early grade reading assessment (egra) for monitoring

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EARLY GRADE READING ASSESSMENT (EGRA) FOR MONITORING READING SKILLS ACQUISITION BY PUPILS

By:

Gambia Association for Teachers of English (GATE) and Future In Our Hands (FIOH) in Collaboration with Curriculum Research, Evaluation and Development Directorate

(CREDD) Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE)

Funded under the MoBSE Education For All Fast Track Initiative

(EFA – FTI)

October 2010

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Table of Content

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 2

READING ACQUISITION TARGETS FOR GRADE 1 .................................................... 3

GRADE 1READING ASSESSMENT .................................................................................... 4

Grade 1 Term 1, Assessment .................................................................................................. 4

Grade 1, Term 2 Assessment Tools........................................................................................ 6

Grade 1, Term 3 Assessment Tools........................................................................................ 7

READING ACQUISITION TARGET FOR GRADE 2 ....................................................... 8

GRADE 2 READING ASSESMENT ..................................................................................... 8

Grade 2 Term 1 Assessment ................................................................................................... 8

Grade 2, Term 2 Assessment ................................................................................................ 15

Grade 2, Term 3 Assessment ................................................................................................ 18

THE MONITORING PROCESS ......................................................................................... 23

LIST OF DEVELOPERS ...................................................................................................... 25

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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this monitoring tool is to address one of the recommendations of the Report on Impact Assessment of Interventions on Early Grade Reading Ability (EGRA) in schools which suggests that teachers must be acquainted with ‘… assessment tools to enable them to conduct their own internal assessment at the classroom level and to focus on individual child’s difficulties in learning how to read’1

The tools are mainly for the classroom teachers. However, the teacher trainers and monitors can also use them by applying the same principles in assessing the learning acquisition of children at any time as they conduct support visits to schools. In this case the visitor would assess randomly selected children (at least 10 percent of the number of children in a class) and find out how many percent of children can perform reading task(s).

. The tools are developed in such a way that the teacher will track at an early stage of his/her teaching, the reading skills that individual children had acquired and those that they are yet to. This will enable the teacher to provide remedial teaching to the effect.

The monitoring tools presented cover 42 assessments to be conducted in Grades 1 and 2 at intervals and offer answers to key questions teachers should always address as they teach reading. Unfortunately, the majority of teachers teaching early graders are unable to answer these questions, thus:

• Can children read? • How do I know that they can or cannot read? • At what stage of my teaching or curriculum coverage should I conduct assessment? • What method(s) do I use at any point of my teaching to measure children’s reading abilities? • What went wrong in my teaching? • What went right in my teaching?

To address these questions the objectives or the reading acquisition targets are clearly stated for each year or grade. Instructions are given on when and how to conduct periodic assessment and the recording of individual child’s reading performance. Remember, assessment is not a test. The idea is to inform the teacher about the level of each child in order to help, rather than mere testing of performance. When the majority of pupils in a teacher’s class cannot read after several hours/days/ months of instruction, then the teacher must question and address his or her ability to teach. However, it must be remembered that teachers, trainers, school managers, parents and the monitors are key players in the monitoring of skills acquired by the children.

1 The Report is by Curriculum Research, Evaluation and In-service Training Directorate, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, November 2009, page 37.

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READING ACQUISITION TARGETS FOR GRADE 1

Objectives: By the end of year one, children should be able to recognise, sound out and associate letter sounds to letter names. In addition, they should be able to:

• Blend three letter words. • Identify sounds in words. • Form letters. • Read simple sentences. • Memorise at least 15 tricky words.

In Term one for example, teacher and pupils are expected to cover 30 letter sounds assuming that they teach at least three sounds a week as follows.

Week 1: s, a, t Week 2: i, p, n

Week 3: c/k, e, h Week 4: r, m, d

Week 5: g, o, u Week 6: l, f, b

Week 7: ai, j, oa Week 8: ie, ee, or

Week 9: z, w, ng Week 10: v, oo, OO

When should we assess the children?

