LPS Universal Screener Resources * 2013-2014

The use of a universal screener is integral to any type of instructional intervention: the classroom teacher has to know where students are performing in critical, grade specific, academic areas. By nature, a screener is simply that: a quick assessment to screen students so that the classroom teacher can determine which children need further diagnostic testing or instructional interventions. As the OSS Universal Screener Work Group began the task of determining which assessments to use, we first established some important criteria:

The universal screener should put no additional burden on classroom teachers related to time, effort, or training.

The assessment should be quick, give immediate feedback and provide useable results.

It is expected that the Universal Screeners be administered three times per year:1. during the first 2 weeks of September so teachers can quickly establish small

guided reading and intervention groups,2. in January so teachers have the information needed to write report cards, to inform

parents of the intervention used and resulting progress monitoring, and to adjust intervention plans for struggling learners.

3. in March so that instruction can be adjusted for the remainder of the year.Several of the assessments can be administered in a whole class or small group setting: These include Spelling Inventory, Representing Phonemes with Letters and Maze Passages. The other assessments require less than 5 minutes per student. The recommendations are solidly correlated with the criteria from Jan Richardson’s book The Next Step in Guided Reading, chapter 2 on assessment and grouping. Training should be minimal, or could be accomplished in building at staff meetings. We encourage opportunities for staff to have some cross grade level sharing on “how it is working for me”.

Fall (1st 2 wks. of Sept.)

Winter (January) Spring (March)

Kindergarten

Letter Name, Letter Sound

LN*, LS*, Representing Phonemes with Letters, High Frequency Words

LN*, LS*, RPL*, HFW*

1st Grade Spelling Inventory (15 words), Kdg. HFW, DS

Spelling Inventory (18 words), 1st gr. HFW, DS

Spelling Inventory (25 words), 1st gr. HFW*, DS

2nd Grade Spelling Inventory, 1st gr. HFW, Fall Maze (I)

Spelling Inventory, 2nd gr. HFW, Winter Maze (J)

Spelling Inventory, 2nd gr. HFW*, Spring Maze (L)

3rd GradeSelect One for Year

Spelling Inventory, Fall Maze (M), Fall Fluency Passages

Spelling Inventory, Winter Maze (N), Winter Fluency Passages

Spelling Inventory, Spring Maze (O), Spring Fluency Passages

4th GradeSelect One for Year

Spelling Inventory, Fall Maze (P), Fall Fluency Passages

Spelling Inventory, Winter Maze (Q), Winter Fluency Passages

Spelling Inventory, Spring Maze (Q), Spring Fluency Passages

* = if neededLN = Letter Naming LS = Letter Sound

HFW = High Frequency WordsDS = Dictated SentenceRPW = Representing Phonemes with Words – reference Jan Richardson, pg. 44 (district benchmarks would be based on a ‘number of correct phonemes’ count).(Phonemes with Letters (PWL), Phoneme Segmentation (PS), and Rhyming would be used as additional screeners for students who are not successful in the DS screener)

Teachers can access materials on the OSS web site, or through the school Achievement Team.

Letter and Sound Identification

Time needed to Administer: 2 to 3 minutes per child.Time needed to Score: No additional time, score as you go. Letter Identification Assessment(adapted from Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I)

Description:Children say the names of the alphabet by recognizing the shapes of uppercase and lowercase letters.

You need: Uppercase Letter Recognition Sheet (Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I, Assessment

Forms p. 231) Lowercase Letter Recognition Sheet (Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I, Assessment

Forms p. 232) Letter Identification Record Sheet

Why use it:Studies show that letter identification at school entry remains a major predictor of success in learning to read. (Calhoun, 2004) It is important for teachers to be aware of the letters and sounds the child knows. As more and more letters and sounds are controlled, the child will be able to demonstrate greater flexibility while reading and writing. This assessment will identify letter forms children can associate with the corresponding letter name. Use this information to plan lessons on letters and also to decide what letters and letter features to bring to children’s attention during interactive writing or shared reading.

How to use it: Administer this assessment individually. Start with upper case letters and then assess lowercase letters. Give the child the Uppercase Letter Recognition Sheet. Cover all but the top row. Point to each letter in the

top row and ask the child, “What’s this?” Once the child understands, have the child continue reading across as you move down the rows. If the child pauses more than three to five seconds, tell the child to go on to the right. Repeat the process with the Lowercase Letter Recognition Sheet.

