Administer Screening Assessments to All Students
Key Concepts
Screening assessments promote a proactive rather than reactive approach to meeting students’ needs.
Schools should not wait for students to fail before coming to their assistance. Drawing on the ideas of prevention science, schools should conduct screening for all students at the beginning of the school year, and schoolwide benchmarking should occur at least twice during the school year. Such proactive screening will identify learning problems before they become overwhelming.
Incorporate English Learners into your school’s comprehensive, systematic and formative assessment system
Formative assessments can be used with English only students and also English learners to measure the core components of beginning reading: phonological awareness, letter knowledge, letter sound correspondence, word and text reading, vocabulary, comprehension. Assessment data can be used to prevent reading problems and intervene as early as possible even when ELs are still struggling with their English language proficiency.
Scientifically Based Reading Research and English Language Learners: The Big Picture
This presentation developed by Baker (2007) provides a summary of seven recent qualitative and quantitative research studies about the assessment and instruction of ELs. Outcomes and instructional implications are discussed. The benefits of explicit instruction for ELs are highlighted. This is an informative presentation for anyone who would like to learn about the research base behind best practices in the education of English Language Learners.
Screening students for potential reading problems is just as important for older readers as it is for younger readers
Understanding how adolescent readers can handle grade-level material is critical, especially because the expectations that students can and will absorb new content knowledge through reading increases as they progress through the upper grades.
In addition, the demands that texts place on older readers change and intensify over time. Texts and the sentences and words in them not only get longer but also become conceptually and structurally more complex and abstract. Most important of all, texts begin to vary more and more widely across the content areas. They vary not just in the specialized vocabulary and background knowledge they assume and attempt to develop, but also in how they are structured and in the norms for what constitutes comprehension. In other words, although logic and evidence are value across content areas, the norms for what constitute good evidence and logic vary increasingly among the disciplines. Depending on the subject area, different details are valued and different values are assigned to precision in the reporting of those details.
Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI): How to do it – Schoolwide Screening (Section 1)
This is a RTI implementation guide developed by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities. Section 1 focuses specifically on the goals, development, and use of screening assessments. It provides helpful activities and checklists for schools looking to evaluate, improve, or create a school-wide screening process. It also provides a table of reviewed screening assessments and several links to additional resources.
Use universal screening for different purposes.
- To help determine each student’s general level of skill performance.
- To help determine each student’s risk for reading success.
- To help differentiate instruction based upon each student’s identified instructional needs.
- To help determine instructional groupings.
Take into account additional issues for ELs when using universal screening
When assessing ELs with universal screening measures and program assessments coaches and teachers should also consider the questions below to determine if ELs need additional support. If the answer to the questions is “no” then additional support should also be provided in the area of vocabulary and the development of student comprehension skills.
- Is the student also making sufficient progress in reading comprehension to reach grade level performance goals as measured by state assessments or a comprehension measure (e.g., SAT-10)?
- Is the student making sufficient progress in vocabulary and academic language to reach grade level performance goals?
- Is there an alignment between literacy instruction and oral language development?
Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades
This IES Practice Guide gives an overview of the needs of ELs and provides five recommendations for schools that want to ensure they are meeting those needs. Recommendation 1 is particularly relevant here: Screen for reading problems and monitor progress.
Screen for Reading Problems and Monitor Progress
This PowerPoint presentation gives an overview of Recommendation 1 from the IES Practice Guide, “Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Elementary Grades.” Use this presentation in conjunction with the guide to learn how to follow the proposed recommendations.
Screening with English Language Learners
Watch the three short presentations about how to “Conduct formative assessments to screen for reading problems and monitor progress” on the Doing What Works website (http://dww.ed.gov/). Talk with your team about the similarities and differences between screening and progress monitoring. Discuss specifically the progress a kindergarten English learner made in her language development.
Use quality literacy screening tools with useful characteristics.
Screening assessments should measure essential reading skills at the appropriate grade level. Assessments should be reliable and valid, and the results should be given in a format that can be utilized for instructional decision-making purposes.