The teacher is expected to conduct assessment every two weeks meaning that after teaching every six sounds, children should be assessed on what they have done. The assessment should focus on the following questions.

• Can children identify/ say the sounds? • Can children associate letter- sounds to letter- names?

The assessment tools are presented below. Please find out from national trainers any point that you feel you do no grasp.

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GRADE 1READING ASSESSMENT

Grade 1 Term 1, Assessment

Assessment 1 This assessment is expected to be conducted after teaching the sounds of these letters:

s, a, t, i, p, n Instruction

• Show the child the card containing these letters. • Ask the child to sound out the letters, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Child can sound out

Child cannot sound out

Term 1, Assessment 2: This assessment is expected to be conducted after

teaching the sounds of these letters: c/k, e, h, r, m, d

Instruction

• Show the child the card containing these letters.

• Ask the child to sound out the letters, then fill in the table below:



Term 1, Assessment 3: Expected to be conducted after teaching the sounds of

these letters: g, o, u, l, f, b.

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Instruction




Term1, Assessment 4(a): Association of letter names and sounds after teaching the following 18 letter sounds:

s, a, t, i, p, n, c/k, e, h, r, m, d, g, o, u, l, f, b

• Show the child the card containing these letters. • Ask the child to sound out the letters. • Ask the child to name the letters, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child

Date

Child can sound out

Child cannot

sound out

Child can associate

letter sounds to letter names

Child cannot associate


Term 1, Assessment 4(b): To be conducted after teaching the sounds of these letters:

ai, j, oa, ie, ee, or


Name of Child

Date

Child can sound out

Child cannot

sound out

Child can associate letter sounds to letter

names

Child cannot associate letter sounds to letter

names

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Term 1, Assessment 5: After teaching the sounds of these letters:

z, w, ng, v, oo, 00

Instruction

• Show the child the card containing these letters. • Ask the child to sound out the letters, then fill in the table below: Name of Child Date Child can

sound out Child cannot sound out

Child can associate letter sounds to letter names

Child cannot associate letter sounds to letter names

Grade 1, Term 2 Assessment Tools

Term 2, Assessment 1: To be conducted after teaching 30 letter sounds.

Instruction

• Show the child the card containing these letters and digraphs.

y, x, ch, sh, th, th, qu, ou, oi, ue, er, ar • Ask the child to sound them out, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child

Date

Child can sound out

Child cannot sound

out

Child can associate


Child cannot associate


Term 2, Assessment 2: Decoding

Instruction

• Show the child the card containing these letters.

c- a- t m- u- g m- a -n r- ai- n cat mug man rain

• Ask the child to blend the sounds to form words.

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• Ask the child to identify the number of sounds in a given word, then fill in the table below:

Name of child Date Sounds the child can

blend

Sounds the child cannot

blend

Sounds the child

can identify in

words

Sounds the child cannot

identify in words

Grade 1, Term 3 Assessment Tools Content: writing, tricky words (irregular words), reading simple sentences.

Term 3, Assessment 1a (writing) • Check if the child can write the body letters properly. • Check if the child can write the head/ tall letters properly. • Check if the child can write the tail letters properly, then fill the table below.

Name Date Child can write Child cannot

Term 3, Assessment 1b (tricky words, reading of simple sentences)

Instruction • Check if the child can read out the following tricky words:

I, we, she, come, go, to, he, my, be, there, the, me, so, do, are

• Check if the child can read out simple sentences with single sounds e.g. It is a cat.

• Check if the child can read simple sentences that have tricky words and digraphs e.g. toad puts on a coat, then fill in the table below:

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Name Date Child can

read simple

sentences with

single sounds

Child cannot read simple

sentences with single sounds

Child can read simple sentences that have

tricky words and digraphs

Child cannot

read simple sentences that have

tricky words and digraphs

No. of tricky words child

can read

READING ACQUISITION TARGETS FOR GRADE 2 Objectives: By the end of year two, pupils should be able to:

• identify alternative spellings of the nine main sounds. • write legibly (letter formation hand writing). • sound out the initial consonant blends. • blend initial consonants. • read words comprising initial consonant blends and short vowels. • identify sounds in words. • identify long vowels in given words. • read and write 30 tricky words. • form simple, short sentences. • read and comprehend simple sentences.