Record responses on the child’s Letter Identification Record Sheet.

What to notice: Number of letters named accurately Unknown letter names Speed in letter recognition Letter confusions and substitutions Sounds known without knowledge of letter names

Letter Sound Identification Assessment(adapted from Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I)

Description:Children say the most common sound associated with each letter of the alphabet.

You need: Lowercase Letter Recognition Sheet (Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I, Assessment

Forms p. 232. Lower case letters are used because children should be able to recognize lower case letters in reading texts.)

Letter Sound Identification Record Sheet

Why use it:This assessment will identify letter sounds children can associate with each letter of the alphabet. Use this information to plan lessons on letters sounds and also to decide what letter sounds to bring to children’s attention during interactive writing or shared reading.

How to use it: Administer this assessment individually. Give the child the lowercase Letter Recognition Sheet. Cover all but the top row. Do not name the letter for

the child. Point to each letter in the top row and ask the child, “What sound does this letter make?” Ask for additional sounds for “c” and “g”. Once the child understands, have the child continue identifying letter sounds across as you move down the rows. If the child pauses more than three to five seconds, tell the child to go on to the right.

Expect students to identify vowels as short vowel sound. Record the number of correct responses on the child’s Letter Sound Identification Record Sheet.

What to notice: Number of letter sounds named accurately Unknown letter sounds Speed in letter sound recognition Letter sound confusions and substitutions Sounds known without knowledge of letter names Words that a child associates with a letter

For the Uppercase Letter Sheet, see p. 231 in your Assessment Forms book (F&P Benchmark Assessment System 1).

For the Lowercase Letter Sheet, see p. 232 in your Assessment Forms book (F&P Benchmark Assessment System 1).

Name_______________________________________ Grade ______ Year______________

Letter Identification Record

Letter 1st 2nd 3rd substitutions Letter 1st 2nd 3rd substitutions

H h E e M m T t I i P p Q q U u O o C c W w B b X x V v J j S s G g N n Y y K k Z z R r A a F f L l D d

1st 2nd. 3rd

Letter Sound Identification Record

Lette

r

1st 2nd 3rd substitutions Letter 1st 2nd 3rd substitutions

h v

e j

m s

t g

i n

p y

q k

u z

o r

c a

w f

b lx d

1st 2nd. 3rd

Spelling Inventories

Spelling inventories are used as a tool for identifying developmental spelling stages of students. Ideally, the same inventory would be given three times a year to monitor growth. A suggested timeline for these inventories is early /mid-September, January, and mid-March. There are two spelling inventories that are part of the Words Their Way program that can be used to assess the spelling levels of your students. The Primary Spelling Inventory is used in kindergarten through third grade. The Elementary Spelling Inventory can be used as early as first grade and through sixth grade. Schools that want to give all grades the same inventory for data purposes should give the Elementary Spelling Inventory.

Feature Guides are used to analyze the spelling inventories. Before assessing your students, you will need to make a copy of the corresponding Feature Guide for each student in your class. These will be used when scoring the inventories and identifying the developmental spelling level of each student. Students are assessed on different features of words, not just on accurately spelling the word. For example, if the word is bed and a child spells the word bad, the child would still get the points for beginning sound and ending sound, yet not earn the feature point for mid-word vowel sound.

The information gained from spelling inventories is used to identify the needs of students and differentiate instruction. Using the data from the inventory, you will identify a developmental spelling stage for each student and form word study groups. Typically, a class would have students grouped in the level that corresponds to a grade level and one level above and/or below. Administering the spelling inventory again in January will allow you to reassess student needs and adjust the groups as needed.

Procedure for Administering the Spelling Inventory

Time needed to Administer: 15 to 30 minutes per class or group.Time needed to Score: Approximately 2 hours per class of 30.

Below is the suggested procedure for administering spelling inventories:1. Identify the inventory that would work best for your grade level and group of students.2. For First Grade… When using as a screener, give only the first 15 words in the Fall, 18

words in the Winter, and 25 in the Spring. 3. Administer the inventory to your students by reading words and sentences as specified in the

Primary or Elementary Spelling Inventory. (A copy is included in this guide or may be found in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, fourth edition).

