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Week 5

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Week 4

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Reading Diagnostic Paper

The Evaluation of Reading Diagnostic Tests

Summary

            The important role of a teacher is being able to know their students by determining their strengths and weaknesses.  This is an ongoing process where the teacher wants to see their students to show progress.  The best way is to be aware of the best reading diagnostic assessments available that will test students in all aspects of reading.  The teacher needs to make sure the student is assigned to right reading level, so they can thrive without frustration.  Each school usually has several diagnostic tests they use for the students.  You need to look at all aspects of reading and make sure the test will properly measure the student’s reading level and be to diagnose any reading problems.  The best strategy would be not to rely on one assessment for accuracy and reliability, but take a look at several.  Additionally, the students need to be tested on a regular basis because a test only measures the student’s ability at that point in time.  Most tests are quick screening tools that help the teacher identify problems and confirm reading levels for students.  The test can measure vocabulary, reading word lists, phonics, oral and silent reading, reading comprehension, visual cues, reading fluency, etc. A teacher wants to look at the best assessments for their class in order to make effective decisions.  The students look at their assessment results as a way to confirm their skills by being able to their progress. 

The table will below will describe in detail the purpose, appropriateness, strengths, and weaknesses of five widely used reading assessments.  The Basic Reading Inventory is a quick assessment that provides a solid base for a teacher to create a reading plan from testing the student on sight words and word passages. Slosson Intelligence Test Primary (SIT-P) is used in early education to identify any problems students may have in reading.  The Slosson Oral Reading Test and Wepman’s Auditory Discrimination Test are quick screening tools that should be used with other assessments.  Visual Motor Integration Test helps diagnose students with visual discrimination issues that can cause problems in reading.  Gray’s Diagnostic Reading Test is very reliable and the result would stand on its own; however, you should always look at more than one assessment.