GRADE 2 READING ASSESMENT

Grade 2 Term 1 Assessment Assessment 1a: Expected to be conducted after teaching these alternative sounds

a-e and ay, ea of the main sounds: ai, ee.

• Show the child a sheet containing the alternative sounds. • Ask the child to sound them out, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Can sound out Cannot sound out

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Assessment 1b Term 1

• Show the child a sheet containing the following words:

pain, snail, pay, cake, name, snake, tea, eat, may, feet, sheet, each, bee, leaf, aim.

• Ask the child to read the words, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Cannot read Assessment 1c: Spelling Instruction

• Ask the child to listen carefully to the word you are going to say. • Ask the child to write down the word in his/her exercise book • Use the following words comprising the main and alternative sounds to assess the child’s

ability to spell:

ai1. paint 4. late 7. pay 10. name

, ay, a-e sound

2. day 5. hay 8. gate 3. cake 6. rain 9. clay

ee1. feet 4. beak 7. read 10. wheel

ea

2. leaf 5. bee 8. week 3. eat 6. sweet 9. bean

• Say the word at least three times. • Fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Words the child cannot spell

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Assessment 1d: Sentence Construction Instruction

• Show the child one table at a time with words in it. Table 1:

pond. A duck

in swims the

Table 2: I fish. like

• Ask the child to rearrange the words to form correct sentences. • Fill the following table.

Name of Child Date Can construct Cannot construct

Assessment 2a Term 1: To be conducted after teaching the following alternative sounds to

the main sounds ie and oa.

(1) igh, y, i-e (2) ow, o-e, oe Instruction

• Show the child a sheet containing the alternative sounds. • Ask the child to sound them out. • Fill the table below:

Name of Child Date Can sound out Cannot sound

out Assessment 2b Term 1


pie, tie, lie, high, night, light, sky, dry, fry, kite, ride, like, goat, soap, toad, low, bow, row, home, bone, nose, toe, hoe, foe.

• Ask the child to read the words and then fill the following table:

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Name of Child Date Cannot read Assessment 2c: Spelling

Instruction • Ask the child to listen carefully to the word you are going to say. • Ask the child to write down the word in his/her exercise book. • Use the following words comprising the main and alternative sounds to assess the child’s

ability to spell.

ie y i-e, igh 1. high 4. light 7. right 10.fly 2. nine 5. cry 8. kite 3. tie 6. pie 9. sky

oa o-e ow 1. bow 4. pole 7. grow 10. road 2. bone 5. row 8. stone 3. oak 6. goat 9. note

• Say the word at least three times. • Fill in the table below.


Assessment 2d: Sentence Construction

• Show the child a table with words in it Table 1:

playing football. He is

Table 2: Flowers

nice. are Table 3:

My key father’s

lost. is

• Ask the child to rearrange the words in each table to form correct sentences.

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• Fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Cannot construct Assessment 3a Term 1 Grade 2 to be conducted after teaching these alternative sounds

ue and er of the main sounds: (1) ew, u-e (2) ir, ur

• Show the child a sheet containing the alternative sounds. • Ask the child to sound them out, then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Cannot sound out

Assessment 3b Term 1 Grade 2


blue, barbecue, rescue, statue, rude, rule, new, flew, flute, stew, glue, term, cluster, diver, bird, shirt, stir, girl, purse, nurse, curl, fur • Ask the child to read the words and then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Words the child cannot read

Assessment 3c: Spelling Instruction

• Ask the child to listen carefully to the word you are going to say. • Ask the child to write down the word on his/her own • Use the following words comprising the main and alternative sounds to assess the child’s

ability to spell.

