I think that each teacher really just needs to know his/her students and then determine if fluency is going to determine instructional or independent levels. Case in point: I have a 2nd grade student with Asperger's that reads PAINFULLY slow, BUT can comprehend and actively discuss books well within 4th-5th grade range. I certainly did not push her to take 4th/5th grade DRA tests, but I did mark her as reading independently at level 28, which is ideal for exiting 2nd grade, even though she was "instructional" on the fluency part of the assessment. REALLY KNOWING EACH INDIVIDUAL STUDENT AS A READER IS KEY TO ANY READING ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION. And the DRA is an excellent way to gain such in-depth knowledge about each student.
Just my two cents. :-) -Michelle TG ---------- Kelly wrote: With the DRA2, the accuracy rate has moved up to 95%. The fluency piece is really important as well. If a student does not pass the fluency they should not read the story, you need to "stop and drop" them. I had issues with this myself when testing a child and went ahead and had them do the entire test...to find that their oral reading score was in the instructional range and the comprehension was low as well. I think it offers us a lot of information about what we need to do to instruct that child. A lot of fluency 'teaching' has not been stressed as much because of the much needed strategy work being done. But let's face it as Tim Rasinski says, "If students are putting so much energy into trying to read the words - there's no energy left for comprehension." So I would not pass the child at that level - that becomes their instructional level and they are independent at the next lower level (assuming they have been tested at that level already.) We are really following it by the book and it has increased the instruction in fluency in our building. Kelly AB _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