Reading Diagnostic Assessment Table

Test	Purpose	Strengths	Weaknesses	Appropriateness
Basic Reading Inventory (BRI) Test	BRI is an easy assessment to administer to determine the level of the reader by evaluating their reading fluency by measuring accuracy, rate, and prosody.   The BRI test the student on grade level sight words and passages with comprehension questions, timed reading to determine a student’s rate of how many words per minute they can read.  Both silent and oral reading is measured.   The assessment can measure how many words they got right, substitute or get wrong.  This helps create a reading plan based on the student’s reading level.	A valuable diagnostic tool to find the instructional level and evaluate the student on right grade leveled word lists or reading passages.   The teacher can individually evaluate the students and place the students in reading groups and provide reading materials based on their instructional level.   The teacher can quickly measure reading fluency and comprehension and determine what direction to take his/her instruction.	There is no clear separation narrative or expository passages lacking a good balance between the two   Most passages are drawn from textbooks instead of stories   Differences in passage lengths   Variability in measures based on the type of BRI assessment used on student   Comprehension questions are informal and can affect the normal classification scheme of reading comprehension	This a good assessment tools to help group students and developing reading plans to help them grow and improve.   This is a good starting point and the teacher can conduct other assessments to confirm the BRI results.   The BRI provides consistent results that help the students enhance reading skills with less frustration.
Gray Diagnostic Reading Test (Psychological Reading Test)	GORT-4 measures the growth in oral reading and an aid in diagnosing reading difficulties.  It is for 6-18 yr. olds   The assessment has five scores that reflects rate, accuracy, fluency, comprehension and overall reading ability   It has developmentally sequenced reading passages with five comprehension questions following each passage.   Identifies students who are below their peers in oral reading proficiency, diagnose specific reading strengths and weaknesses, and document student reading growth as a result of special intervention.	The test is takes in account in its passages the differences of key demographic variables such as race, gender, ethnicity, and geographic region   Provide reliable and consistent measures of students where teachers can develop appropriate lessons and have the students groups in the appropriate reading leveled groups   The results help diagnose reading problems with students	Even though the assessment takes in accounts for key demographic variables there is not research to back it up	The highly reliable assessment with a scientific base where the teacher can be confident about the results. This assessment is appropriate to group the students in the right reading groups and know where they stand with reading   The results on first test and retest can reflect growth in reading   This test has history to accurately measure students, but you should always look at other assessments to correctly diagnose the children with reading difficulties.
Slosson Intelligence Test Primary (SIT-P)	Assessment for 2-7 yr. olds   Covers 121 verbal questions covering vocabulary, comprehension, auditory sentence memory and short-term memory numbers and 90 nonverbal covering nonverbal spatial reasoning, visual motor integration and speed of visual processing   Early screening that allows to identify individual needs and determine if further assessment or special services are required for the student	Quick assessment that takes less time to administer, score and interpret the results.   Can make efficient decision about the student   A qualified master level educator counselor gives the assessment and they are qualified to administer, score, and interpret the results to lead to consistent, accurate decisions	The test for the 2-3 yr. olds is less stable when their environment and responses are changing drastically   Ignores the differences and consistencies with gifted students, students with special needs, lower socioeconomic and at risk populations   Ignores individual differences and unfair to categorized to get reasonable fit for educational needs.	The test is more appropriate for the 4-7 yr. old where the results are consistence where they have the developed knowledge by school age to complete the test and results are reliable   The test is less appropriate for 2-3 yr. olds where results are inconsistent based on their learning experiences   The test is a helpful tool for getting quick results to provide the student any additional services they may need   Finally, you should always look at other assessment to accurately place the student because you cannot rely on one assessment alone
Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT)	A quick screening test that looks at oral word recognition and determines a student’s reading level   A list of 200 word arranged in order of difficulty.  This can be given to students 4 and older   It can be used to assess a student’s progress, determine grade reading level, and see if further diagnostic testing is needed	Satisfactory reliability in the results and it test oral reading skills   The content has been reviewed by experts, textbook authors and compared to various curriculum guides where the lists have validity   Words are selected to show reading progress	Not an assessment that measures all aspects of reading such as word knowledge and comprehension   The assessment sample has not proven results to show norm data from all demographic groups or students with special needs to gifted students	This is a quick assessment for screening only you cannot use the results to determine a student’s reading level without further assessments   This test is meant for initial screening or research where pair with other tests and a teacher’s judgment the student can be confidentially classified in the right reading level
Visual Motor Integration Test (Visual Discrimination Test)	There are two main VMITs :  Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (DTVMI) and the Full Range Test of Visual Motor Integration (FRTVMI) both measure similar visual motor integration constructs   This help determine if there will be learning disabilities that can be addressed by measuring visual motor skills	This a quick test that takes 5-15 minutes and is easy to score   Reliable and unbiased measure of visual motor ability   Can help diagnose learning disabilities that visual discrimination problems	There can a difference in results based on sex because of maturity   This cannot be used as a repeated assessment on a student to measure progress   You only can see assessment at that point in time	This is appropriate as a helpful tool to assess students with visual discrimination problems that can affect their reading level to determine a reading plan for them   This assessment is good for an initial measure and diagnosis, but when looking at long-term growth a teacher needs to look at other assessment tools
Wepman’s Auditory Discrimination Test	Individual test where the test involves instructing the child to indicate if the word pairs read aloud are the same or different from 40 pairs of words in five minutes   An assessment of student's ability to discriminate between commonly used phonemes through the measure of the ability hear spoken language	Easy test to administer and score   Can help identify children who have delayed speech or difficulty with reading	Examiner reliability and background noise for this test can produce results that not accurately measure the students ability   Not clear if poor auditory discrimination is significant factor for articulation problems   Should be a screening test where major decisions are made about the student   Variation may result based on rate of presentation and emphasis on word pairs	This test should be use with other assessments and this test can be the initial measurement to classify students   Again, should be used to make decisions on determining reading levels   This is a quick assessment along with the teacher’s judgment can help the students who are having difficulties with reading

 

References

Erfold, B. and Paulette, D.  (2005). Psychometric Analysis of Young Children's Responses to the Slosson Intelligence Test-Primary (SIT-P). Journal of Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. 38(10), 130-140.

Nilsson, N.L. (2008). A Critical Analysis of Eight Informal Reading Inventories. The Reading Teacher, 61(7), pp. 526-536.

Ruddell, R.  Teaching Children to Read and Write 4^th edition. United States.  Pearson.