Ensure that your screening measures are valid and reliable for English Learners
Many screening and progress monitoring measures have proven to be valid and reliable when administered to English Learners as well as native English speakers. However, when EL students are newcomers or kindergartners, screening assessments may over identify students for being at-risk of reading failure. Special consideration should be given to the interpretation of these screening measures in the beginning of kindergarten and when ELs arrive at the school. Scores represent student current skill level and reading awareness and not student potential to learn and respond to instruction.
If staffing and resources are available, use formative assessment data in both English and the student’s native language to form instructional groups.
The main purpose of collecting formative assessment data in English and in the native language is to determine whether (a) ELs lack specific skills in the native language (e.g., phonological awareness) or (b) ELs have that skill in their native language, but not in English. The instructional needs for these two types of ELs might differ. Notice also that not all skills transfer from the native language to English. In fact, the evidence indicates that some skills (e.g., alphabetic principle, vocabulary, comprehension) might transfer from the native language to English only when students are also taught these same skills English (Baker, Park, & Baker, in press, Proctor, August, Carlo & Snow, 2006; Manis, Lindsey & Bailey, 2004).
RTI for English Language Learners
This webinar, led by Dr. Julie Esparza Brown, Dr. Amanda Sanford, and Erin Lolich focused on improving educational outcomes for ELLs through culturally and linguistically responsive implementation of an RTI framework in the area of elementary reading. Specifically, it discussed critical considerations to appropriately utilize screening and progress monitoring data with ELL students to improve reading outcomes by addressing the factors that influence ELL students' academic success. Recommendations were provided for the appropriate selection and use of screening and progress monitoring data based on students' unique backgrounds and needs. A case study was provided to illustrate these recommendations with a first grade ELL student.
Carefully plan for schoolwide screening.
Schools should plan carefully for schoolwide screening. Such planning should include having all necessary resources available (e.g., materials and staffing). A timeline and schedule outlining assessment times for all students is essential. Also, staff should be carefully trained to conduct the assessment.
Include considerations for ELs while planning schoolwide screening efforts
There are special considerations for ELs that should be taken into account when planning schoolwide screening efforts. These considerations include, but are not limited to, the use of interpreters, the need for special accommodations, and the use of native language assessments. Consult the resources posted here to learn how to consider these issues so that you can get the most accurate and complete information possible from your screening assessments.
Purpose of Assessment for ELs
Read the section of the provided IES Practice Guide titled “Recommendation 1. Screen for reading problems and monitor progress” (p. 9-14) from Gersten, Baker, Shanahan, Linan-Thompson, Collins, & Scarcella (2007). Then watch the Multimedia Overview titled “Monitoring the Reading Progress of English Learners” (http://dww.ed.gov/practice/?T_ID=13&P_ID=20) from the Doing What Works (DWW) website. With your team discuss the following questions:
- Make a list of all the reading assessments that are administered to ELs in your building.
- Which of those assessments are used for screening and progress monitoring of ELs?
- How are these data used to make instructional decisions for ELs?
- How do the screening assessments relate to other assessments ELs take (e.g., ELPA, LAS, Woodcock-Muñoz…)?
ABC’s of Assessment with English Language Learners
This presentation developed by Chaparro (2007) provides an in depth overview of the complexities of unbiased assessment with ELs. This handout can be used at any in-service or staff meeting. A case study of one real 2nd grade newcomer student is provided. Practical steps are provided for developing your building’s assessment plan to meet the need of ELs. This handout will prompt schools to discuss the use of interpreters, accommodations, and native language assessments through its coverage of each of these topics.
Screening assessment data should be appropriately managed.
Schools should ensure that all scores are “double checked” for accuracy. Those students with questionable scores should be reassessed with an alternative measure. An electronic system should be available for data entry and should include features for producing summary reports on both individuals and groups of students.
Establish cut-off scores to determine meaning of obtained student scores.
Cut-off scores help determine the quality of a student’s performance compared to expected performance. The risk status of each student can be clearly determined through this type of comparison.
