At my school we have to do DRAs for all students in the fall and spring. If a student does not pass grade level in the fall, they have to take a test in the winter. It usually takes me a couple of days to give the test. I have 90 minutes of Comm Arts and try to give the test during that time if possible. I think it takes longer to grade them. 3-4 teachers usually get together and grade as a team. It goes a little faster. I don't know how accurate they are, but I have learned a lot about my kids from these test.
Deborah Lawson On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 10:07 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > DRA does take a lot of time. I'd say about 15-20 minutes per child. First, > you give a student a vocabulary list to pronounce. That helps you determine > which level to begin with. Then, students need to read both orally and then > silently. You then ask questions about comprehension. It gives great > information, but it is time consuming. > Here is what I recommended to teachers. > > If you have an assessment that is given to all students that you think is > fairly accurate, use that to "sort" your students. > > For those who are in the middle range, use classroom observations, > classroom assessments including responses to reading, and conferences to > determine if all the assessments seem to indicate the student is reading at > an appropriate level. > > For those who are sorted lower, try some initial whole group assessments. > Perhaps guided reading where you can ask them to share the strategies they > are using. Conferencing with them about their reading, asking them to read > aloud should help you identify problems. > > I'd only use the DRA for those who you are really perplexed about. > > I have always found that conferencing, talking or asking students to write > about their reading is helpful. It's difficult to find a comprehension test > that will diagnose specific problems with middle school students. You need > to know whether it's fluency, motivation, reading strategies, vocabulary or > other issues. > > Carol > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Kelly Alexander" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected], "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies > Email Group" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, May 2, 2010 7:36:12 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central > Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] DRA > > Yes it takes a long time.....look at Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark > Assessment. > > > > > ________________________________ > From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group < > [email protected]> > Sent: Sun, May 2, 2010 7:19:09 PM > Subject: [MOSAIC] DRA > > > My middle school will start RTI next year. The plan is that all students > will get DIBELS as a screener, but only 6th graders (and maybe 7th graders) > will get DRA as a diagnostic after the initial screening. > I teach 8th grade, and asked about the DRA as a diagnostic in 8th grade. > The response was the DRA takes too much time to give to everyone who might > need it, and since we're just starting RTI, we're going to start small. > I would like to give my students the DRA, which I trust more than DIBELS. > Do you know if there's a fee per student for DRA? Does it really take a long > time to give the DRA? Is it possible for students to take the DRA on line? > If that's possible, my school might have a pot of money available for that. > If you'd like, you can e-mail me off list. <[email protected]> > Jan > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > _______________________________________________ > 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. > > _______________________________________________ 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.
