This first example received a grade of A+

Nancy Hollander
Sped 701 Section 1 (Monday)
McIntyre
March 30, 2003

Name:   Ame’ Skeets  Grade: 5th Grade
Date of Birth:  12/22/91 (revised) Teacher: Ms.Kurtsie
Gender:   Female   School: P.S. 909 (K-6)
Ethnicity/Race: African American

Tests Administered:
    Qualitative Reading Inventory – Third Edition (QRI-3)
    Informal Assessment of Written Language
    Informal Handwriting Assessment
    Behavior Checklist – RBPC Scales

Referral Question:
    The School Based Support Team (SBST) referred Ame’ Skeets as part of the evaluation to determine which, if any, special education services are needed.  The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-edition 3) has already been administered.  The preliminary analysis indicates that Ame’ has average intelligence in tasks which do not require language use, but impaired performance in language-based tasks.  The SBST has reported that informal efforts to help Ame’ have been unsuccessful.  Based on reports by the classroom teacher and school social worker, Ame’ is exhibiting distractibility, inconsistency and frustration especially in the language-based aspects of the curriculum.  Hearing and vision tests have ruled out a physical cause for Ame’s difficulties.

Student Information/Description:
     Ame’ Skeets was 1#-3 years old at the time of testing.  A 5TH  grader at P.S. 909, she is an African American girl, living with both parents and an older sister.  Born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Jamaica, English is spoken by all members of the household.  Based upon the teacher and social worker reports, she is a friendly, well-mannered girl who is eager to please.  Beginning in late 2nd grade, behavioral difficulties began to be reported.  Since then classroom teachers have continued to report difficulties primarily during language-based activities.

Analysis of Reading:
     The Qualitative Reading Inventory-3 (QRI) was used to assess Ame’s reading skills.  She is a 5th grade student with significant deficits in phonological awareness and decoding skills.
Word Lists:  The word lists were used to preliminarily determine the student’s reading level.  In order to assure initial success and confidence, the level two word list was chosen as the starting point.  The student reached her frustration level at level three.

 Passages:  Ame’ read three passages during the assessment. The first passage from level two was chosen to assure the student’s success.  Ame’ was able to independently read The Lucky Cricket (Level #).  The passage A Special Birthday for Rosa (Level #) represented her instructional level and with Amelia Earhart (Level #) Ame’ reached her frustration level.

 The final passage read was Amelia Earhart about whom the student had done a report last year.  Thus her predictive skills were reasonably strong confirming her familiarity with Amelia Earhart and her accomplishments.  Ame’ scored __% on the concept questions and included five ideas in her predictions.

 Kind/Quality of Miscues:  Ame’ struggled with decoding while reading the passage.  She scored __% for total accuracy, the frustration level with ## miscues in the 263-word passage.  In reviewing the miscues there were: six insertions and two omissions and ## substitutions, as well as numerous pauses.  She was able to self-correct ## of the ## substitutions.

 When only considering the miscues that affect meaning, the score improves to ##% acceptable accuracy, the instructional level.  Of the ## miscues, there were: two omissions, one insertion and ## substitutions.  Again, the student’s decoding difficulties were the primary problem.

 Skill Deficits:  Ame’ struggled while reading the passage despite her familiarity with the subject.  There were frequent pauses as she struggled with decoding.  The student’s fluency reflected this difficulty at ## words per minute, which is within the expected range for a first grader (## words per minute).  Phonetic awareness was weak as evidenced by some of the substitutions that follow:
Text         Substitution             Text                  Substitution
Nurse         Near                     Trained                      Tried
Quite         Quee               Information was deleted by McIntyre here

 Unfamiliar Words:  Ame’ paused many times during the passage as she tried to sound out words.  She paused 16 times during the passage in most cases as she came to a longer word or one she found difficult.   Ame’ was able to decode pioneer after some effort.  syllables were dropped in several unfamiliar, longer words, as follows:
Text             Substitution             Text              Substitution
Ireland                Erlan                  Mechanical          Information was deleted by McIntyre here

 Comprehension:  By virtually all measures, with this passage the student reached her frustration level.  Despite her familiarity with Amelia Earhart, Ame’s comprehension was low.  The scores for retelling and answering questions about the passage demonstrate the deficiencies.  Ame’ omitted all details about the setting/background and tended to be vague with respect to details when retelling the story.  She mentioned only ## of the ## details, ##% when retelling the story.  When questioned about the passage, it was difficult for Ame’ to recall facts.  She answered only three of the eight questions correctly.  Even with lookbacks her score increased to only ##%.  When going back to the text, the student was only able to locate an answer with a lot of help.

While the low comprehension scores could have been partly attributable to memory problems, lookbacks should have reduced that factor.  It is likely that Ame’s struggle with decoding contributed to her comprehension problems.  Ame’ tended to remember the events which occurred later in the story.

Recommendation:  Ame’ is a 5th grader reading independently at the 2nd grade level with fluency at the ### grade level.  Even at a slow pace, comprehension is low.  Ame’s struggle with decoding resulted in little memory about the substance of the passage.  It was difficult for her to retell the story and answer questions, even with lookbacks.  All of her focus was needed to read the passage.  Intensive intervention is needed to improve decoding and comprehension, as well as fluency.  The ## grade curriculum does not include the phonics and decoding instruction needed by this student.  Special education support services through the resource room are needed to fill the gap.
 

Informal Analysis of Written Language:
     The writing sample is an in-class assignment in which the student was asked to write a story based on three pictures with an instruction to spend five minutes thinking before beginning to write.  The precise time frame is not known but this sample is assumed to be a first draft with no time for rereading and editing.  This assumption seems borne out by the sample.  The first several sentences make little sense; they are chaotic and poorly structured.  Content improves as the writing progresses.  Eventually a storyline is developed.  As the story develops dialogue and an appropriate ending are included.

