. Joseph Torgesen
Florida State University and
Florida Center for Reading Research
Western North Carolina LD/ADD Symposium, November, 2005
A model for preventing reading failure in grades
K-3: The big Ideas
1. Increase the quality, consistency, and reach of
instruction in every K-3 classroom
2. Conduct timely and valid assessments of reading
growth to identify struggling readers
3. Provide more intensive interventions to “catch up”
the struggling readers
The prevention of reading difficulties is a school-level
challenge
A model for preventing reading failure in grades
K-3: The big Ideas
1. Increase the quality, consistency, and reach of
instruction in every K-3 classroom
2. Conduct timely and valid assessments of reading
growth to identify struggling readers
3. Provide more intensive interventions to “catch up”
the struggling readers
Systematic assessments of reading growth: Big Ideas
Screening assessments that identify children who are
lagging behind in growth of critical skills
Progress monitoring in growth of critical reading skills for all
children during the year to help plan instruction
Diagnostic assessments to help provide additional
information useful for focusing and planning instruction
End of year outcome assessments in the critical elements
of reading growth –is the child on track to read at grade
level by third grade-how effective is our program?
A data management system that supports the use of
assessment information in planning instruction
Systematic assessments of reading growth: Big Ideas
Screening assessments that identify children who are
lagging behind in growth of critical skills
What should we screen for?
Kindergarten – letter knowledge, phonemic awareness,
vocabulary
1st Grade–, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary
2nd Grade– phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary
3rd Grade– reading fluency, vocabulary
More or less comprehensive screeners – DIBELS, TPRI,
PALS, PPVT, have information about reliability and validity
Systematic assessments of reading growth: Big Ideas
Progress monitoring in growth of critical reading skills for all
children during the year to help plan instruction
What can we progress monitor at present
Kindergarten – letter knowledge, phonemic awareness,
phonics
1st Grade–, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency
2nd Grade– phonics, reading fluency
3rd Grade– reading fluency
Different frequencies for different groups
Whole class – three, four times a year
Students receiving interventions – more frequently
What can teachers learn from PM assessments?
Information from progress monitoring
Are the children actually learning what I am teaching?
Are the children ready to move forward in the curriculum?
Is my intervention strong enough to place the children on a
growth trajectory that ends in grade level performance by
the end of the year?
2nd Grade Growth in Oral Reading Fluency
Correct words per minute
96
80
64
48
32
16
Sept
Dec
Feb
May
What can teachers learn from these assessments?
Information from progress monitoring
Are the children actually learning what I am teaching?
Are the children ready to move forward in the curriculum?
Is my intervention strong enough to place the children on a
growth trajectory that ends in grade level performance by
the end of the year?
Decisions to be made
Should I reteach the last unit to some of my children?
Should I move the child to a smaller group, or program more
instructional time?
Should I seek help to implement a more powerful instructional
strategy?
In order to monitor progress adequately, we need two
different kinds of information about progress
Information from curriculum embedded tests or teacher obs.
Are the children actually learning what I am teaching?
Are the children ready to move forward in the curriculum?
Information from “index” tests like the DIBELS or TPRI
Is my instruction powerful enough to place the child on a
trajectory for grade level achievement by the end of the year?
Systematic assessments of reading growth: Big Ideas
End of year outcome assessments in the critical elements
of reading growth –is the child on track to read at grade
level by third grade-how effective is our program?
Kindergarten – phonemic awareness, letter knowledge,
phonics, vocabulary
1st Grade– phonics, text fluency, reading comprehension,
vocabulary
2nd Grade– text fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary
3rd Grade– text fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary
Diagnostic Testing
Purpose of diagnostic assessment-- to provide
information that is useful in planning more effective
instruction
Diagnostic tests should be given when there is a clear
expectation that they will provide new, or more
reliable, information about a child’s reading difficulties
that can be used to provide more powerful instruction.
Diagnostic testing within the rich assessment
context of screening, PM, and outcome tests
If schools are implementing screening, progress
monitoring, and outcome assessments in a reliable and
valid way, this should substantially reduce the need for
additional testing using formal diagnostic instruments.
Will the diagnostic assessment actually provide more
information, or more reliable information, about the child’s
strengths and weaknesses in the components of reading
than they already possess. If it will provide additional
information, will this new information be useful in planning
additional instruction for the child?
Diagnostic testing within the rich assessment
context of the Reading First assessment plan
Should students identified as “at risk” at the beginning of
the year automatically be administered a diagnostic test to
provide additional information to help plan instruction?
If you know a child is low in phonemic awareness, letter
knowledge, and vocabulary at the beginning of K, what
more can we reliably measure to guide instruction?
If you know a child is low in phonemic awareness, and
knowledge of the alphabetic principal, and vocabulary at
the beginning of 1st grade, what more can we reliably
measure to guide instruction?
Diagnostic testing within the rich assessment
context of the Reading First assessment plan
On the basis of the diagnostic information available from
the screening measures, interventions focused on critical
components of reading could begin immediately, rather
than waiting for additional diagnostic information
generated by diagnostic tests. The major argument for
not doing additional diagnostic testing in this case is that it
would be unlikely to add any additional information critical
to planning effective interventions, and it might delay the
process of beginning the needed interventions for these
“at risk” students.
Systematic assessments of reading growth: Big Ideas
A data management system that supports the use of
assessment information in planning instruction
The Florida Progress Monitoring and Reporting Network
(PMRN). Web-based data management and reporting
network
School level entry of screening, progress
monitoring, and some outcome scores
Immediate reports for teachers, principals, district
staff
Tied to the Florida Student Information System, so
that student progress is tracked longitudinally,
and from school to school
Class Status Report for
teacher or principal
This is an example of a
first grade classroom
report for December.
