Hi everyone! Haven't posted in a while as my daughter (9 months now -- can you believe it?) has been keeping me busy! I'm just now trying to get caught up with everyone's posts. In addition, I would like to get your opinions about the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment II program. Read below.
My school, in search for a placement and reading program, recently sent me to a training on Fountas and Pinnell's Benchmark Assessment II. After attending the session, I'm really questioning how appropriate it is for the general population in our middle school. It seems like a GREAT program for elementary school, but I'm trying to figure out how I am going use their 30 minutes assessments for my 80 kids and not take months to do it. I see each of my sections for a total of 4:10 minutes a week as their Language Arts teacher! We're a smaller private school without a reading specialist. I know that there are better programs out there that won't take such an incredible amount of time away from my classroom instruction. Another hesitation I have is how this program fits with my students. Over half of my students are high performing/excellent readers. On average, each of my classes has maybe 2-3 students performing/reading below grade level.The component which makes this program stand out from others is its fluency/oral reading component (which honestly is much like a running record); the writing and comprehension components don't seem better than other programs I've used at other schools. Since very few of my students struggle with fluency, I'm trying to figure out if this program really is the best for us. Is there anyone on this group familiar with or using F&P? If so, what are your thoughts? Besides STAR reading, do any of you recommend any computerized assessment programs? The elementary school has jumped right in to this program, and it's really up to me to weigh its benefits for my students and decide whether we will use it in 6th grade (and eventually the rest of middle school). Unfortunately, I have to make the decision rather quickly. My initial reaction is that this program might just be best for our struggling students as a form of remediation/intervention rather than all the sixth graders, but I would much rather hear more from others who have used the program before making any final judgments. Thanks so much for your help and thoughts... Cindy in CA _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