     While the student did develop a storyline and the vocabulary is appropriate, there are significant structural errors.  The grammatical correctness ratio is only #%, meaning that the grammatical errors including spelling, punctuation, capitalization and verb-tense errors total ## versus ## words in the story.  The student demonstrates significant deficits in the structural aspects of written language.  The spelling errors are likely an outgrowth of the student’s weak phonetic awareness.  As the student works on phonetic awareness and receives specific phonics instructions, her spelling skills should improve.  The other grammatical errors must also be addressed.  Given the student’s language and reading problems, development of proofreading and editing skills are crucial.

 Fluency:  While her grammatical skills are deficient, Ame’s fluency is acceptable.  Based on her punctuation, the average sentence length is ##.## words.  However, had appropriate punctuation been used, the number of sentences would have increased from # to #.  The average sentence length would be reduced to #.## words.  Based upon Ame’s age, ##-3, an average sentence length of # words is acceptable.

 Sentence Types:  Given only one writing sample, a sentence type comparison is not possible.  The purpose of this quantification is to examine the progress in the student’s writing skill.  In her story Ame’ relied on simple, declarative sentences.  As her writing becomes more sophisticated an increase in the variety of sentence types would signify progress.

 Vocabulary:  The type/token ratio is used to assess the student’s vocabulary.  This ratio is also an indicator of progress in writing ability when used to compare writing samples over time.  With only one writing sample comparison is not possible.  However, some observations can be made.   For this assessment, the type/token ratio was calculated two ways.  The student used ### words in this writing sample.  However, further review indicates that # words were used between # and # times.  The ratio was recalculated eliminating the words used four or more times, # words, reducing the total to # words.  It should be noted that an additional # words were used two or three times, assuring that using # words is a conservative estimate.  A list of the frequently used words and their usage is attached for future comparison.  The type/token ratio was calculated for four word types, nouns, verbs, descriptive words and pronouns.  The ratios are as follows:
 Based on 3## Words              Based on 2## Words
            Nouns 15.7%                             26.3%
            Verbs      #%                                 #%
            Pronouns ###%                         ###%
            Descriptive Words ###%          ###%

The classroom teacher should monitor progress in the student’s written work.

 Structure:  In reviewing Ame’s writing sample there are obvious, repeated grammatical and spelling problems that require intensive remediation.  The writing sample contains ## identifiable spelling errors.  Particularly disturbing, several of the misspelled words are phonetic or sight words, list attached.  Ame’s phonological difficulties are further evidenced in her spelling.  Ame’ does not avoid words that she cannot spell and her choice of words is generally appropriate.  However, the spelling is markedly weak and must be addressed.

 Punctuation is another area of concern.  For the most part, punctuation was omitted, including, periods, question marks, commas and quotation marks.  Although Ame’ included dialogue in her story; she unfortunately, omitted quotation marks in each of the four instances.  As written, Ame’s story had only nine sentences, no commas, and one question mark.  With proper punctuation the story had ## sentences, requiring the insertion of ## periods, two question marks, ## commas, and eight quotation marks.  The student needs explicit instruction on the use of punctuation.  Progress can be monitored using the grammatical correctness ratio, which has been calculated and attached.

 In addition to the above, the student’s writing contained other grammatical errors. For example there are # instances when an incorrect verb tense was used and another ## capitalization errors, excluding those due to punctuation errors.  In two situations words beginning with the letter J, were inappropriately capitalized.  Despite the many grammatical errors contained in the writing sample, this was unusual.  It is possible that the student does not recognize the difference between the upper and lower case J.  Uppercase/lower case confusion is not apparent with any other letters in the writing sample.  The other capitalization errors are different in nature, i.e., proper names and capitalizing I and I’m.  The classroom teacher can review the letter formation, specifically the J.

 Ideation:  The content of the student’s writing sample is generally *****.  While initially the writing is confused, a storyline is eventually developed.  After the first several sentences an appropriate storyline is evident.  The student was able to create a story using the three pictures as assigned.  While the beginning is weak and confused, I am assuming that the assignment was completed under time pressure without time to reread and self-edit the work.  Given the significant grammatical deficits it is laudable that the student was able to express herself as well as she did in the writing sample.  For a student with significant language deficits, the very act of putting her thoughts on paper is an effort.

Informal Handwriting Analysis:
The handwriting analysis considers the following issues:  letter formation, letter substitution, spacing, spatial organization, slant, illegibility and speed.  This analysis is based only on the attached sample.  Based on the sample, letter formation, letter substitution, spatial organization, slant and speed do not seem to present a significant problem.

 The writing sample does exhibit significant spacing difficulties.  In this short writing sample there are a total of ## spacing errors, ## with insufficient spacing and  ##  words with excessive spacing.  Even with a time limitation, spacing is a concern and should be further evaluated by an occupational therapist.  After evaluation the therapist may determine that the spacing issues are actually spelling related and should be addressed educationally not through occupational therapy.

 While the sample could be considered illegible, I will not reach that conclusion based only on this assignment.  The student produced this sample under the stress of time constraints.  For a student who has significant language difficulties the process of getting her thoughts on paper is likely to have taxed her considerably.  Given that possibility, other handwriting samples should be examined for legibility.

Behavior Checklist:
 The classroom teacher, Ms. Kurtsie, completed the RBPC Scale behavioral checklist. Behavioral problems have been reported dating back to late ### grade.  These problems have included:  distractibility, short attention span, poor work habits, difficulties when working independently and being easily frustrated.  It is apparent from the teacher’s responses that the student’s academic difficulties are affecting her behavior in class.  The problems worsen during reading and language arts periods, when Ame’ is under the most intense academic pressure.  At those times she is reported to be impertinent, quarrelsome, disruptive, disobedient and uncooperative.  According to the teacher, the student feels inferior and self-conscious raising the question of the impact academic difficulties have had on the student’s self-esteem.  Attention issues and the associated behaviors have been raised and merit evaluation to determine whether Ame’ suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD.  If so, identifying and treating the ADD should improve both her classroom behavior and academic performance.
 In terms of the BPSC Scales, the scores were compared to the normative group for 5th grade girls.  While there are clear behavior difficulties, the scores do not raise to meet the criteria for a serious problem, as defined by a score of the mean plus two standard deviations.  In three categories, conduct disorder (CD), attention problems-immaturity (AP), and motor tension-excess (ME) the scores are more than one standard deviation from the mean.  In a fourth category, socialize aggression (SA) the score is almost one standard deviation from the mean.  See the table below:

                                                                  CD         SA         AP         AW         PB         ME
Mean                                                        Information removed by McIntyre
Standard Deviation                                 Information removed by McIntyre
Mean Plus 2x Standard Deviation         Information removed by McIntyre
Ame’ Skeets Raw Score                              8             1            13              9             0             3
# of Standard Deviations from mean          1.18        .082    Information removed by McIntyre

     While this student exhibits problematic behavior, a Functional Behavioral Assessment is not warranted at this time.  The situation must be monitored, however, the behavior appears to be rooted in the student’s academic difficulties.  If the academic issues are addressed her troublesome behavior is also expected to improve.