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ue u-e ew 1. blue 4. mule 7. stew 10.tube 2. glue 5. cube 8. few 3. due 6. rude 9. new

er ir ur 1. bird 4. firm 7. fur 10. ginger 2. chair 5. purse 8. mixer 3. first 6. stir 9. baker


Name of Child Date Words the child cannot spell Assessment 3d: Sentence Construction

• Show the child a table with words in it. Table 1

Ali house. lives in a

Table 2 grass. in The

is snake the

• Ask the child to rearrange the words to form correct sentences and then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Can construct Cannot construct

Assessment 4a Term 1 Grade 2: to be conducted after teaching these alternatives to the

main sounds (or, oi, ou). (1) au, aw, al (2) oy (3) ow

• Show the child a sheet containing the alternative sounds. • Ask the child to sound them out and then fill in the table below:

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Name of Child Date Cannot sound out Assessment 4b Term 1 Grade 2

• Show the child a sheet containing the following words.

pork, fork, horse, autumn, caught, pause, taught, straw, crawl, paw, talk, walk, boy, joy, soy, coin, point, oil, soil, mouth, shout, cloud, owl, cow

• Ask the child to read the words and then fill in the table below: Name of Child Date Cannot read

Assessment 4c: Spelling Instruction

• Ask the child to listen carefully to the word you are going to say. • Ask the child to write down the word in his/her exercise book. • Use the following words comprising the main and alternative sounds to assess the child’s

ability to spell.

or, au, al, aw 1. horn 4. saw 7. crawl 10. torn 2. pause 5. talk 8. draw 3. walk 6. corn 9. cause

oi, oy

1. coin 4. soil 7. foil 10. enjoy 2. oil 5. point 8. joy 3. toy 6. boy 9. join

ou, ow 1. house 4. cow 7. round 10. down 2. owl 5. pound 8. bow 11. mouth 3. cloud 6. town 9. found

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Assessment 4d: Sentence Construction

• Show the child a table with words in it. Table 1

bananas. Ali likes

Table 2

climbing tree. Modou

a is

• Ask the child to rearrange the words to form correct sentences and then fill in the table

below. Name of Child Date Cannot construct

Grade 2, Term 2 Assessment: Writing, Tricky Words The purpose of the assessment is to check if the child can:

• arrange the alphabet in order • associate small letters to their capitals • read out the given tricky words • spell words and write short sentences

Assessment 1a Term 2 Grade 2 • Show the child a sheet of paper containing the 26 letters of the alphabet not written in order

(jumbled up).

v, l, h, g, s, a, y, w, b, d, z, q, m, n, f, c, r, p, x, i, e, k, j, u, o, t.

• Ask the child to arrange them in order and then fill in the table below.

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Name Date Can arrange Cannot arrange

Assessment 1b Term 2 Grade 2 • Give the child a sheet of paper containing the 26 letters of the alphabet written in small

letters. • Ask the child to write/associate the letters using capitals • Fill in the table below.

Name Date Letters the child cannot write and associate

Grade 2 Term 2 Assessment 2a: Tricky words

• Check if the child can read out the following tricky words.

like, no, old, their, said, some, here, live, by, you, give, they, one, your, was.

• Fill in the table below: Name Date Number of Tricky words the

child cannot read

Assessment 2b Dictation

The evaluation criteria in dictation are to check if the child:

• Writes the letters correctly. • Spells the words correctly. • Uses appropriate spacing (should have some spacing between words—size of spacing does

not matter). • Uses appropriate direction of text (left to right). • Uses capital letter for the word at the beginning of the sentence. • Uses correct punctuation (“full stop” at end of sentence).

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Instruction

• Dictate the following sentences to assess the child in the skills stated above.

ai – The maid has a pail of milk. a-e – I dig with a spade. ay – I like to play with a ball. ee – We like to eat sweets. ea – The man sits on a seat

• Note the difficulties of individual children. • Assist the child to overcome the difficulties.