4. Use the Feature Guide to score the inventory. (See below for details and tips on scoring). (Note: for the purpose of the universal screener, record the Total Score. This is the Feature score plus the Number of Words spelled correctly.)

5. Determine how you will group students for instruction using the Spelling-by-Stage Classroom Organization Chart. (A copy is included in this guide or may be found in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, fourth edition).

Tips for Administering the Spelling Inventory

Feel free to allow students to stop midway through the spelling inventory if they begin to miss several consecutive words in a row. One way to approach this is to identify a point in the list where you anticipate it becoming a challenge for some of your students, and then give the inventory in two sessions. After scoring the first portion, you would only give the second portion of the list to students that made few or no errors in the first part of the list.

Use the same inventory throughout the year to monitor student growth and achievement.

Some teachers like to use three different colors of pen and mark the same Feature Guide at the beginning, middle, and end of the year for each student. In this way, teachers can monitor student progress over time.

Analyzing Results

For the purpose of the screener, record the “total /composite score” of the inventory. To determine the developmental spelling stage for each student:

o One simple rule is to look for the first column on the Feature Guide in which a student misses 2 spelling features. Then look for the spelling stage at the top of the column.

o Use the chart – “Words Spelled Correctly/Total Feature Points + Words Spelled Correctly by Spelling Stages” in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction by Donald Bear.

Use the Word Study Grouping Chart to sort students by their developmental stages. Simply write student names under the developmental stage. Then create groups of students that have similar needs.

As you are grouping your students, remember that word study is just one small chunk of your

day and it needs to be manageable. When looking at the levels of your spellers on their Feature Guide, look for clusters of scores to help you determine your groupings. Remember, any more than three groups can be difficult to manage! When grouping students whose spelling level is not an exact match for your groupings, use your professional judgment, what you know about the student as a learner, as well as the data from the Feature Guide to help guide your decisions.

For more information about the use of Spelling Inventories and Feature Guides see:

Chapter 2 and Appendix A in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, fourth edition.

Examples of Spelling Inventories and Feature Guides in the supplemental DVD found in Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction, fourth edition.

Representing Phonemes with Letters

(adapted from Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I)

Time needed to Administer: 10 to 15 minutes per group or class.Time needed to Score: Approximately 15 minutes per group or class.

Description:Children say words slowly and write the sounds they hear in sequential order.

You Need: Representing Phonemes with Letters: Student Assessment Form 1 or 2. When using as a

universal screener, use Form 1. Representing Phonemes with Letters Scoring Guide

Why Use ItIf a child also knows how to write letters, he or she can produce strong invented spellings of virtually any word, and can read many phonetically regular words by sounding and blending. (Walpole and McKenna, 2007)

This assessment will give you information about whether children can say words slowly, think about the sounds in words, and record some of them by remembering and writing associated letters. These are complex sets of information. Children are being asked to say and hear a sound, associate it with a letter and the directional movements needed to write the letter, and then use these movements to write the letter in a legible form.

How to Use It This assessment can be administered individually or in a group setting. Children should be

placed so that they cannot see each other’s work. There are two different forms of this test. Alternate the use of these forms to gain a greater

understanding of a student’s ability to represent phonemes with letters. Teacher should model stretching out a word slowly and writing down the letters that represent

the phonemes. Children should point to the pictures on the student sheet, and say the names out loud to insure

proper identification. Children should repeat the names slowly, and then write the phonemes they hear in sequential

order.

What to Notice: Ability to identify labels for objects represented by pictures Ability to say words very slowly, to hear each of the sounds Ability to say, hear and identify the individual sounds in words Ability to form letters The sequence of sounds the child hears and records

Name________________________________________ Date _____________Representing Phonemes with Letters: Student Assessment Form #1

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

________________________________________________

Points Earned: _____/16

Reading High Frequency Words

(adapted from Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System I)

Time needed to Administer: 5 minutes per student.Time needed to Score: No additional time, score as you go.

Description:Children read 25 high frequency words.