Recommendations:
     Ame’ Skeets, a 5th grader of average intelligence, needs intensive intervention with special education services.  This student is reading significantly below grade level.  She is independent at the ### grade level, instructional at ### and frustrated at the ### grade level.  These reading deficits impact the student throughout the curriculum and will hinder her academic progress increasingly as she enters middle school next year.  Classroom behavior is already evidencing the increasing frustration.

     Intensive intervention is needed to keep this student from falling further behind.  The weakness in phonetic awareness and the lack of word attack skills are indicated in both the student’s reading and writing.  In reading, decoding problems stand out while spelling errors characterize her writing.  A speech therapist can Information removed by McIntyre

     The student must also work with a special education teacher in the resource room using Information removed by McIntyre

     In view of the student’s significant language difficulties, the content of her writing sample is a positive surprise.  After a shaky start, the student is able to construct an appropriate story to go with the pictures provided.  However, the story is hidden beneath a considerable number of spelling and grammatical errors.  A 5th grade student should have already developed better punctuation skills than are evidenced by this writing sample.  Basic punctuation and capitalization skills are deficient.  The student must receive Information removed by McIntyre

     The student’s handwriting should be reviewed by an occupational therapist.  Particularly troubling are the Information removed by McIntyre   already recommended.

 The student’s behavior issues can be separated into two categories.  None of her behavioral issues rise to the level of a problem as defined by a RBPC Behavior Checklist.  Based on the classroom teacher’s reporting of behavior, Ame’ has more difficulties during language arts, reading and testing.  With academic intervention the student’s conduct disorder and anxiety-withdrawal behavior scores should improve.  With the recommended support, I would expect to see an increased confidence and reduced attitude.  The Attention Problems-Immaturity issues should be evaluated further.  The student’s attention, retention and focus are weak based upon Mrs. Kurtsie’s assessment as well as her performance on the comprehension portion of the QRI-3.  If the parent’s are receptive, the student should be Information removed by McIntyre. In any event, Ame’ should be Information removed by McIntyre

     In summary, based upon the reading and writing assessments, this 5th grade student requires intensive intervention.  She is reading independently at only ## grade level at a time when the complexity and reading demands are increasing.  The ## grade general education curriculum does not include reading instruction and assumes that a student is able to learn from reading.  Ame’ Skeets cannot meet those demands at this time.  Her decoding and comprehension deficits are significant, without support she will fall further behind.  Unfortunately, it is April, leaving only two months of this school year to provide speech therapy and resource room services.  Writing demands will also be intensifying.  Again, given the spelling and grammatical deficits immediate intervention is needed.

     This student will enter the middle school next September.  Given her current skill levels, this will be a difficult transition.  In the intensifying demands of the general education curriculum, Ame’ Skeets may be unable to hold her own.  As the school year draws to a close, the student’s skills should be Information removed by McIntyre  Consideration should be given to an inclusion classroom setting with Information removed by McIntyre
 
 
 

INFORMAL ASSESSMENT OF WRITTEN EXPRESSION

Students Name: Ame’ Skeets   Date: April 7, 2003
Teacher:  Ms. Kurtsie   Grade: 5th

FLUENCY
ASL Number of Words:  ###      Number of Sentences:  ##(revised)
Number of words/number of sentences: ###    (ASL)

Number of Words:  ### Number of Sentences:  #
Number of words/number of sentences: ###  (ASL)
 

SENTENCE TYPES
Sentence forms Frequency                 Sentence functions Frequency
Fragments #                                             Declarative ##
Simple ##                                                 Interrogative #
Compound #                                            Imperative #
Complex #                                              Exclamatory #
 

VOCABULARY:
TTR Number of different words (types):
     Total Number of Words: #
         Noun - ###/## x 100 = 1#.7%
         Verbs - ###/## x 100 = 1#.8%
         Pronouns - ###/## x 100 = 1#.7%
         Descriptive Words – ##/## x 100 = 1#.#%

Word Type         Frequency             Word Type         Frequency
Nouns                     ##                     Descriptive Words     ##
Verbs                     ##                      Pronouns                   ##
 
 

TTR (revised)
Total number of frequently used words:  ##
 Number of words excluding frequent repeats:  ##
         (At least ## other words were used two or three times)

 Total Number of Different Words:  ###
         Noun - 54/##3 x 100 = ##.3%
         Verbs - 68/### x 100 = ##.2%
         Pronouns - 64/### x 100 = #0.0%
         Descriptive Words - 41/### x 100 = 3#.1%
 

FREQUENTLY USED WORDS:
Word         Frequency         Word         Frequency
And            1#                     My                 #
It                ##                    To                  #
 Information removed by McIntyre
 

Most Frequently used Words:
And - 17/### x # = #.0%
 It - ##/### x 100 = #.1%
 I - #0/### x 100 = #.8%
 

Comments:
? The expression “in other words” was used twice
 

STRUCTURE:
GCR Number of errors:  ###     Total number of words: ###
 Number of words-errors/Total x 100 = (GCR)
 ###-##/### x 100 = 6#.8%  (GCR)

 Misspelled words #5/### x 100 = ##.5%
Capitalization (ex. punctuation rel.) #3/### x 100 = #.8%
Omitted punctuation #3/### x 100 = #5.4%
 

STRUCTURAL ERROR ANALYSIS:
Types of Errors Frequency
    Misspelled words
    Capitalization (excluding punctuation related)
    Omitted periods/question marks
    Omitted commas
    Omitted quotation marks
   Omitted words  (easily identified instances)
    Incorrect verb tense
    Duplicated word

CAPITALIZATION ERROR:
    (excluding those attributable to punctuation errors):

1. Proper name
2. I
3. I’m
4. misc. error
5. should have been lower case

Comments:
? Words that should not have been capitalized: ball, jumped and just.
 

