Year-Long Assessment
My school uses Strategic Teaching and Evaluation of Progress (STEP) as our reading assessment. This assessment is given four times a year, in September, December, March, and May. The end of year goal is to be on STEP 4. On STEP 4, students are able to identify all letter names and sounds, spell words with /ch/ and /sh/ chunks, identify correct vowel sounds, answer comprehension questions, and read with fluency and accuracy. As we are in October, I have just finished the initial testing round for one class. The benchmark goals for each testing rounds are as follows: September-STEP-pre, December-STEP 1, March-STEP 2/3, and May- STEP 4. Currently, my students benchmark goal is a STEP-pre to be making adequate progress to meeting their end of year STEP 4 goal. With this data, I am able to create guided reading groups to target specific skills and gaps to ensure students are making progress to meeting their benchmark and end of year goals.
Below I explain the STEP testing process and the guided reading group formations.
Below I explain the STEP testing process and the guided reading group formations.
STEP Data Gathering
For STEP, each student is tested individually. The test begins with students writing their first and last name and ability to identify 3 or more letters in their name. After, letter names and sounds are assessed. Then, students demonstrate their ability to match rhyming words. Next, students demonstrate their text orientation abilities by pointing to each word as I read, telling me what word we start reading on each page and how many words or letters we see in a given sentence. If students pass the pre-reading test, they move on to test on STEP 1. STEP 1 includes all of the pre-reading aspects and being able to repeat a pattern in a text, matching first letter sounds in a word, and a spelling test with consonant-vowel-consonant words. Then, if students pass STEP 1, they continue to STEP 2, in this STEP level students demonstrate their ability to segment three and four sound words and can read a pattern in a text by solving one to two unknown words. After reading, students answer a variety of comprehension questions.
Below is JHU's step wall.
Below is JHU's step wall.
The graph above shows me 40.9% of students are below grade level and need intensive correct instruction to ensure they meet their next benchmark goal. The student's hold backs are their ability to write their first and last name, identify letters in their names, and identify letter names.
In this graph, I see 59% of students are on or above grade level. One student has already met their end of year goal in October!
In this graph, I see 59% of students are on or above grade level. One student has already met their end of year goal in October!
Below are additional STEP data points of my two cohorts, Johns Hopkins University and DePaul University. I can see that DePaul University had 3% more students on or above grade level than the network. Johns Hopkins had 4% less students on or above grade level than the network. I am also able to see the percentage of students below, at, or above grade level. As I continue to monitor student progress, I use their data to create small groups and make informed decisions about my instructional strategies and their learning needs.
Guided Reading Groups and Instruction
With my STEP data I am able to create small groups for guided reading. I meet with three groups for twenty minutes, daily. During these lessons, each student has an iPad connected to the Kids Reading A-Z application. I create plans and pre-select texts we will read. Each lesson targets the groups needs and begin with reviewing letter names, sounds, and sight words. Students practice skills such as pointing to each word as they read, using pictures and first letter sounds to solve unknown words, and retelling the story in their own words using sequence words.
Lesson plans are created for each group that reflect the STEP bottom line the group is working toward. For example, the Blue pre-reading group, has a bottom line of touching every word as the group echo reads. But, the Red STEP 2 group has a bottom line of repeating a pattern and solving two unknown words in the pattern.
Each bottom line is aligned with STEP skills to ensure students are making progress to meeting their next benchmark goal, then their end of year goal.
Below are images of my guided reading group schedule and student groupings by STEP level.
Lesson plans are created for each group that reflect the STEP bottom line the group is working toward. For example, the Blue pre-reading group, has a bottom line of touching every word as the group echo reads. But, the Red STEP 2 group has a bottom line of repeating a pattern and solving two unknown words in the pattern.
Each bottom line is aligned with STEP skills to ensure students are making progress to meeting their next benchmark goal, then their end of year goal.
Below are images of my guided reading group schedule and student groupings by STEP level.
In addition to collecting and analyzing the data, I communicate students STEP levels with them and their families. I have an in class tracker, "Swimming to STEP 4." On this tracker each student has a fish with their initials and they can find their initials to see their STEP level. Students know their end of year goal is STEP 4 and can see their progress to meeting this goal in the tracker. Also, students always carry a data tracker that communicate their STEP levels, unit assessment data, and sight word knowledge.
Below are images of the in class STEP tracker and an example of a personal data tracker.
Below are images of the in class STEP tracker and an example of a personal data tracker.