You Need: The list of 25 High Frequency Words (See Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System

I, Assessment Forms, p. 240) 25 High Frequency Words Assessment – Individual Record form

Why Use ItConfidence in reading ability improves when children are successful in reading high frequency words. Good readers decode words so that they are said “instantly.” Assuring young readers have automaticity of high frequency words is essential to comprehension.

This assessment will give you information about children’s general knowledge of easy high frequency words as well as the particular words they know. The substitutions they make will also reveal something about their knowledge of letter/sound relationships and spelling patterns.

How to Use It Administer this assessment individually. Ask the child to read down the columns of 25 high frequency words. Tip: Use a sheet of paper to cover all but the column the child is currently reading. On the Individual Record form, mark the child’s correct responses as well as substitutions. Record the results of the assessment on the child’s 25 High Frequency Words Assessment –

Individual Record form.

What to Notice: Words the child can read correctly Words the child can read almost correctly Whether the child reads the word with automaticity or decodes Letter/sound relationships the child controls

For the High Frequency Word Card, see p. 240 in your Assessment Forms book (F&P Benchmark Assessment System 1).

WORD SELECTION

The word lists included are listed by grade level and are high frequency words. There are many resources for high frequency words. The words listed in the LPS Word Study Guide are a match with the high frequency words in the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System kit. The first and second grade lists are reduced to 25 words for the purposes of this screener only.

KINDERGARTEN LIST

25 High Frequency Words

Kindergarten High Frequency Word List- Individual Record

no am

is we

can like

me see

you I

and go

he it

at do

a an

so the

on my

in to

up

STUDENT NAME:

Word Check if Correct SubstitutionnoiscanmeyouandheatasooninupamwelikeseeIgoitdoanthemytoTotal

FIRST GRADE LIST -- 25/50 High Frequency Words

ball boy

how out

read then

has come

play they

yes day

are this

jump went

saw eat

so was

all girl

look

she

will

First Grade High Frequency Word List (25/50 for Screener)- Individual Record

STUDENT NAME:

Word Check if Correct SubstitutionballhowreadhasplayyesarejumpsawsoalllooksheboyoutthencometheydaythiswenteatwasgirlwillTotal

SECOND GRADE LIST -- 25/100 High Frequency Words

from their

able three

going can’t

almost mother

where place

anything city

across don’t

because could

here sleep

I’m fast

know fish

world

write

just

SECOND GRADE LIST -- 25 / 100 High Frequency Words

STUDENT NAME:

Word Check if Correct SubstitutionfromablegoingalmostwhereanythingacrossbecausehereI’mknowworldwritetheirthreecan’tmotherplacecitydon’tcouldsleepfastfishjustTotal

Dictated Sentence

Time needed to Administer: 10 to 15 minutes per group or class.Time needed to Score: Approximately one hour per class of 30.

Being able to hear the sounds in words the child wants to write directs their attention to phonemic awareness.“Recent research has made it clear that we must pay attention to four aspects of how the sounds of English are represented in print.

1. Children have to learn to hear the sounds buried within words and this is not an easy task.

2. Children have to learn to visually discriminate the symbols we use in print.3. Children have to learn to link single symbols and clusters of symbols with the sounds

they represent.4. Children have to learn that there are many alternatives and exceptions in our system

of putting sounds into print.” (Clay. P.65)

Testing Conditions:

Students are tested in a large or small group or individually, as appropriate.

Materials Needed:

Directions for Dictated Sentence - Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words Paper (unlined for beginning readers) or Recording Sheet (with boxes)

Directions for Administering:

The teacher dictates the sentence to the students as indicated. The purpose is to assess the student’s ability to hear and record sounds in words. It is not an evaluation of the child’s writing or letter formations, nor is it a spelling test.

Note: The same sentence is used each time the assessment is administered to provide a “picture” of growth over time.Recording:

Score one point for each correct response. Record responses and other observations on the Teacher/Recording Observation

Folder for each student. Save student Recording Sheets for further comparison. Record results on the Class Profile Chart. Record Spring (year end) results on Individual Student Profile Chart.

Standards For:

Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words(Dictation)

Beginning Developing Competent

0-20 21-49 50-56

Directions For Hearing and RecordingSounds in Words (Kindergarten)

Note: The same sentence is used each time the assessment is administered.