Assessment 2c: Dictation Instruction

• Refer to the evaluation criteria for dictation under Assessment 2b • Dictate the following sentences to assess the child.

ie – There is spice in the pie. i-e – He likes to ride my bike. igh – The moon shines at night. y – The birds fly in the sky. oa – I wear a coat to go out. ow – Lamin is rowing a boat. o-e – A frog is on the stone. oe – I kicked the stone with my toe.


Assessment 2d: Dictation Instruction


ue – He is wearing a blue shirt. u-e – A ruler is made of wood. ew – Mother has made a stew for the barbecue. oi – My pencil has a point. oy – Oysters live in the sea.


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Assessment 2e: Dictation Instruction


ou – The cloud is over the sun. ow – An owl has big eyes. or – The bull has horns. au – Mother cooks in a saucepan. aw – I drink milk with a straw. al - Lamin is on the bean stalk.


Assessment 2f: Dictation er – A baker makes bread for us. ir – A girl wears a skirt. ur – I keep money in a purse.

Grade 2, Term 3 Assessment

Assessment 1 • Show the child a card containing these initial consonant blends:

br, fl, sl, gr, tr, sw, st, dr, pr, tw, pl • Ask the child to sound out the blends and then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Cannot sound out

Grade 2 - Term 3 - Assessment 2

• Show the child a card containing words comprising initial consonant blends with short

vowels (e.g. frog, slap, snip, plum, trek).

• Ask the child to read the words and then fill in the table below.

Name of Child Date Can read Cannot read

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Grade 2 Assessments 3a - Term 3

• Show the child a card containing these words comprising long vowels

snail, sweet, bright, float, blue • Ask the child to read the words and then fill in the table below:

Name of Child Date Cannot read

Assessment 3b: Reading Comprehension

Instruction

• Inform the child that he/she is to read the passage that follows after which he/she will be asked questions about the passage2

Musa caught two fish. .

A big fish and a small one.

He puts them on the table.

A cat came and ate the big one.

Musa caught the cat and threw it into the river.

• Show the child a sheet containing the passage. • Ask the child to start reading. • Ask the child to write down the answers to the questions below one at a time. • Fill in the table as they write the answers to the questions.

Questions

1. How many fish did Musa catch? (two) 2. Where did he put them? (on the table) 3. Who ate the fish? (a cat) 4. Where did Musa throw the cat? (into the river)

2 Ensure that the child understands the instruction on what he/she is to do and what is expected of him/her.

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Child name Date Child can correctly answer

question number (s)

Child cannot give correct answer to questions number(s)

Assessment 4: Reading Comprehension


Farmer Brown has many animals in his farm. He has black cats and brown rabbits. He has white sheep, thin, black goats and fat, round pigs. Farmer Brown’s wife helps him to feed the animals. They like their animals.

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Questions

1. How many animals has Farmer Brown? (many) 2. What colour are the sheep? (white) 3. Are the goats black or brown? (black) 4. Who helps Farmer Brown to feed the animals? (his wife)

Child name Date Child can correctly answer

question number (s)

Child cannot correctly answer

question number(s)


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Assessment 5a Term 3 Grade 2: Reading comprehension Instruction


Burama has a big, black crab. He got the crab from the beach. Burama puts the crab in a black, bin bag. He gives the bag to his brother Bonto. Bonto takes the bag and runs to his father’s farm.

.


Questions

1. Who has a big black crab? (Burama) 2. Where did he get the crab from? (the beach) 3. Is Bonto Burama’s brother or father? (brother) 4. Where did Bonto run to? (his father’s farm)

Child name Date Child can

correctly answer

question number (s)

Child cannot correctly answer to question

number(s)

Assessment 5b Term 3 Grade 2 Reading comprehension



.


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The blind old man has a blue blanket. His wife has a grey blanket. The blue blanket is small. The grey blanket is torn.