SPELLING ERRORS:

Word               Misspelling                 Word                  Misspelling
Waiting             Wating                         Anxious             Andshose
Before             Befor                             Banged             Bangene
Head                 He                              Laid                   Layed
 Information removed by McIntyre
 
 
 

IDEATION:
(CIRCLE ONE)  Excellent           Good                Needs additional thought

Questions:
Is the writing sample relevant to the selected or assigned topic?        N

Does the writing sample represent original thinking?          N

Are the child’s personal perspectives expressed in the sample?         N
 

Are the ideas in the sample expressed in alogical and appropriate sequence
      BEGINNING – NO                    AS STORY DEVELOPS - Y

Does the student appear to have a basic interest in the topic and does s/he seem to be motivated to commit ideas to written form?   N
 
 

ANOTHER EXAMPLE WITH SOME INFORMATION DELETED
by Aviva Eisenberg

Student Name:  Pamela Skeets
Grade:   5.4            Age: 10-5
Gender:   Female
Race:   African American

REFERRAL:
Pamela Skeets is now being referred for a formal evaluation by an IEP team after several unsuccessful attempts for pre-referral intervention by the School Based Support Team. Mrs. Kurtsie (Pam’s teacher) became increasingly aware and concerned over the fact that Pam was not performing on the level of her classmates. Mrs. Kurtsie often works with Pam one on one in order to try and give her more individualized attention but with a class of 25 other students this tactic was for the most part ineffective. Pam is part of a book club formed and supervised by the student teacher, which includes Pam and three other girls. The primary goal of this club is to encourage the girls to read more. Although Pam enjoys this group immensely, her reading skills have not significantly improved.
The school psychologist administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd edition). The preliminary analysis shows an average intelligence on non-verbal tasks, however her performance was significantly impaired when dealing with language –based tasks. Therefore, one can hypothesize that Pam may have major weaknesses with regard to language. Hearing and vision tests were administered, however no impairments were found.

Background Information:
Pam is a fifth grade African American girl who lives with two older brothers, a younger sister and her mother. She has been enrolled at P.S. 909 since kindergarten and has displayed reading difficulties since the first grade. There have been some behavioral issues as well when dealing with reading or writing activities (Examples provided in the section containing the behavioral analysis)
 
 

After interviewing Mrs. Kurtsie, the student teacher and Pamela’s mother the following weaknesses have been identified:
 Pam is easily distracted from tasks and displays evidence of a short attention span when dealing with language-based tasks. Thoughts run through her mind much quicker than her capability to express those thoughts in her writing or orally. She seems not to enjoy doing her work and often tries to avoid reading and writing assignments. Even when she attempts to complete her assignments she tends to become easily frustrated. She has a significant lack of organization skills and extremely poor work habits. Her performance is weakest in reading and writing and her penmanship is notably poor.
The following strengths were identified as well:
Pamela enjoys working in small groups and works well when being directly instructed. She can be extremely thoughtful and precise when formulating her own opinions. She is very well mannered and her friends are very important to her. She constantly seeks to please everyone and is consistently concerned about the well being of others. She has an outstanding attendance record and is extremely athletic. Pam is well dressed and displays adequate self-help skills. In addition, Pamela accepts responsibility well and often helps around the school and at home.

Unfortunately, Pam is becoming increasingly aware of the fact that she is not performing as well as her classmates and is developing much sensitivity in regard to her academic performance. As part of the evaluation team, it is my job to evaluate Pam and find out where her difficulties lie and the best way to handle them while keeping her in the general education classroom.

Tests Administered:
QRI- Qualitative Reading Inventory
Informal Assessment of Writing
Behavior Problem Checklist
 

TEST RESULTS
Qualitative Reading Inventory:
Pamela walked into the room with a concerned look on her face, as if she did not know what she was about to do and why. After greeting her with a smile, I asked her to join me at the table so that I can explain to her the tasks that I would be administering. I tried to make her feel more comfortable with me and her surroundings and I therefore engaged in conversation about her family, school and her interests in and out of school. After a few laughs and smiles, Pam was increasingly becoming more at ease. As a result, I was able to begin the assessment.

Word Lists:
It is imperative when assessing children to begin with a passage on a level of reading that they are comfortable with and gives them the initial confidence they need. In order to identify which passage this would be for Pam, word identification lists were primarily given. These lists indicate which passage is most appropriate for the child by inferring from how many words and on which grade level Pam can accurately read without reaching her frustration level.

First Grade List: XX% correct automatic identification
        XX% correct total identification
Second Grade List: XX% correct automatic identification
            XX% correct total identification
Third Grade: XX% correct automatic identification
             XX% correct total identification

Pam reached her frustration level when reading the third grade word list. Therefore we started with a level 2 passage to ensure initial confidence. There was a significant drop in automatic word identification from the second grade list to the third grade list. Many of these words should have been simpler for a child in fifth grade and therefore perhaps this is an indicator that Pam’s “sight vocabulary” is not yet well developed.

Oral Reading and Comprehension:
Pam read the second grade passage extremely well and therefore moved quickly along to the third grade passage (“The Trip to the Zoo”- narrative and “Lions and Tigers in your House”- expository). The third grade passages represented Pam’s instructional level. Her Total Accuracy was %; however the majority of her mistakes did not change the context of the story. As a result, her Total Acceptability Accuracy was 9% on the narrative and % on the expository passage. Her comprehension was average answering % of the questions correctly.  Although Pam’s reading rate of the third grade passages were slow (due to all her self-corrections), she still read on an instructional level. Therefore, we moved on to read the fourth grade passage, “Amelia Earhart” which ultimately represented her frustration level.
Pamela was extremely familiar with Amelia Earhart which strengthened her predictive abilities. She previously wrote a report on Amelia and even took it upon herself to dress up as her when presenting the report. She answered the concept questions adequately and showed thoughtfulness in her predictions which included five main ideas presented in the passage.

