Lyndsey Douglas

Edu 602-Assessment of Learning

Assessment of Fluency in 2nd Grade
Reading fluently is crucial to every childs success in school, and improving
fluency is a goal that we strive for. If a child is not a fluent reader after the primary
elementary grades, it becomes increasingly hard for them to keep up with other
students as they grow. Therefore, in 2 nd grade we use curriculum based
measurements to measure their progress bi-weekly. We use AIMS web fluency
probes to do this. They are given one minute to read a selection of grade level text.
By monitoring students so often, I feel that we can catch readers before they fall
and set up weekly interventions based on the goals of the assessment. Also, I can
make sure I am conferring and checking understanding with these students
regularly throughout the week so they are staying on task and reading books on
their level.
Looking at previous data of the students whom I will be serving for the
current year is extremely useful. I have graphed data from AIMS web fluency
probes from their 1st grade year. The goal for the end of 2 nd grade is to be reading
100 words per minute, and as you can see by this data, this group of students is
well on their way to reaching this goal. The students consistently improved
throughout the school year to achieve a class average of approximately 70 words
per minute.

Lyndsey Douglas
Edu 602-Assessment of Learning
In preparation for next years class, I also broke the data down further to
show the average fluency of boys compared to girls. The boys were slightly more
fluent than the girls, but they were pretty comparable. When looking if the girls had
reached the spring benchmark goal of 59wpm, the data showed that only 60% of
them hit their goal. However, one must take into account that there were only five
total girls in this class. Comparing the boys, 75% of them reached their spring
benchmark goal. Looking at the data this way, instead of using the mean, was
interesting as it showed more of a need for improvement.

Based upon these findings, I will be implementing many strategies for these
students in the 2012-2013 school year. Students who qualify for special education
support will walk to read into Mrs. Steffes classroom. The reason for this is because
in this classroom is where the special education teacher will offer her support
through inclusion. However because I work closely with this teacher, the same
interventions for the struggling readers in my classroom will be implemented in hers
as well. In the past we have done Reading Mastery with our special education
students. I am skeptical of this program for a few reasons. It writes the font
differently from regular literature books, which I find unrealistic. Students will not
be reading font like this in regular books, so why practice it this way? Also, I wonder
if it serves the purpose of the intervention. I believe it is crucial to develop a love of
reading and that it is best to be able to read books that interest you, however
reading mastery does not give students the ability to choose their own books. I

Lyndsey Douglas
Edu 602-Assessment of Learning
believe that because of these reasons, students feel disconnected from reading
their self-selected text when they come back to our classroom.
There are other programs to help our struggling readers, and our district is
adopting the i-ready program. They will start this in the fall so this is a program
that I will be getting familiar with but dont know a lot about right now. Students
who need more support with their reading goals will also be focused on phonics. I
think it is important for students to recognize the patterns that they see in words to
enable them to read more fluently. They will also be practicing reading their high
frequency words. I have found some great apps that students love to use on the
IPods for this practice. I will also use strategies such as choral reading, interactive
read a-louds, flexible small groups, vocabulary word sorts, and many different
reading maps to help them understand the text they are reading. I also think
sketching out a picture as you are reading the text is a great way to break up the
text so that it doesnt get too tedious for a struggling reader. Students can be
guided through all of these interventions, but also trusted enough to start
developing as an independent reader. I will also utilize any volunteers by doing Duo
log reading with students. This is where a student reads aloud to a volunteer and
when they miss a word, the volunteer helps support and continues to read until the
reader is ready to start again. I have found this successful in the past as it has
given more direction to the volunteer and feedback to the student.
I also think it is very important for all readers to feel comfortable enough to
seek out and accept help when it comes to learning to read. I want them to realize
that it isnt a problem that everyone reads at a different pace, and that together we
can achieve their goals. I think it important to build a community within your
classroom. A community where everyone is accepted for who they are and where
everyone is willing to help each other so that they can become better readers.
Students should also self-reflect about their reading and create portfolios so that
they can see the progress they are making. All students should actively participate
in different exposure as well by utilizing the daily five literature choices.
Just as it is important to support struggling readers, it is equally important to
motivate higher level readers to grow even more. I plan to do this through many
different activities that are centered on reading. I will use literature circles to
explore new and challenging texts together. Literature circles are a fun way to
develop a love for a series. I think it would be fun to break them into groups based
on book selection or gender, for example girls may enjoy reading American Girl and
Fancy Nancy books and boys tend to be really into Bone and other graphic novels.
Literature circles are also a great way to explore genres of books that students may
not typically choose on their own.
Students will also be encouraged to become creative thinkers. Double entry
journals, exit slips, book talks, and reflecting about books will promote this in my
classroom. Students will record each book they have read and use strategies to

Lyndsey Douglas
Edu 602-Assessment of Learning
help them better comprehend the story. They will make connections in stories, use
their senses to relate to the book, ask questions, infer, predict, and synthesize
information from their story. This will be recorded in their journal. Students will also
think a-loud about their story and partner up to share their thinking and reading.
I believe that students must develop a love for reading and be able to selfselect the text they will read. As their teacher, I provide guidance with this and
show them books that I think they will enjoy reading, however in the end they pick
the book that they want to read. I try to convey my passion for reading to my
students and my hope that they will also find the true essence of learning.