Reading Assessments
Reading comprehension units last 20-21 days and include an end of unit assessment. In the unit work I will preview below, the following California Common Core Standards (CCCS) are being taught and measured: RL.K.7- With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear, RL.K.6- With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story, RL.K.2- With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
The unit begins with backwards planning during the unit plan process, this is where I meet with my coach and we analyze the lessons, daily objectives, and overall standards. During this meeting, we are able to norm on teaching strategies and ELL instructional strategies that will be most impactful for student success and growth.
Over the course of the unit, we read ten texts, spending two days on each text. The first day is a "reading for meaning" day, this means the teacher does a read aloud, stops at STORY elements (setting, talking characters, problem, attempts to resolve the problem, and the solution) and students engage in a variety of discussions to answer questions and discuss the text. On this day, students are creating their own verbal theme statements through class discussions. The second day of the text is called, "master the objective," on this day questions about the text are directly related to the objective of the day. At the beginning of this lesson, students partake in "oral drill," this is where students are rapidly asked questions through cold calls and students show their mastery levels by answering the questions. I record student responses on my data tracking template. This data informs me which students I should target for the next oral drill and strategic questioning. At the end of the day two read aloud, students complete an exit ticket to measure their mastery of the objective that day. At the end of the unit, students take a ten question assessment to measure their mastery of the standards. After the assessment, I score and input assessment data then partake in a data analysis meeting to create next steps for reteach opportunities.
Below, are examples and visuals of each assessment part of a reading comprehension unit.
The unit begins with backwards planning during the unit plan process, this is where I meet with my coach and we analyze the lessons, daily objectives, and overall standards. During this meeting, we are able to norm on teaching strategies and ELL instructional strategies that will be most impactful for student success and growth.
Over the course of the unit, we read ten texts, spending two days on each text. The first day is a "reading for meaning" day, this means the teacher does a read aloud, stops at STORY elements (setting, talking characters, problem, attempts to resolve the problem, and the solution) and students engage in a variety of discussions to answer questions and discuss the text. On this day, students are creating their own verbal theme statements through class discussions. The second day of the text is called, "master the objective," on this day questions about the text are directly related to the objective of the day. At the beginning of this lesson, students partake in "oral drill," this is where students are rapidly asked questions through cold calls and students show their mastery levels by answering the questions. I record student responses on my data tracking template. This data informs me which students I should target for the next oral drill and strategic questioning. At the end of the day two read aloud, students complete an exit ticket to measure their mastery of the objective that day. At the end of the unit, students take a ten question assessment to measure their mastery of the standards. After the assessment, I score and input assessment data then partake in a data analysis meeting to create next steps for reteach opportunities.
Below, are examples and visuals of each assessment part of a reading comprehension unit.
Reading Formative Assessment
Oral Drill
Reading comprehension lessons begin with an "oral drill." During this time, students are standing around the carpet and building anticipation of being able to answer a question. The questions are layered on throughout the unit and represent each standard being taught in the unit. I have video of this process, but for student privacy I will list the questions and exemplar responses.
What does the author do? The author writes the book.
What does the illustrator do? The illustrator draws the pictures.
What is setting? Setting is where and when a story takes place.
What are talking characters? Talking characters are people, animals, or creatures who talk or act in a story.
What is main character? Main character is the character we see the most.
What are secondary characters? Secondary characters hurt or help the main character.
(I am holding a book) Point to the front cover. Point to the authors name. Point to the spine. Point to the title. Point to the back cover.
While students are answering questions I am collecting data, responses, and misconceptions on my data tracker. This tracker is identical to the phonics tracker, but target reading comprehension data.
The tracker below is an example of my reading comprehension data tracker. During oral drill I capture student responses. I am able to see which students need additional "at-bats" of the objectives. With this information, I am able to create reteach plans or address misconceptions in small group instruction. In addition to tracking data during oral drill, I track student responses to questions given during the read aloud and the end of story retell. This template is great for tracking data, but also I can use it to ensure I am calling on a variety of students. I can target my questions to students who need additional practice at the objective or students who need more talking time.
Click on image to enlarge.
Reading comprehension lessons begin with an "oral drill." During this time, students are standing around the carpet and building anticipation of being able to answer a question. The questions are layered on throughout the unit and represent each standard being taught in the unit. I have video of this process, but for student privacy I will list the questions and exemplar responses.