Reading Results of “Amelia Earhart”- Oral Reading (263 words)
Omissions:
Insertions:
Substitutions:
Self-Corrections:

Total amount of Miscues/ Total Accuracy:
Number of Meaning Change Miscues/Total Acceptability:
Reading Rate: XX words per minute (slow)

Pam’s Total Accuracy was %, however when taking into consideration which miscues did or did not change the meaning of the passage, her total acceptability jumped to a much higher %. Nevertheless, her total accuracy score indicates her frustration level on this passage.

READING COMPREHENSION:
Pamela displayed a weak understanding of the passage, which primarily is shown through her verbal recall of the story. Pam was able to retell a mere % (1 out of 7 details) of the selection and was only able to answer one question correctly. Although she was able to self-correct her comprehension to % when looking back at the story, she was to a great extent guided in her quest to find the answers. Often, the exact page and paragraph was pointed out to her in order to direct her towards the answer to the question. Pamela seemed to constantly refer back to a few main points such as Earhart wanting to go across the Atlantic Ocean, her plane was never found etc.

INFORMAL ASSESSMENT OF WRITING:
It is vital for children to master the skills entailed in expressing themselves adequately. One of the ways to express ones thoughts, beliefs and knowledge is through writing. A sample of Pamela’s writing was collected in order to assess whether or not she is on grade level in regard to written expression.
The students in the fifth grade were asked to write a story based on three pictures on the top of the page. Five minutes was designated as “thinking time,” in order to prepare and arrange ones thoughts. Students were expected to write in a fluent, clear and thoughtful manner in addition to a logical and appropriate sequence. The story was expected to be connected to the pictures with an age-appropriate vocabulary and minimal grammatical errors.  We collected Pam’s writing sample and asked her to read back the story she wrote in order to clarify the content of her story. For many areas of the analysis I chose to disregard what she read back to me (orally), and focus on what she was actually able to express in her writing. This analysis is strictly assessing the ability to express oneself in a written form and therefore only the written words were taken into account unless indicated otherwise. Pamela’s writing sample was analyzed according to the following standards…

1- FLUENCY:
Equation: Number of words divided by number of sentences =’s ASL (average sentence length)

Number of Words in Sample:                350
 Number of Sentences in Sample:
 ASL:  words per sentence

On average, Pam wrote seven words per sentence. In order to calculate how many sentences Pamela believed to have formed in her sample, Pam’s oral reading of her passage was taken into account (which is discussed further in the grammar section of the assessment). Although Pamela’s average sentence length was unimpressive and can be improved, her lack of fluency is relatively insignificant.

2- SENTENCE TYPES/FORMS:
FORM How Many in Sample Example
Fragments               “A clear blue light.”
Simple Sentences              “Every body called officer nerd”
Compound Sentences              “I screamed and jumped up.”
Complex Sentences                “Before I even walked out, I tripped and banged my head.”

Pamela’s written sample lacked punctuation, which made it difficult to analyze Pamela’s intended expression. It is for this reason that Pam’s oral reading of the story was taken into account for this area of the assessment.
TYPES How Many in Sample Example
Declarative             “My name is Betsy Britten.”
Exclamatory              “It it it were an alien”
Interrogative               “Better grammar?”
Imperative               “I said speak in better grammar.”
Pamela’s initial instruction on formal writing began in the first grade. It is expected that her sentence forms and types would have gradually increased from using simple sentences to more complex sentences throughout the years. I was unable to obtain a copy of Pamela’s previous writing (i.e. fourth grade) and was therefore incapable of forming a comparison in order to establish how much progress has been made. However, by the fifth grade Pam should be using a variety of different sentence types and forms (i.e. more complex sentences, less declarative sentences with more exclamatory or imperative sentences etc.) Nevertheless, even without a comparison it is essential to note that Pamela’s writing displays little variance. The majority of her sentences were simple (XX) (although there were little fragments used) and declarative (XX).  It is also worthy to note that there were occasional sentences that overused the words “and” and therefore developed into run-on sentences.

3- Vocabulary:
The more one uses a variety of diverse words, the more advanced they are becoming in writing. Vocabulary is assessed by a “type-token” ratio. After going through the composition, I calculated how many times each and every word was used. Some words were used only once (i.e. waiting, anxious), while others were used three times or more (i.e. the, and, closer). Nevertheless, out of 350 total words of the composition XX different words were used. (Grammar was not taken into account when calculating vocabulary. Every word written was counted in the equation while disregarding the spelling mistakes because although grammar is an important aspect of writing, it does not display ones ability to use a variety of different words within an acceptable context.)

Equation: number of different words divided by the total number of words in the composition times 100
Number of different words =
Number of words in composition = 350
Type-Token Ratio = % rounded off to %

Although Pamela’s vocabulary is not extraordinarily rich and can be improved, her “Type-Token” Ratio indicates that she is a mere % below average.
4- Structure:
Occasionally, Pam would start a thought in a sentence and never finish that thought. In addition, there were frequently times that Pam wrote one word, when she really meant to write a different word (substitution). This was evident upon hearing Pam read her story back to me. In her oral reading of the sample, she often used words that were different from what she actually wrote down on the page. In fact, the words she read out loud, which perhaps were the words she thought she was writing, fit better within the context of the story than the words she was actually writing. For example, Pam wrote “Will were waiting for…” and when she read the sample back to me she read “We were waiting for…” Generally, Pamela made at least 2 - 3 grammatical errors per sentence. For example, there were many identifiable times that Pamela misused tenses such as writing “jump” for jumped and “walk” for walked. Furthermore, there were numerous spelling mistakes made all throughout the writing sample.
 Examples of structural errors include:
SPELLING SUBSTITUTION OF WORDS UNFINISHED THOUGHT
Andshose    (anxious) Will (We) were waiting for the (bell) to (ring). “I could” (line 4)
 Herd    (heard) When (Then) I walk(ed) out of the door
Stoped    (stopped)
Cocient    (unconscious)