Questions

1. Who has the blue blanket? (the blind old man) 2. Which blanket is torn? (the grey blanket) 3. How many blankets are there? (two blankets) 4. Who has the small blanket? (the blind old man)

Child name Date Child can

correctly answer

question number (s)

Child cannot correctly answer

question number(s)

Assessment 5c Term 3 Grade 2 Listening comprehension Instruction

• Tell a short interesting story for the child to listen to. • Ask the child simple, oral questions about the story to assess the child’s listening skills.

Assessment 5d Term 3 Grade 2: Reading comprehension

Instruction

• Ask the child to read the following passage and answer the questions that follow • As the child reads, check how many words the child is able to read in one minute

There once lived a woman called Binta, who would not share anything with anybody. One day Amie came to her asking for an onion. She did not want Amie to disturb her, so she gave her the onion.

After a long time, the woman died and was in hell. She was burning in the fire and an angel asked her ,to tell him at least one thing she has ever done good.

She remembered the onion she once gave to Amie and told the angel.

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Immediately she mentioned the onion, a big onion dropped down on her and she held on to it. As she rose above the fire, another person who was with her, held on to her foot. She immediately kicked him back saying “ the onion was mine so you can’t be save by it. “

1. Who was the bad woman?

2. Who came to ask for an onion?

3. Name one good thing Binta did in her life

4. How many onions did Binta gave Amie?

5. What saved Binta from the fire?

6. Did Binta help the other person who was with her in the fire?

THE MONITORING PROCESS

Who monitors? Monitoring should be conducted by national trainers, cluster monitors/trainers and school supervisors (the headteacher, the deputies and senior teachers). Who to monitor? A random selection of pupils (e.g. 10% of class roll) What do we monitor? Content of the terms. Grade 1

Term one - content of the term.

• Letter sound production • Associating letter names to letter sounds.

Term two – content of the term

• Blending • Identifying sounds in words.

Term three – content of the term

• Letter formation • Read simple sentences • Tricky words.

Grade 2

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Term 1 Alternative sounds Associating small letters to capital letters Term 2 Blending (initial consonant blends) Identifying sounds in word Sentence construction Term 3 Comprehension (reading and listening)

KEY MESSAGES/ RECOMMENDATION

1. All the supervisors , cluster monitors, cluster trainers and national trainers, head teachers must have in their possession:

a. The training guide on early literacy skills b. The teacher assessment tools for assessing basic reading skills

2. Through out the first year, the teacher should continuously review the sounding of letters,

associating the letter sounds to letter names and blending simple three letter words. 3. In the second year, the assessment should focus on associating main sounds with their

alternatives, spelling of words with alternative sounds, sentence construction and comprehension (reading and listening).

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LIST OF DEVELOPERS

No. Name Address

1. Burama L.J Jammeh CREDD

2. Kumba Manneh Sanneh GATE

3. Momodou Jeng INSET

4. Adama Jimba Jobe GATE

5. Rohey Silla GATE

6. Isatou Badjan GATE

7. Mariatou Ndure GATE

8. Sainey Gibba GATE

9. Emily Gomez GATE

10. Lamin Jawara GATE

11. Nicholas Pa Bass GATE

12. Elizabeth Ndow GATE

13. Faatu Touray GATE

14. Momodou AA Jeng MOBSE

15. Omar Jatta SQAD

16. Sang Gomez SQAD

17. Karamba Sonko CREDD

18. Isatou Nyang CREDD

19. Momodou Jammeh CREDD

20. Alagie Bah GATE

21. Fatou Janneh GATE

22. Aminata Jaiteh BSED

23. Muntu Mboob CREDD

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No. Name Address

24. Muhammed Kebbeh RED 3

25. Abdoulie Bondi RED 5

26. Ibraihim Janko Sanneh RED 4

27. Fanta Samateh RED 2

28. Saite Saine RED 3

29. Lamin Sonko SQAD

30. Aji Fatou Bin Njie HRD

31. Amadou Sambou FIOH

32. Kristina FIOH

33. Gida Khan GATE

34. Omar J. Ndure GATE

early grade reading assessment (egra) for monitoring

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