Saturday, March 9, 2013

As I move towards performing action research on my concept, phonemic awareness, I have some beginning ideas.  I have cleared 20 minutes in my schedule and I would like to do some pre-assessments using the CELF focusing on phonological awareness.  I will begin by reviewing the data from grade level screening of students in K and 1 using AIMSweb phonological segmentation fluency.  Now, research shows that this is a basic screener but does not identify all students who may need intensive instruction in phonemic awareness.  This will screen out the students who do poorly on the probe.  It will not, however, screen out the students who may need intervention but who do well on the probe.  I will also have to look at the MAPS data focusing on the phonemic awareness strands.  After identifying a group of students who have similar scores, I will give them the CELF to see where I will need to direct their instruction.  Then, I will break them into two groups.  One group will get intensive small group instruction from me.  The other will only get the balanced reading curriculum in the classroom.   I will need to pick a time frame to provide instruction.  During the instructional period, I will progress monitor both groups using the AIMSweb PSF.  Following the given instructional time, I will post assess both groups using AIMSweb PSF and CELF.  I will also review the data from the next scheduled MAPS testing.  I have to keep in mind that I keep my testing standardized.  I also need to plan the scope and sequence of my intensive intervention group.  The research that I have performed clearly states that by providing intensive instruction, kids will grow and have a better chance of reaching grade level proficiency in reading.  This research will give me a chance to see how controlled assessing and teaching impacts student learning and if I need to change how I teach PA.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, Beth! This sounds really interesting, I can't wait to read more and follow your results! Do you feel AIMSweb gives clear and accurate results? I used to use it in my last district and I miss it. In my current district we don't have any progress monitoring and I feel like I don't know my students very well. It is also hard to track their progress. I liked the charts & graphs that you can access through AIMSweb, I'm very visual! Have you used any other progress monitoring tools that you feel are beneficial?

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  2. I just replied to you and lost all that I wrote. This is the second time this has happened to me. I am so bummed I’m taking all this time to formulate a response to then loose it!!! Ughhh… I will be brief this time…I progress monitor every student (75) I see every week. It takes a long time but it’s worth it. I sent home graphs to parents as needed and use the info during meetings for special ed. testing. I have used DIBLES long ago. You may want to look into this free way to test your kids. They do have progress monitoring but they didn’t have graphs long ago. Maybe they do now. I find the data very accurate at screening the struggling students. AIMS along with NWES MAPS both give me a good look at the students who need interventions; one being a screener and the other diagnostic.

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  3. Thanks, I'll definitely look into the free version, as my school doesn't find value in aims-type progress monitoring...

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