In calculating Pam’s spelling errors, only the actual misspelled words were taken into account. In other words, if there was a word that Pam meant to write but was actually substituted by a different word, it did not count as a spelling error if the substituted word was spelled correctly. It is hard for us to discern whether or not Pam simply misspelled one word form into another word form or she mentally misused the words that were substituted. In addition, there were many times that Pam misspelled the same word twice, however in those particular instances that word was only considered to be one spelling mistake. In calculating her spelling errors it was revealed that out of 160 different words, XX of those words were spelled incorrectly. In other words, % of the words used in Pamela’s writing sample were misspelled. Furthermore, many of the words misspelled should be typical sight words for a fifth grader.
Pamela’s punctuation proved to be extremely weak. When taking Pam’s oral reading of her passage into account, Pam had the intentions of writing 50 sentences. However, within 50 sentences only  periods were used to separate the sentences thereby leaving the story with no more than XX sentences. Additionally, Pamela did not use any quotation marks when necessary. Perhaps this deficit is linked to Pam’s difficulty with reading and intonation. Pam’s capitalization techniques proved to be extremely weak as well. There were even a few instances in which she unnecessarily capitalized certain words mid-sentence. It was calculated that Pam misused capitalization for XX out of 50 sentences. In other words, XX% of the sentences in the composition contained capitalization errors. This was Pamela’s most prevalent structural error.
5- IDEATION:
Excellent  Good  Needs Additional Thought
Pamela exhibited some difficulties in trying to write a clear and comprehensible introduction. However, once Pamela got into the middle of her story the context of the words within the sentences typically made sense, which indicated that Pam adequately thought out the story she wanted to convey to her readers. The following areas were examined in regard to ideation…      Yes/No
Is the sample relevant to the assigned topic?
Does the writing sample represent original thinking?
Are the child’s personal perspectives expressed in the sample?
Are ideas in the sample expressed in a logical and appropriate sequence?
Does the student appear to have basic interest in the topic and does s/he seem to be motivated to commit ideas to written form?

The content of the sample is generally excellent. The storyline is well developed despite the many grammatical errors. The subject matter was interesting and she conveyed her idea of what the pictures meant in an innovative and original manner. It is extremely apparent that Pamela has difficulties in conveying her thoughts in a clear and grammatically acceptable manner. However, taking those difficulties into consideration, her ideation proves to be adequate.
Behavioral Checklist:
A behavioral analysis was completed by Mrs. Kurtsie, Pamela’s current teacher, using the behavior checklist. Behavior was an area of concern for Pam’s teacher therefore further evaluation and analysis in regard to her behavior was required. It is note-worthy to mention that many of Pamela’s past teachers agree with Mrs. Kurtsie and concur that she exhibits certain unacceptable behaviors in the classroom setting. As stated previously, Pam is easily distracted from tasks and displays evidence of a short attention span when dealing with long tasks and language based tasks. In addition, Pam often acts out, becoming restless and “jumpy” when it is time for an assignment she may not enjoy. She often resorts to calling the task “stupid” and does her best in trying to ensure that she is not the only one that does not complete the task (i.e. talks to her friends and tries to distract them from their assignment). When approached by her teacher, Pam becomes disrespectful and argumentative. She displays a complete lack of confidence and is increasingly sensitive to criticism.   However, most of these behaviors appear in association with language-based tasks.
The following six disorders were looked into in regard to her behavior by means of the behavior checklist: Conduct Disorder (CD), Socialized Aggression (SA), Attention Problems-Immaturity (AP), Anxiety Withdrawal (AW), Psychotic Behavior (PB), Motor-tension-Excess (ME)
RESULTS:
Two of the 89 categories on the behavior checklist were rated 0-1. Therefore the middle was taken for both (.5).
POPULATION CD SA AP AW PB ME
Mean – Norm Group
Standard Deviation – Norm Group
2 standard deviations above the mean (abnormal)
Raw Score - Pam
Although Pamela’s behaviors are significantly disturbing within the classroom, further evaluation and assessments on Pamela’s behavior may be dismissed. Careful analysis demonstrates that Pamela does not possess nor can be diagnosed with any of the six behavior disorders. Her raw scores indicate that she does not fall two standard deviations above the mean (which indicates abnormality) for any of the given categories. Perhaps her behavior is a manifestation of her inability to complete her work on grade level and therefore Pamela feels the need to act out as a defense mechanism and a way of coping with her difficulties. Strategies for behavior management will be discussed upon further meetings with the teacher and Pamela’s parents.

DEFICITS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

READING
Decoding: Pamela read with many pauses and seemed to have great difficulty decoding many of the words. Her fluency while reading this passage suffered greatly due to the lack of phonemic awareness which was indicated by her slow reading rate and the word lists read for the QRI (in which her frustration level was on a third grade level.) The pauses and difficulties increased as the words became more unfamiliar. For example, Pamela had an extremely hard time pronouncing words such as “mechanical” or “quite.” Although there were times she was able to correct herself, her decoding skills proved to be weak by the many substitutions and insertions she displayed even for the familiar words. Some of the miscues in reading were as follows:

TEXT:   SUBSTITUTION TEXT: INSERTION:
Nurse Near “woman to cross” “woman to FLY across”
Trained Tried  “tried to be  a pilot” “Tried to be a pilot WITH…”
 

