Oregon Reading First Coaches’ Newsletter Volume 3, Number8

May-June 2009 1

Data-Driven Decision Making DIBELS Refresher Now that you have participated in our Spring DIBELS Refresher webinar, remember to schedule DIBELS refresher training before your team begins collecting spring benchmark assessment data. Brushing up on administration and scoring skills is important for all members – old and new- on your assessment team! There is a DIBELS refresher module available on the Oregon Reading First website at: http://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/assess_refresher.html. We have also posted the PowerPoint presentation referenced during our DIBELS Refresher webinar for coaches’ that makes specific reference to scoring tips and collecting data using the Teleforms. Spring Benchmark Data Collection: NWF & ORF As mentioned during the Refresher webinar, we have created Teleforms for use with each kindergarten and first grade student who participated in the winter benchmark data collection; NWF forms have been created for kindergarteners and NWF and ORF forms (1 for each passage) for first grade. The reasons we are asking you to collect these data using the Teleforms are:

1. We will see the progression students’ make through the phases of word reading by analyzing the NWF data;

2. We will calculate student’s accuracy percentages on each passage read; and

3. Studies conducted recently have indicated that a relationship exists between the strategies a student uses on NWF and their performance on ORF. Harn, Stoolmiller, & Chard (2008) found, for example, that students utilizing the whole word and partial blending strategies were more successful at fluently reading connected text than those students who utilized the sound-by-sound and words recoded strategies. Collecting these data using the Teleform will allow us to examine this relationship even further with a large number of students

We recognize the additional effort collecting data using these new forms may require. We believe the benefits (i.e., the detailed information that can be used to help plan instruction), however, will outweigh the costs.

Project Goals (2008-2009)

Kindergarten:

• Increase student automaticity in whole word reading (by the end of kindergarten, students will read VC and CVC words as whole units).

First Grade: • Provide targeted

instruction, based on student need, to all strategic and intensive students.

In This Issue: • Project Level Goals • Data-Driven Decision Making

• DIBELS Refresher • Spring Benchmark Data

Collection • Scoring Tips and

Reminders • End of Year GLT

Meetings • Data-Based Action

Planning • Instruction

• End of Year Intervention Program Tips

• ELL Corner • Upcoming Professional

Development

Oregon Reading First Coaches’ Newsletter Volume 3, Number8

May-June 2009 2

Scoring Tips & Reminders 1. Score with slashes and dashes only! 2. Remember the NWF logic! A slash overrides an underline, and a self-correct (SC) overrides a slash. For example, w a n 2 CLS, 0 WRC sc w a n 3 CLS, 1 WRC 3. While it is possible for a student to get 3 CLS and 0 WRC, it is not possible for a student to miss a letter sound and get 1 WRC. 4. Remember the 3 second rule! A student, if they get no letter sounds correct should have, at a minimum, the opportunity to attempt each letter sound in the first row. 5. Although an insertion does not detract from the number of total CLS, if a sound has been inserted while the student is reading at the word level they get 0 WRC. 6. Although skipped rows do not count against the student in the scoring of NWF, all words in skipped lines in ORF passages are counted as errors. Data-Based Action Planning You will need to revise your Data-Based Action Plans during your end-of-year GLT meetings. For schools using Instructional Focus Groups this will mean replicating the monthly data meetings with the addition of examining the end-of-year Benchmark data, reviewing outcomes for K-5 students during spring of last year and comparing to spring outcomes this year, and evaluating the winter to spring grade level instructional support plans by calculating the percent of students making adequate progress toward DIBELS benchmark goals, and revising the action plan. Schools that are not using Instructional Focus Groups will complete the spring GLT/ERT Action Planning Module that includes many of these same steps, as well as the identification of systems that need support. Please don’t forget that your school action plans principal data-based leadership plans are due to the ORFC by June 26, 2009; district data-based leadership plans are due by July 10, 2009.

Instruction End-of-Year Supplemental & Intervention Program Tips Making these preparations now will ensure a timely start with intervention groups in the fall:

By grade level, keep a master list of each group of students receiving supplemental or intervention curriculum instruction. Be sure to indicate the program, ending lesson number, and this year’s instructor for each group, as well as any recommendations for the fall. The principal, as well as the coach, should have an electronic

Oregon Reading First Coaches’ Newsletter Volume 3, Number8

May-June 2009 3

copy of this information. Staff changes happen over the summer and it can prevent wasted time in the fall.

Take inventory of what you have and order materials as soon as you can (including consumables for core programs). Estimate the number of students who will be in each program and at what level/lesson, based on this end-of-year information.

When drafting schoolwide schedules for the fall, the staff must work to prioritize resources. Which groups of students are going to be in the most critical need for additional small group instructional time (double-dosing)?

Be sure that the time allocated for small group instruction aligns with the time requirements for the daily lessons. Not all programs are suitable for 30-minute blocks, especially in grades 3 and above.

Explore opportunities for professional development over the summer. Teachers moving to a new grade level, as well as new staff, will need training before beginning to teach new programs or implementing the components of the program-specific enhancements and lesson maps with their students. Schedule trainings for instructional assistants during in-service week and the first few days of school if summer training is not possible.

