SAN DIEGO STATE QUICK READING ASSESSMENT

LITERACY - Quizzes: Reading Assessment Tools

4/20/14 PARCC Developmentally Inappropriate for High School Students
Gerri K. Songer of the Illinois Township High School, District 214, conducted a Lexile analysis of the PARCC assessment and what she found was very alarming. The reading levels embedded in the assessment are absurdly high. Many young people will fail the PARCC test because it is developmentally inappropriate for high school students.

The Business
of Education
- The Game

READING FIRST IS A FRAUD!
Our Ph.D Higher Ed Business Supply Chain System has been in place over the last 50 years. Big publishers definitely have a leg up on smaller reading companies. Read the Business of Education - The Game.

READ ABOUT THE TEXAS SCAMS - READING FIRST - IS A SCANDAL
Yes this is how it all really works and why America can't read. Literacy Scam and Shame
9/2006 The Inspector General of the Department of Education says the Bush administration's $4.8 billion dollar a year Reading First program ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted and the conflicts of interest . The slimy underside of the reading bu$ine$$ like Voyager Expanded Learning doesn't care about this country. Four major issues that should alarm educators and taxpayers alike.

Reading Assessment Tools

The Road to Literacy 100 Most Frequent Words in Books for Beginning Readers

Texas Releases Tests, Answer Keys and Scoring guides

What is Readability?

Use readability.info to analyze the characteristics of your writing and ascertain a multitude of readability scores. Make sure that you aren't creating overly complex sentences and paragraphs for your audience. Allows you to upload a Microsoft Word document or input a URL and receive several different readability scores.

Dolche Word List shows grade level

Check this Reading Effectiveness Tool to find out if your draft manuscript is at the right Grade Reading Level for your intended audience. This interactive tool is based on the Simple Measure Of Gobbledegook (SMOG) readability formula. The tool will do the calculations for you. See what you think about this Canadian tool.

You can also check the readability level of a passage using the Flesch Reading Ease and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level built into the newest versions of Microsoft® Word.

• In Word 2003 or earlier, click on Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar tab | check the "Show readability statistics" box | OK. Then press F7 to rerun spelling/grammar check, and when it finishes, a statistics dialog box will appear that shows the reading level.
• In Word 2007, click on Office Button | Word Options | Proofing | check the "Show readability statistics" box | OK. Then press F7 to rerun spelling/grammar check, and when it finishes, a statistics dialog box will appear that shows the reading level.Click the Microsoft Office button, click Word Options, and click Proofing.

Review - Lingua-EN-Fathom-1.09 Measure readability of English text

Light's Retention Scale is a measure with a number of ranking factors such as age, size, have they been retained before, special ed. Then you tally the numbers in different categories and you get a measure of if the student would be a good candidate for retention. Light's Retention Scale consists of nineteen evaluation categories with a total of 81 possible choices. This scale can typically be administered and scored within a ten to fifteen minute period. Administration will permit the professional not only to use his or her judgment in a retention decision, but also will act as a catalyst for a more global look at a child's functioning.
The nineteen categories found on the recording form are discussed in detail with research implications in the Light's Retention Scale manual. The numbers that follow each item were assigned subjectively after a careful analysis of research pertaining to the question. In general, the reader can be certain that when an item is assigned a 0, the research has shown that this is an asset when a student is retained. When an item is assigned a 5, this means that the student will most certainly not be helped by retention and stands a good chance of doing better by being advanced.
This scale is never to be used as a "test". It is designed specifically for the school professional to use as a counseling tool during a parent conference or as a means of determining what educational and psychological research would tell us about a specific retention candidate.

Light's Retention Scale - 2006 Edition - (LRS-2006)
The LRS, 2006 Edition, remains a powerful tool that assists school professionals when making the sensitive and often difficult decision about promoting or retaining a child.Test Kit (Manual, 50 English Recording Forms, 50 English Parent Guides, in vinyl folder) $95.00
http://www3.parinc.com/products/product.aspx?Productid=LRS

The Fry Readability Formula (or Fry Readability Graph) is a readability metric for English texts, developed by Dr. Edward Fry. The grade reading level (or reading difficulty level) is calculated by the average number of sentences (y-axis) and syllables (x-axis) per hundred words. These averages are plotted onto a specific graph; the intersection of the average number of sentences and the average number of syllables determines the reading level of the content. The formula and graph are often used to provide a common standard by which the readability of documents can be measured. It is sometimes used for regulatory purposes, such as in healthcare, to ensure publications have a level of readability that is understandable and accessible by a wider portion of the population.

• Fry Graph Overview
• Fry, Edward.Elementary Reading Instruction. McGraw-Hill, 1977.
• Directions for Use of the Fry Readability Graph
  • Randomly select three 100-word passages from a book or an article.
  • Plot the average number of syllables and the average number of sentences per 100 words on the graph to determine the grade level of the material.
  • Choose more passages per book if great variability is observed and conclude that the book has uneven readability.
  • Few books will fall into the solid black area, but when they do, grade level scores are invalid.
  Additional Directions for Working Readability Graph
  • Randomly select three sample passages and count exactly 100 words beginning with the beginning of a sentence. Don't count numbers. Do count proper nouns.
  • Count the number of sentences in the hundred words, estimating length of the fraction of the last sentence to the nearest 1/10th.
  • Count the total number of syllables in the 100-word passage. If you don't have a hand counter available, an easy way is to simply put a mark above every syllable over one in each word, then, when you get to the end of the passage, count the number of marks and add 100.
  • Enter graph with average sentence length and number of syllables; plot dot where the two lines intersect. Area where dot is plotted will give you the approximate grade level.
  • If a great deal of variability is found, putting more sample counts into the average is desirable.

ECP Ringleader Al Haskvitz
The easiest way to improve writing scores is to use the Fry Formula. The students must write at grade level. It only takes a few minutes to show the students how to use this formula. Next, you spend an extraordinary amount of time on making sure that the opening sentences don't start with the, a, and, I or any other simple word. They must start with the most important part of the topic sentence by using a phrase. If this is of interest just email me for additional details.

SAN DIEGO QUICK ASSESSMENT

san diego quick assessment, reading level

From "Teaching Children to Become Independent Readers" by Margaret LaPray.

Put each of the following word lists on a 3x5 card.

Hint: On the back of the card put

--. (minus, minus dot) for pre-primer level,
-. (minus dot) for primer,
. (dot) for first grade level, etc.

so if you drop cards you can sort them in order but an older student cannot readily tell what grade level s/he is reading on. I also recommend laminating cards or inserting them in plastic "recipe-holder" sleeves.

Directions:
Tell student "There are ten words on each card. I would like you to try every word on this card. If you think out loud, I can tell which parts of the word you already know. After the test, I will help you with the parts you didn't know."

Give the student one card at a time. Write words mispronounced.

Note:
Original directions say stop when two are missed. My experience has led me to wait until 3 of the 10 words at that level are missed. I also ask students to use missed words in a sentence if I am unsure of his/her pronunciation; example: "our" and "interrupted" are often open to misinterpretation.

Recommended:
Give the child the next card on the list to check if any are known beyond the grade level achieved.

1 word missed = Independent level
2 words missed = Instructional level
3 words missed = Frustration level