Pamela Skeets should potentially be reading on a fifth grade level. However, her reading scores indicate that she is only able to read independently on a second grade level, instructionally on a third grade level, and her frustration level occurs when reading on a fourth grade level. Pamela has severe decoding difficulties and a serious lack of phonological awareness. Due to the fact that many of the students have mastered these skills in previous grades, these aspects of reading are not included in the fourth grade curriculum. Individualized reading remediation is needed to assist Pam in raising her decoding level to an age appropriate/grade appropriate level.
Comprehension: It is strongly believed that too much of Pamela’s mental energy is being devoted to decoding the words, that there is not enough attention left for gaining meaning or insight into the story. Her higher order comprehension skills are severely lacking due to her lower order decoding deficits. Many of the words were unfamiliar to her, which added to her difficulty in simply reading the passage and in her comprehension of the passage. As discussed earlier, Pamela had great difficulty reading the word “mechanical,” which was a word contained in a sentence needed to answer one of the comprehension questions. Even when Pam looked back at the story and found the sentence, she could not pronounce this word and therefore still had trouble answering the question. It was only after I pronounced it for her and discussed what the word meant that she was able to self-correct her answer. Perhaps this is an indication of her ability to comprehend reading through auditory means (listening to someone else read) and the trouble lies within her ability to read out loud and understand the story at the same time. Pamela clearly reached her frustration level in trying to comprehend this story as an independent reader.
Pull out Special Education services are required. Pamela should be sent to the reading specialist in her school 4 to 5 times a week during the designated reading time. Pamela’s instruction with the reading specialist should be given in an intense, individualized methodical system in which she or he will cover everything Pamela has not yet grasped in the area of reading. During her time with the specialist, Pam should be working on building up her phonemic awareness in terms of initial and final sounds, blends etc. Perhaps the substitutions Pam was making was due to the fact that she is more focused on her initial sounds and not focused enough on her final sounds, however further analysis is required by the specialist in order to discover where and why Pam is using substitutions when reading the passages. In doing so, positive feedback should be given in regard to the beginning sounds made, however final sounds should be stressed more. After mastering the skills necessary for phonemic awareness, the specialist should move forward and work on syllabication; breaking the words up into syllables (i.e. Mechanical =’s Me-Cha-Ni-Cal). In addition, Pamela should be working on the subject of prefixes and suffixes and should be re-taught the rules of vowels (i.e. long vs. short vowels, the silent “e”).
The Model Reading technique should be employed. The specialist should model the reading for Pam so that she hears the passage in the way it should be read in regard to articulation, intonation etc. and focus on what the punctuation marks stand for. Pam should subsequently repeat the passage back to the specialist in the same fashion.
Further analysis by the reading specialist is required in order to identify where her comprehension deficits are most common and what parts of her comprehension are impacted on more. Pamela’s oral comprehension should be examined by means of reading a passage to her and assessing whether or not she can answer who, what , when, where and why. It is possible that her lack of comprehension is more due to her independent reading and decoding deficits and therefore her potential understanding of the passage cannot be displayed accurately. Perhaps, by initially hearing the story from someone else, this will increase Pam’s comprehension as well. In addition, Pamela should learn techniques used for finding the main idea of reading passages, short stories etc. (i.e. the first or last sentence often tells us the main idea) and utilize graphic organizers in order to map out the storyline.
In Pamela’s general education classroom, direct teacher instruction should be given whenever possible. Additionally, Pam should be given extended testing times when being assessed in subjects that involve a substantial amount of reading (i.e. English, social studies, science).
Pamela will remain in the general education classroom during independent reading time so that she does not feel totally isolated from her classmates. The teacher should modify her instruction by asking certain generic questions to the class (perhaps to be answered in their journal) that can be responded to no matter what book the children are reading. If ever the need arises for Pamela to read out loud, the teacher should let her know in advance so that she can rehearse it. Pamela will continue taking part in the book club along with three of her classmates with individualized instruction from the student teacher.

OVERALL ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WRITING:
Pam’s writing difficulties primarily lie in her grammatical abilities. As noted in the assessment of the QRI, Pamela has severe deficiencies in the areas of phonetics and decoding. These difficulties contribute a great amount to ones ability to write and it therefore follows that Pamela’s spelling is significantly poor (even with many of the “simpler” words) and her structural abilities are severely lacking. Dyslexia can not be ruled out from the equation however it is possible that her writing abilities will improve along with phonetic and decoding instruction from the reading specialist. Pamela seldom varies her choice in sentence types or forms and strictly sticks to the simpler types of sentences. As noted previously, her vocabulary is slightly under average, however her difficulties in this area are insignificant. Pamela displays original thinking in conveying the story despite her struggle in transmitting these thoughts. Due to these writing difficulties, Pamela’s teacher should constantly be monitoring her written work and occasionally give her feedback and assistance on a one to one basis.
Pamela should be sent to the resource room twice a week (practical times will be discussed amongst Mrs. Kurtsie, the parents and I) to work on improving and enhancing her writing skills. Pam should be taught the sequence related to the process of writing. She should primarily be instructed on how to utilize first drafts in order to make sure that the story has logical flow to it. It is only after Pamela’s first draft is completed that she should move on to analyze and look at the sentence structure of her story. This should be followed by grammar inspection and ultimately spell checking.
Pamela has the tendency to use the same words over and over again. The resource instructor should guide Pamela on how to use a thesaurus and work with her on building up a synonym bank. Pam should be using graphic organizers (i.e. Venn diagram) in order to outline her thoughts and perhaps through Pamela’s description of these organizers her vocabulary will expand.

ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEHAVIOR:
Once Pamela learns ways to cope with her disabilities and her academic performance increases, it is likely that a more positive self-image will develop and progress. As a result, Pam’s behavior should gradually improve. Pamela’s teacher should constantly emphasize the areas she enjoys and is good at. For example, Pamela is extremely imaginative and has expressed an interest in art. Perhaps, Pam’s teacher should allow her to draw illustrations within her writing thereby allowing her to expand on an area she enjoys. If there are ever group projects that need to be done, Pamela should be in charge of the artistic work for the group. Due to the fact that Pamela’s behavior problems are primarily because of her academic insecurities, Pamela’s strengths should constantly be stressed in hopes that she will reshape her self-image to be a more positive one.
 
 
 
 

Name:          Kimberly Oxley                                           Date of Assessment: 5/1/02
Date of Birth:             1/21/91                                          Date of Report:        5/6/02
Chronological Age: 11-4                                                  Grade:        Fifth
Ethnicity:  Black                                                               Gender:        Female

Test Administered:  Qualitative Reading Inventory- Third Edition (QRI-3)

Referral Question:
Kimberly Oxley, an # years 4 month girl, is the examiner’s niece, who willingly agreed to be tested with the consent of her mother.   The examiner explained the purpose of testing to the subject and mother, that it is required for a class on Assessment in order for the examiner to learn how to administer, score and interpret the subject’s reading level and strengths and or needs in Reading.