Make a schoolwide commitment to begin small group instruction, whether using core, supplemental, or intervention materials, by the first full week of school. Every day of delay is another day for the gap to widen for our struggling students. Even if all groups don’t’ get started, prioritize the ones who need it most and get them started, even if instructors and schedules need to be adjusted later.

Monthly Coaches’ Webinars

Don’t forget to participate in the monthly coaches’ webinar hosted by your Regional Coordinator this month! In addition to discussing the regular content, time will be spent reviewing the end-of-year Grade Level Team meeting process to prepare you for your end-of-year meetings with your staff.

Oregon Reading First Coaches’ Newsletter Volume 3, Number8

May-June 2009 4

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ELL Corner Maximizing Fluency Practice in Grades K & 1 Now that more students are blending sounds together, thus decoding words the fast way there are a couple of things to keep in mind to maximize small group and independent fluency practice:

Remember to use Template 13 when students are practicing connected text during small group instruction. It is important for students to decode words accurately! Using Template 13 focuses attention on accuracy and provides practice with prosody.

Provide more fluency practice during and outside of small group instruction. Pair students who are accurate and fluent readers with those who are accurate but may lack fluency. The extra practice will increase accuracy and fluency for struggling readers. For connected text practice, use previously-read decodable book stories to ensure that no new words are being introduced.

Provide students with opportunities to decode words with accuracy and fluency. You may want to provide students with lists of words derived from previously read decodable texts for additional practice. Again, it’s always a good idea to pair students up so that words are decoded accurately.

Teach appropriate error correction procedures to all students. This ensures that all students are reading words with accuracy. It is also important to remind students to go back to the beginning of the sentence so that each sentence is read with accuracy.

Focus on prosody so students learn to read text with expression and meaning.

Behavior Management Strategies During Small Group and Independent Practice

State behavior expectations (e.g., eyes on instructor, hands folded, responding when instructor signals, one person reads while the other follows with their finger, etc)

Increase focus on appropriate behaviors Reinforce good behavior by acknowledging students

and/or giving students points When giving students points, state why students are

receiving points (e.g., “I like how Julio has his book open to the correct page. That’s one point for the students!)

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If you are using the teacher point game, give yourself a point when students are not following expectations (e.g., “That’s one point for me because I hear someone talking)

Increase unison responses and pacing! Create conditions for student feedback by increasing student opportunities to respond while teaching skills swiftly and with a perky pace (being animated and working up a good sweat)!

Teach error correction procedures to all students!

Upcoming Professional Development Sessions Brown Bag (May 22, 2009) Our Brown Bag session this month will be with Dr. Scott Baker and Dr. Doris Baker. During this one-hour session, they will summarize the findings reported in the three-year technical report examining English reading performance of English Learners in Oregon Reading First across three years of implementation. LPR Webinar (May 26, 2009) Now that my teachers have collected all of these data, what do I do with it? The Oregon Reading First Center will be offering an introductory webinar to the Lesson Progress Reporting system, a web-based data system that allows you and your teachers to easily input, store and track various sources of student performance data. Our newest feature (to be released soon!) is a group progress monitoring graph that allows teachers to view the progress of all students in their group on DIBELS progress monitoring measures. Cohort B-ELL Leadership Session (May 26, 2009) This session will focus on preparing to examine end-of-year school level data, planning for next year, and the steps to be taken to sustain your Schoolwide Reading Model next year. Cohort B Leadership Session (May 27, 2009) The first part of this one-day session will be focused on sustainability. In addition to talking about practices you and your colleagues may want to adopt or modify in order to continue implementing the critical components of your Schoolwide Reading Model, we will also have a panel of leadership members from Cohort A schools who will share the steps they’ve take and the efforts they’ve made to sustain the SWRM in their buildings in this first year with no Reading First funding or support. We will also discuss the project-level data for spring 2009 and spend the afternoon focused on school-level data and action planning. The day will close with a brief discussion about looking ahead and next steps for the 2009-2010 school year.

Upcoming dates (see the ORFC calendar for complete listings):

5/22/09 (12:00 – 1:00): Brown Bag 5/26/09 (11:00 – 12:00): LPR Webinar 5/26/09 (11:00 – 3:30): Cohort B-ELL Leadership Session 5/27/09: Cohort B Leadership Session

DIBELS Administration and Scoring Reference

J.L. Mercier Smith, revised 5/1/09

Timing Hesitation Prompt Discontinue Scoring Tips*

Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)

Start timing after saying “Begin” and stop at 1 minute. (])

After 3 seconds, provide the correct letter name and point to the next letter.

“Remember to tell me the letter name and not the sound.” (One time only)

No letters correct in the first row (10 letters).

Draw a line through a skipped row and do not count in scoring.

Initial Sound Fluency (ISF)

Start timing after question and stop when student responds.

After 5 seconds, score as 0 and present next question.

“Remember to tell me the picture that begins with the sound ___.”

Score of 0 on first 5 questions.

Record number of seconds and calculate the fluency score.

Phoneme Segmentation

Fluency (PSF)

Start timing when first word is presented and stop at 1 minute. (])

After 3 seconds, provide next word.

