Secondary Assessment

Secondary Assessment Current reading performance among American students in grades 4 through 8 has not been promising. According to 2011 NAEP data, there has been no significant change in eighth grade since 1992. Only 34% of the nation’s eighth graders were proficient readers in 2011 Figures are even more dismal for African-American, Hispanic, and low SES students, ranging from 15% to 26% proficient (Report Card, 2011). The MTSS structure will assist buildings to identify which students are on track and which students are in need of additional reading instruction. Secondary Universal Screener During Structuring, a universal screener will be selected. The screener will determine the specific skill deficit that is impeding an adolescent reader’s comprehension. Causes may be the inaccurately reading words, inadequate fluency, or a lack of proficiency in comprehension strategies. In grades 7 and 8, the Maze assessment is the recommended universal screener and is given to all students three times a year. In grades 9-12, screening is a multi-step process focused on reading comprehension. The first step in this screening process involves assessing students’ grade-level comprehension skills once a year in the fall. Students who move in during the year should also be given this screener. This allows teams to identify students in need of reading intervention, as well as those who need extension or acceleration opportunities. This can be done by administering group assessments or computer-adaptive group assessments, such as Northwest Evaluation Association/Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP), SRI, STAR Reading, Scantron or other screeners found in the Appendix of the Structuring Guide. For more information see documents at the end of this brief. Skill Based Targeted Intervention “Typically, struggling readers are identified when they fail to demonstrate adequate reading comprehension on high stakes tests or standardized achievement tests” (Denton, et al., 2007). Although reading intervention at the secondary level has historically focused on comprehension and comprehension strategies, the root cause of the comprehension deficit may be deeper. Most struggling secondary readers have a comprehension deficit due to weak foundational skills such as phonological awareness, accurate decoding/phonics, or fluency. Kansas MTSS model follows a systematic assessment approach to accurately determine where reading has become problematic for a student. For some students additional diagnostic assessments may be required. See included diagnostic assessments chart.

References Denton, C. A. (2003). Bringing Research-Based Practice in Reading Intervention to Scale. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 201-2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, United States Department of Education. “Nations Report Card.” November 2011. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/main2011/2012457.aspx

Reading Diagnostic Assessments