Student Information/ Description:
 The examiner administered the QRI to the student, Kimberly Oxley, whose chronological age is 11-4 years.   Kimberly currently attends PS 184 and is in the fifth grade.   Kimberly told me that when she was younger, she really didn’t like reading but as she is growing older, she enjoys reading more and more!   She is currently an ardent reader and is eagerly participating in a classroom project, to determine who can read the most books throughout the school term.

Starting Point:
 Kimberly was cooperative and friendly during the evaluation and anxiously awaited the beginning of the first session.   The examiner determined the reading level with which to begin by first administering, the word list.   I wanted Kimberly to feel confident and relaxed from the beginning of the testing session, so I started at level # and proceeded until I hit her frustration level at “ upper middle school”.   Since Kimberly scored at an independent level through level six,

I started administering the reading passages from level #.   In this manner, even if Kimberly scored lower on her passages, she was likely to be independent at level #.

Test Analysis:
 Kimberly read word lists level # to # at an independent level but upper middle school at a frustration level.   Kimberly read three narrative passages and three expository passages on the # grade level.   She was familiar with # out of the six passages.   For the prediction question, Kimberly was able to decipher that the first question gave her an idea of what the passage was mainly about.   The examiner asked Kimberly to read # passages orally and # passages silently.   She told me that she preferred the ____ reading passages but averaged more words per minute on the ____ reading passages that she read.   For example, comparing two expository passages of similar lengths, she silently read “The Octopus” at a rate of about # wpm and orally read, “Getting rid of Trash” at a rate of about # wpm.   Kimberly’s strength lies in the silent mode of reading.
 After reading the passages, I asked Kimberly to retell them to me, as if I had never heard them before.   Kimberly’s retelling included accurate events of the story in average sequential order.   Quite frequently, she remembered the beginning and middle of the passages but had some difficulty retelling the ending of most stories.   Kimberly’s strength lied in her ability to retell the stories with appropriate main ideas and supporting details.
 Kimberly read # passages for the examiner.   Overall, the score for her reading miscues were lower on text than on word lists.   On Total Accuracy; in four reading passages, she scored at an independent level and on two passages, she scored at an instructional level.    Kimberly’s word list scores were higher than her reading comprehension scores “without lookbacks”.    On reading comprehension “without lookbacks”, she comprehended # passages at an independent level, # passages at an instructional level and # passage at a frustration level.   “With lookbacks”, Kimberly’s score improved.   With lookbacks, she comprehended one passage at an independent level, two passages at an instructional level but still had frustration with one passage, “_______”, with which she was unfamiliar.
 
 

Kind/ Quality of Errors Miscues:
 Many of Kimberly’s miscues on Total Accuracy included insertions, omissions and self-correction of words.   Some words were substituted for other words that contained similar letters.   For example, “I_____s” was read as “Indians”, “m__” as “___ity”, “was” as “w___t” and “____s” as “s____s”.   Some misread words either contained letter omissions or additional letters.   Occasionally, Kimberly reversed the order of two words and either left out or inserted punctuations where there was none.

Skill Deficits:
Phonics and Structured Analysis: Kimberly had many articulation errors, which consisted of substitutions, omissions and additions.   Frequently, she replaced the appropriate sound with another sound and omitted the sounds from consonant pairs.   For example, the word “___” was replaced for “____”.   Sometimes, Kimberly changed the endings of words or just left them off.   Occasionally, she experienced fluency problems, as was characterized by interruptions in her flow of reading as well as repetitions of sound and syllables.

Comprehension:
 Kimberly experienced difficulty in retelling the ending of most stories.   Although she accurately listed the events of the beginning and middle of most passages, she omitted major events that occurred at the end of some stories.   In terms of reading comprehension scores, she scored higher on “lookbacks” than “without lookbacks”, on questions that pertained to events that occurred at the ends of passages.   Lookbacks take into consideration, the student’s rote memory and ability to answer the question based on the passage read.

Unfamiliar Words:
 When Kimberly came to an unfamiliar word, she said the initial sound correctly and tried to sound out the latter syllables.  Less frequently, the new inserted word had similar letters to the real word that was found in the passage.
 

Student Reactions:
 Kimberly willingly accompanied the examiner to the testing session and adapted well to tasks demands.   Her facial expression was happy, she simultaneously established eye contact and rapport.   She was comfortable and cooperative during the evaluation because she previously knew me.   Also, I told her that I would give her a surprise snack at the end of the testing session, as a reward for her participation with the evaluation.   Additionally, I told Kimberly before we started that she could take a break, if she felt that she needed it.   Since it was an hour and a half into the testing session and the examiner noticed that Kimberly was fidgety and became distracted by other things in the room, I granted her with a fifteen minutes break.   She quickly took a break and came back to complete the other two reading passages for the evaluation.

Recommendations:
 Kimberly requires assistance in articulating words and in comprehension of the ending of reading passages.   To work on articulation, the speech teacher can r___________________________.  The teacher can work on articulation by allowing the student to pronounce __________________________s.   Also, the teacher can work on syllabication, by reviewing_____________________________________________.
 The teacher can assist Kimberly in better recognizing unfamiliar words.   The teacher can model _________________________s.   Firstly, the student can look for known parts of the word, including ____________________________and sound it.   Next, the student can sound out the __________________the word.   Then, the student can sound out both the known and unknown parts of the word.   Finally, the student can repeat the whole word until ____________________________ is attained.
 The speech teacher can work on Kimberly’s fluency problem by ________________________.   This would control for less interruptions in the flow of reading and fewer repetitions of sounds, syllables and words.   As aforementioned, the speech teacher can practice with Kimberly, ________________ and ______________________s.
 To work on comprehension of the ending of reading passages, Kimberly can work on segments of ______________________.   Working in sequential order, Kimberly can firstly retell _________________________e, then ____________________ and finally __________________________ passage, thus allowing for maximum use of rote memory, with major events and supporting details for all portions of the passage.   Additionally, the latter would assist Kimberly in achieving better comprehension of passages, which will enable effective answering of questions at an independent level.