What does the author do? The author writes the book.
What does the illustrator do? The illustrator draws the pictures.
What is setting? Setting is where and when a story takes place.
What are talking characters? Talking characters are people, animals, or creatures who talk or act in a story.
What is main character? Main character is the character we see the most.
What are secondary characters? Secondary characters hurt or help the main character.
(I am holding a book) Point to the front cover. Point to the authors name. Point to the spine. Point to the title. Point to the back cover.
While students are answering questions I am collecting data, responses, and misconceptions on my data tracker. This tracker is identical to the phonics tracker, but target reading comprehension data.
The tracker below is an example of my reading comprehension data tracker. During oral drill I capture student responses. I am able to see which students need additional "at-bats" of the objectives. With this information, I am able to create reteach plans or address misconceptions in small group instruction. In addition to tracking data during oral drill, I track student responses to questions given during the read aloud and the end of story retell. This template is great for tracking data, but also I can use it to ensure I am calling on a variety of students. I can target my questions to students who need additional practice at the objective or students who need more talking time.
Click on image to enlarge.
Exit Tickets
At the end of each "master the objective" lesson, students complete an exit ticket to show their mastery level of the focus standard and objective. This exit ticket is either in multiple choice format, cut and paste, or matching. I preview the question and expectation for students, then students are released for independent work. During this time, I am using my data tracking template, pictured above, to collect data on their work and giving written feedback on their work.
Below are examples of student work from each aligned standard in the unit. Click on images to enlarge.
At the end of each "master the objective" lesson, students complete an exit ticket to show their mastery level of the focus standard and objective. This exit ticket is either in multiple choice format, cut and paste, or matching. I preview the question and expectation for students, then students are released for independent work. During this time, I am using my data tracking template, pictured above, to collect data on their work and giving written feedback on their work.
Below are examples of student work from each aligned standard in the unit. Click on images to enlarge.
Reading Summative Assessment
At the end of the unit, students take a comprehensive unit assessment. The assessment includes ten questions, nine multiple choice, and one written response. This assessment measures student mastery on each standard. The goal is for students to score at least an 80% on the entire assessment to show full mastery of the standards. Once the data is inputted to Illuminate, an online data analysis platform, students take home their assessment which has a cover page of next steps for parents and students score. With this data, I have a data analysis meeting with my coach, we focus on lowest mastery standards and create reteach plans of action to ensure all student are able to master the standard and able to apply this knowledge to their end of year NWEA MAP test.
Click below to see a high effort unit assessment.
Click below to see a high effort unit assessment.
Reading Assessment Data Analysis
After each unit assessment, I input data into Illuminate, this program show me a visual representation of advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic students. The data from Illuminate is transferred to another program, Schoolzilla. Schoolzilla provides average mastery levels, percentage of students who met the 80% or higher goal, and buckets students in below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. With this data, I am able to create reteach plans and address misconceptions in small groups. Also, I can spiral the standards into "do now" work and "oral drill" so students are given multiple opportunities to practice and apply the standards to new work.
Below are snapshots of Schoolzilla data and mastery levels for my two cohorts, JHU and DU.
Below are snapshots of Schoolzilla data and mastery levels for my two cohorts, JHU and DU.
After each unit assessment, students get their tests back with their scores. The goal is for each student to score at least an 80%. If students score and 80% or higher, they are invited to an end of unit celebration. Tests are graded and sent back to students. Their families are able to review the assessment and see which questions were marked correct or incorrect. If a question was marked incorrect, I circle the correct answer so parents can review the questions with their students. In addition to getting their individual scores, I also have a whole class tracker that I can draw in a graph of the average percent correct and the percent of students who scored 80% or higher. Students know how they did on the assessment at a personal and whole group level. The end of the unit celebration is a great incentive for students to try their best to score at least 80%.
Below is a picture of the whole group tracker I use to communicate class unit assessment data.
Below is a picture of the whole group tracker I use to communicate class unit assessment data.
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/2/2/112223317/unittracker_orig.png)
This tracker shows me that Johns Hopkins University scored an average of 75% and 50% of students scored 80% or higher.
DePaul University scored an average of 83% and 65% scored 80% or higher.
DePaul University scored an average of 83% and 65% scored 80% or higher.