The teacher can
immediately see which
of her students are at
most risk for not being at
grade level at the end of
the year, and can use
this report to group
students for targeted
instruction and support
Scores of 60% of the
class
median
5th percentile for class
Student Progress Report for teacher or principal
This report shows the progress of a third grade student in
becoming a fluent and accurate reader in third grade. At
the beginning of the year, the student was classified as
high risk on this measure, but the student received
excellent intervention, and by the end of the year, he was
performing in the low risk range.
Class Tracking Tool
Kindergarten
LNF
Full Year Students
only
Sorted by Overall
School
Distribution
Report
Interval 4
KG-LNF
District Status
Report
This report allows
district level staff to
quickly examine the
performance of each
of the schools in the
district on critical
measures of early
reading skill.
Using Screening and
outcome data to
evaluate the strength
of Instruction at
state, classroom,
and school level
% of students at “grade level” level at Assessment 1
using combined index from DIBELS measures
75
80
65
70
60
50
39
38
40
2004-2005
30
20
10
0
K
1
2
3
% of students at “grade level” level at Assessment 4
Notice the drop in % of students
at grade level from beginning to
end of year
80
70
67
60
52
48
50
39
40
2004-2005
30
20
10
0
K
1
2
3
Percent of students at High Risk level at Assess 1
80
70
60
50
40
30
33
23
20
9
14
10
0
K
1
2
3
2004-2005
Percent of students at High Risk level at Assess 4
Notice the increase in % of
students at high risk from
beginning to end of year
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
2004-2005
28
18
22
20
10
0
K
1
2
3
What are the areas in most need of immediate
improvement?
Stronger support for the growth of text reading
fluency in second grade
37th
percentile
53rd
percentile
:
Instructional Emphasis for Second Grade
Other
Word study/phonics
3.0%
12.9%
Writing/language art
Spelling
5.1%
3.2%
Writing or lang. arts
3%
Fluency
4%
Non-instructional
6%
Spelling
2%
Fluency
5.5%
Word study/phonics
21%
Comprehension
42%
Text reading
Comprehension
21.2%
49.0%
Text reading
22%
2004
2005
About half our second
graders began second grade
not having met the February
1st grade benchmark in NWF
Slightly more than 20%
still hadn’t met the 1st
grade benchmark at the
end of second grade
One problem that arises from so many students
coming into 2nd grade still weak in effective, accurate
word reading strategies
Growth in fluency requires accurate practice
A major factor underlying growth in fluency for
struggling readers is how fast the number of words
they can recognize “by sight” increases
Children must read unfamiliar words with perfect
accuracy on multiple occasions before they can
become sight words
Sight vocabulary must grow very rapidly in second
grade to keep pace with normative development
Our third graders are “holding their own”
in fluency development, but they come
into third grade too far behind in the
development of fluent reading skills
31rd
percentile
32nd
percentile
What are the areas in most need of immediate
improvement?
Stronger support for the growth of text reading
fluency in second grade
More powerful instruction toward mastery of the
alphabetic principle early in first grade
47th
percentile
62nd
percentile
Over ½ of our
students did not
make the
benchmark on
time
What are the areas in most need of immediate
improvement?
Stronger support for the growth of text reading
fluency in second grade
More powerful instruction toward mastery of the
alphabetic principle early in first grade
Creative work to develop and support stronger
interventions for struggling students in grades 1,2,
and 3 – school level must become involved
Continued efforts to expand vocabulary instructionlinked to comprehension- accessing words in
multiple contexts
Another way to think about improvements and
performance – two indices of instructional
effectiveness
Effectiveness of Core Instruction (ECI) – what percentage of
students who began the year at grade level on the
screening measures finish the year at grade level?
Effectiveness of Interventions(EI) – what percentage of
students who began the year at some level of risk on the
screening measures finish the year at grade level?
The ECI and EI
screening
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
One academic year
outcome
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
9 of 13 students
who were at grade
level continue at
grade level
ECI = .69
2 of 7 students who
began the year “at
risk” finished the
year at grade level
EI = .29
Core and Intervention effectiveness in year 1 and 2
Core Program
Intervention
K
year 1
year 2
82%
87%
45%
55%
1st
year 1
year 2
57%
65%
14%
16%
2nd year 1
year 2
70%
71%
6%
5%
3rd
84%
81%
15%
14%
year 1
year 2
Schools with High Average Effectiveness of Iterventions
District
EI
%tile
%Min %FRL ECI % Grade
Orange
Collier
Orange
Collier
Palm Bea.
Sarasota
Orange
Lee
Palm Bea.
Broward
39
36
34
33
33
32
32
32
31
31
99
97
95
93
91
89
89
89
89
89
84
98
83
94
78
80
93
67
95
99
89
99
80
93
75
85
93
73
87
66
82
79
95
93
84
89
67
84
66
67
A
D
A
B
C
B
B
B
C
B
Schools with Low Average Effectiveness of Interventions
District
EI
%tile
%Min %FRL ECI % Grade
Hillsboro.
Polk
St. Lucie
Polk
Pinellas
Volusia
Brevard
Marion
Hillsboro.
Hillsboro.
8
8
10
10
10
11
12
12
12
12
2
3
4
5
5
6
7
7
7
8
88
55
58
66
60
68
79
47
84
63
93
74
71
89
74
89
97
81
84
58
4
10
14
3
23
1
32
52
45
66
C
C
C
C
B
C
D
A
B
A
A final concluding thought….
There is no question but that “leaving no child
behind in reading” is going to be a significant
challenge…
It will involve professional development for
teachers, school reorganization, careful
assessments, and a relentless focus on the
individual needs of every child…
But, its not the most difficult thing we could be
faced with…
Consider this task for example…
Questions/
Discussion