“Remember to tell me the sounds in the word.”

No correct sound segments in first 5 words.

If student repeats the entire word with no segmentation, circle the word and do not give any points.

Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)

Start timing after saying “Begin” and stop at 1 minute. (])

After 3 seconds, score the sound/word as incorrect and provide the correct sound/word. If necessary, point to the next sound/word, and say, “What sound/word?”* Depends on whether student is reading “sound by sound” or “word by word”.

No correct sounds in first 5 words.

Make sure to underline blended nonsense words with one continuous line. Individual sounds must be marked with a short line under each letter. If a student skips an entire row, draw a line through the row and do not count in scoring.

DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (DORF)

Start timing after student says first word and stop at 1 minute. (])

After 3 seconds, provide the next word.

No words read correct in first row.

Three passages administered and median (middle) score recorded. Each word in a skipped line is counted as an error.

* Please see the DIBELS Administration and Scoring Guide (Good & Kaminski, 2002) for comprehensive administration and scoring rules. Available at http://dibels.uoregon.edu

Suggestions for Use: One page per grade level (e.g., all first grade); one page per instructional level (e.g., benchmark, strategic, and intensive), or one page per instructional focus group

DRAFT (3/18/09)

Nonsense Word Fluency Assessment General Performance Pattern and Instructional Recommendations

Sound Only (/f/ /e/ /k/)

Sound by Sound and then Recode (/f/ /e/ /k/ /fek/)

Partial Blend (/f/ /ek/)

Whole Word or Unit Reading (/fek/)

Strategy Not Accurate (< 90% accuracy)

Accurate (>90% accuracy)

Not Accurate (< 90% accuracy)

Accurate (>90% accuracy)

Not Accurate (< 90% accuracy)

Accurate (>90% accuracy)

Not Accurate (< 90% accuracy)

Accurate (>90% accuracy)

List Student Names

(list each student once based on their

predominant pattern)

Instructional Implications

- Focus on accuracy instruction at the letter-sound level - Identify known and unknown letter-sound combinations

- Focus on blending fluency practice at the word level

- Focus on accuracy instruction at the letter-sound level and then accuracy instruction at the blending level

- Focus on blending fluency practice at the word level - Instruction in reading words as whole units

- Focus on accuracy instruction at the letter-sound level and then accuracy instruction at the blending level

- Focus on blending fluency practice at the word level - Instruction in reading words as whole units

- Focus on accuracy instruction at the letter-sound level and then accuracy instruction at the blending level

- Focus instruction on accuracy and fluency in connected text

Example Activities

- Continued Phonics Instruction - Fluency with known sounds * 1 Minute Sound Dash * Rapid Read Sounds

- Instruction in continuous blending of words with known sounds (i.e., Card 9) followed by re-reading the blended words as whole words (i.e., Card 3)

- Continued Phonics Instruction - First, Fluency with known sounds * 1 Minute Sound Dash * Rapid Read Sounds - Instruction in continuous blending of words with known sounds (i.e., Card 9) followed by re-reading the blended words as whole words (i.e., Card 3)

- Blending practice in reading words accurately as whole units * No Peeps (e.g., Sound it out in your head…Say the whole word) - Fluency with known words * 5 x 5 matrix * Rapid Read Words * Paired Peer Practice

- Continued Phonics Instruction - First, Fluency with known sounds * 1 Minute Dash * Rapid Read Sounds - Instruction in continuous blending of words with known sounds (i.e., Card 9) followed by re-reading the blended words as whole words (i.e., Card 3)

- Blending practice in reading words accurately as whole units * No Peeps (e.g., Sound it out in your head…Say the whole word) - Fluency with known words * 5 x 5 matrix * Rapid Read Words * Paired Peer Practice

- Continued Phonics Instruction - First, Fluency with known sounds * 1 Minute Dash * Rapid Read Sounds - Then, fluency practice in reading words as whole units * No Peeps (e.g., Sound it out in your head…Say the whole word)

- Fluency building activities in connected text * Repeated Reading Strategies * Partner Reading Strategies - Fluency with known words * 5 x 5 matrix * Rapid Read Words * Paired Peer Practice

General Performance Pattern and Instructional Recommendations based on Oral Reading Fluency Assessment (list students in appropriate column- only list students once)

Not Accurate Accurate but Slow Fast but Not Accurate Fluent Reading List student names

Description of ORF performance

Student makes many word reading errors or is provided words after the 3-second wait.

Student reads words with over 90% accuracy; however, many hesitations and repetitions.

Student is fast but makes many word reading or word substitution errors.

Student reads with good speed and accuracy.

Instructional Implications

Administer intervention program placement assessment to appropriately place students in an intervention program, OR administer a phonics screener to determine target skills for small group instruction.

Fluency building activities that include practice in material with at least 90% accuracy.

Administer intervention program placement assessment to appropriately place students in an intervention program, OR administer a phonics screener to determine target skills for small group instruction. If students have mastered all phonics skills, provide instruction (with incentives) for accurate reading first and then fluency (rate) instruction.

Continue to provide practice opportunities in fluency and applying comprehension strategies to various genres of text.