Use the same standards for grade level reading performance with English Learners as with native English speakers
Using the same standards for grade level reading performance for ALL students, including ELs, may require more intensive early literacy instruction and a strong focus on language development. Take into account that ELs are learning literacy and language simultaneously which leads to unique instructional challenges that school should be prepared to address.
Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in Elementary Grades
Go to ‘Recommendation 1: Screen for reading problems and monitor progress’, and scroll down to ‘How to carry out the recommendation 4’ on page 11. Read this section.
Professional Development Presentation
As your school begins to develop a plan to improve literacy, you will want to identify the present skills and needs of your students. This presentation can be used as a first step to gain understanding of the purpose of screening assessments, which critical skills to assess, when to assess them and how to select the tools to fit your school’s plan.
In planning your school’s assessment administration, view this presentation to hear logistical considerations and practical solutions for limited resources. Factors such as time requirements, staffing options, training needed, organizing, and scheduling the assessment are discussed. You will be given guidance on how to manage the collected data and use it to begin to make instructional decisions for your students.
Apply the Concepts
Practice Activities
1. Universal Screening Discussion
Study the flow chart on "Universal Screening and the Prevention of Reading Difficulties." In the past, many teachers would schedule meetings with pre-referral teams after a child had experienced ongoing difficulties and failure. Discuss how universal screening differs from this process. Discuss the differences between proactive and reactive approaches to providing support to children with reading difficulties.
2. The Importance of Oral Language Development and Screening
Watch the video of the late Dr. Todd Risley summarizing findings from his study on family-child verbal interactions and their correlation with student outcomes. Discuss the questions related to the video. Then discuss the questions related to your school’s current practices related to oral language screening.
3. Current Screening Practices (Listed as Activity #1 in Presentation 2)
The first part of the activity leads practitioners through questions and discussion about current screening practices used within the school. The second part of the activity directs users to the National Center on Response to Intervention’s Universal Screening Tools Chart. This online chart offers a review of several well-known screening tools including information about technical adequacy, efficiency, cost, and implementation requirements.
4. Choosing a General Approach
One of the resources available with this module "Approaches and Considerations of Collecting Schoolwide Early Literacy and Reading Performance Data" is a handout describing the advantages and disadvantages of each of the general assessment approaches. Take a few minutes to review this document, keeping in mind the characteristics of your school. What approach or combination of approaches do you think would work best at your school?
5. Making Screening Decisions About Students
This activity provides practice for categorizing student performance as "Low Risk", "Some Risk", and "High Risk" after screening results have been obtained. Review the table of screening assessment results. Then answer the questions about the results on the second page of the activity.
Resources
1. Approaches and Considerations for Collecting Schoolwide Screening Data
This document contains important information for making the process of collecting screening data on essential skills of literacy development an efficient operation. It describes advantages and disadvantages of different data collection approaches, and provides a checklist to prepare for screening.
2. Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades
This resource is one of several Practice Guides developed by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences and What Works Clearinghouse. These Practice Guides provide practical recommendations for educators to help them address the everyday challenges they face in their classrooms and schools. Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement. Recommendation One specifically addresses screening.
Links
1. Doing What Works: Response to Intervention in Primary Grade Reading - Universal Screening
Doing What Works (DWW) is a website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The goal of DWW is to create an online library of resources that may help teachers, schools, districts, states and technical assistance providers implement research-based instructional practices. This particular link provides further information and tools for developing a universal screening program.
Doing What Works: Response to Intervention in Primary Grade Reading - Universal Screening
2. National Center on Response to Intervention: Screening Tools Chart
The National Center on Response to Intervention’s mission is to provide technical assistance to states and districts and build the capacity of states to assist districts in implementing proven models for Response to Intervention/Early Intervention Services. This link provides resources to assist with the selection of universal screening tools.
National Center on Response to Intervention: Screening Tools Chart
3. RTI and Universal Screening: Establishing District Benchmarks
This link provides a connection to the National Center on Response to Intervention’s schoolwide screening resources. The Center does not endorse these products; these resources are intended to be a source of information for the reading screening process.
RTI and Universal Screening: Establishing District Benchmarks