The teacher says, “I am going to read you a story. When I have read it through once I will read it again very slowly so that you can write the words of the story.” Read through the sentences at normal speed. “Some of the words are hard. Say them slowly and think how you would write them.” Repeat each word individually as students write it.

If the child has difficulty say, “You say it slowly. How would you start to write it? What can you hear? What else do you hear?” If the child cannot complete the word, say “ We’ll leave that word. The next word is…”

T h e g r a y c a t f e l l w h e n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

h e j u m p e d o n m y b e d 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Scoring: Total Points: 28

Score one point for each sound (phoneme) the child has recorded. Count only the numbered letters. Extra letters added by the child do not affect scoring. Since this test involves sound analysis, accept substitutions such as the following, even though the spelling is incorrect. The sound is sometimes recorded in this way:

kat cun cat sun

Reversed letters are counted correct except when that letter could represent a different sound (e.g.. Not correct: ‘dus’ for ‘bus’). Then it is not counted.

Directions For Hearing and RecordingSounds in Words (Grades 1-2)

Note: The same sentence is used each time the assessment is administered.

The teacher says, “I am going to read you a story. When I have read it through once I will read it again very slowly so that you can write the words of the story.” Read through the sentences at normal speed. “Some of the words are hard. Say them slowly and think how you would write them.” Repeat each word individually as students write it.

If the child has difficulty say, “You say it slowly. How would you start to write it? What can you hear? What else do you hear?” If the child cannot complete the word, say “ We’ll leave that word. The next word is…”

M o m, I c a n j u s t s e e t h e 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

y e l l o w b u s t h a t w e a r e g o i n g 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

t o r i d e i n. I h o p e w e h a v e a 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

l o t o f f u n. 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Scoring: Total points: 56Score one point for each sound (phoneme) the child has recorded. Count only the numbered letters. Extra letters added by the child do not affect scoring. Since this test involves sound analysis, accept the following substitutions, even though the accurate spelling is incorrect. The sound is sometimes recorded in this way:

kan gust ce uv can just see ofReversed letters are counted correct except when that letter could represent a different sound (e.g.. ‘dus’for’bus’). Then it is not counted.

Maze Comprehension Passages Available on OSS Website

Grade LevelFall (1st two weeks of

September)Passage from…

Winter(January)

Passage from…

Spring(March)

Passage from…2nd Grade The Three Little Pigs by

Alyse Sweeny (Level I)It’s About Time – Mara Rockliff (Level J)

The Treasure Hunt -- Angela Shelf Medearis (Level 2.5)

3rd Grade The Bakery Abuelos and the Three Bears – Jerry Tello

Mary McLeod Bethune – Eloise Greenfield

4th Grade Tonight is Carnaval – Arthur Dorros

The Gossip Monster – Katherine Follett

Mr. and Mrs. Juicy-O

Time needed to Administer: Test is timed to three minutes.Time needed to Score: Approximately 20 to 30 minutes per class.

Testing Conditions: Administer Whole Class or Small Group

Materials Needed: Student Copies, Answer Key, TimerPassages are available on OSS website under Student

Services Tab.

Directions for Administering: (Before the test you may want to demonstrate how to take it. Explain that it is okay if students do not finish all items.)

Students are not to look at copy until directed to. Pass out test copies. Students have THREE MINUTES to circle as many

responses correctly as possible.

Scoring: Count correct responses.

Fluency AssessmentsTime needed to Administer: Approximately five to seven minutes per student. Student reads three fluency passages timed at one minute each.Time needed to score: No additional time needed, score as you go.

Testing Conditions: Find a quiet place, administer one to one.

Materials Needed: TimerStudent Copies of the passages (3 passages)Administrator scoring sheets (3 per student)Passages can be found on OSS website (under Student

Service Tab)

Directions for Administering:

1. Place the student copy of the test in front of the student and read the directions to him: “Please carefully read this passage to me. I will stop you after one minute.”

2. Set the timer for one minute.3. Follow along on the scoring sheet and note all substitutions or omissions.4. Place a vertical line after the last word the student reads when time is up. 5. Repeat this process so the student reads all three passages.

Scoring: The score for the sample is the total number of words read less any substitutions or omissions. Take the average of the three passages.