UC - Denver 1380 Lawrence Street

Evaluation Report Denver, CO 80204

(303) 555-1212

Baylor Lopez 10/03/2003

Legal Name of Student DOB LASID SASID

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

Progress Monitoring evaluated by Ackerman Date: 09/02/2016

The school utilizes the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) assessment and associated subtests for targeted
areas. It is a grade level, standardized progress monitoring tool that is delivered once a month at ascending
grade levels based on performance on the previous assessment. This progress monitoring tool measures
phonics, vocabulary, spelling, and reading comprehension. The data is then analyzed for specific areas of
strengths and challenges and instruction is "tweaked" to pivot from the strengths to support the areas of
challenge. Results are provided below:

September: (baseline) Phonics (70%), Vocabulary (67%), Spelling (53%), Reading Comprehension (80%) =
5th Grade

October: Phonics (90%), Vocabulary (87%), Spelling (73%), Reading Comprehension (52%) = Fourth Grade

November: Phonics (100%), Vocabulary (87%), Spelling (n/a), Reading Comprehension (32%) = Fourth
Grade (comprehension was reviewed individually yielding a 3rd grade level)

Baseline taken in the beginning of September showed Baylor was at the sixth grade reading level. On his
subsequent progress monitoring he improved in the areas of phonics, vocabulary, and spelling but a sharp
decrease of eight points in reading comprehension yielded results indicating a fourth grade reading level
score. November showed a increase in phonics and vocabulary stayed consistent at 87%. His
comprehension score dropped significantly this month, Ms. Halsey believes it was burnout as he had tests in
another class that morning and showed signs of fatigue at the onset on the assessment. As a result
November progress monitoring specifically for reading comprehension dropped to the third grade level.
Subsequent progress monitoring will be limited to the reading comprehension subtest.

GORT IV evaluated by Ackerman Date: 10/12/2016

Description: The GORT-IV assessment utilizes a grade level reading passage and assesses
fluency, rate, accuracy, and comprehension. As the student reads the proctor tracks miscues (aka deviations
from print) by either recording with a simple slash marking system or by using a separate system for tracking
miscues. Once the story is completed the slashes, or other marks indicating print deviation, are added up
and recorded in the examiner booklet. After the time (in seconds) and the number of miscues have been
recorded Rate, Fluency, and Accuracy Scores can be calculated. Following the reading of the passage
students are asked and answer five reading comprehension questions. If a student incorrectly answers three

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Baylor Lopez 10/03/2003
Legal Name of Student DOB LASID SASID

or more questions they have reached their comprehension ceiling and reading comprehension will not be a
sub-test in the next story.

Scores: Grade level results indicate Baylor is at or slightly above the fifth grade level as it relates to
rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension; 5.4, 5, 5.2, and 5 respectively. Baylors rate, accuracy, fluency,
and comprehension scores are the age equivalent of 10 years old; 10.6, 10, 10.3, and 10
respectively earning a standard score of six which equates to "below average". Baylors score in fluency was
a four indicating "poor". A standard score of six equates to the 16.12 percentile and a four correlates with the
6.87 percentile.

Score Interpretation and Summary: Following the administration of the first story, Baylor attained a
near perfect score, there was a deduction of a single point due to the amount of time it took him to complete
reading. After the second story Baylor hit the ceiling for comprehension, meaning he incorrectly answered
three questions. We continued with the third story and this is where he hit the ceiling for fluency, meaning he
received a score less than three on a five point rubric. According to a miscue analysis conducted
concurrently with the GORT IV assessment administration, Baylor frequently makes graphophonic errors
while reading. It is not uncommon for him to attempt to decode a multi-syllabic word but not correctly
pronounce the word. He frequently reads the beginning and ending of words correctly but will supplant the
middle of a word creating a new word altogether, for example treacherous will be read as tremendous.

Informal Assessment evaluated by Ackerman Date: 10/26/2016

The student has an affinity for Zombies, as such we utilized a Zombie-based informal assessment created by
a teacher. Baylor will read a passage called Zombie Survival Kits and answer a set of questions related to
comprehension. This assessment also allows for reading speed (rate) and accuracy to be simultaneously
assessed. He correctly answered six of ten comprehension questions and read at a rate of 100 wpm placing
him at the fourth grade reading level. It should be noted during this reading he stopped several times to offer
commentary about facts and statements he was reading skewing the accuracy of words read per minute.

OTHER ASSESSMENTS
Authentic Assessment

The authentic assessment followed a reading of Zombie Survival Kits which was utilized as an informal assessment.
Given his interest in the subject, Baylor was tasked with developing a list of at least five items he would include in a
real emergency kit and provide a selection rationale for each. The article provided some examples of items required
in a kit and the purpose behind each, forming a basis for his list. Baylor generated the following 7 items and the
accompanying rationales.

Canned food and can opener: "Because you have to eat and the grocery stores won't be open. Plus I have to have
something to open them with".

First Aid Kit: "In case I get hurt".

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Baylor Lopez 10/03/2003
Legal Name of Student DOB LASID SASID

Water: "I would die without it".

Axe: "To cut wood and stuff and also to protect myself".

Matches: "To make a fire to cook on".

Warm Clothes: "Because it is cold outside!"

Flashlights: "Because the lights will be out".

Baylor's items were logically developed and based upon his prior reading and background knowledge. He was able
to thoroughly and correctly explain his reasoning for all items and exceeded the required items by two.

Teacher Interview

Ms. Halsey is a Special Education teacher and leads the reading intervention small group in the Academic Focus
class in which Baylor is enrolled. This is her second year teaching Baylor as she began working with him in the
seventh grade. She has a strong relationship with him and his family and has been a constant educational support
throughout his school career. Because of her proximity to Baylor, coupled with the fact that she has been teaching
him for approximately one year and a half, she has personally witnessed his growth.

Given the amount of growth and sometimes inconsistent assessment findings related to Baylors reading ability, the
focus of my interview relates to how Ms. Halsey addresses conflicting results between observations, standardized
assessments, and informal or portfolio assessments and determines a students true ability akin to assessing "the
whole student".

Interview Sample Questions:

1. How do you get to know your students both through data and personally?

2. How do you approach a discrepancy between what the data shows and what you know a student can do?

3. When planning instruction how do you account for those discrepancies?

Interpretation

Ms. Halsey expressed that once she has a class list she will do a data dig and learn as much as she can from a
quantitative perspective, she will review the data across many sources such as grades with teacher comments,
standardized testing data, and social and emotional wellness and health information when available. She cautions
that data is only one aspect of a child's academic makeup and is very deliberate and careful to not allow what the
data shows to provide a firm picture of the student's abilities. During the first weeks she will get to know her students
by implementing lessons surrounding culture, getting to know your classmates, and getting to know your teacher.
Given her unique position Ms. Halsey co-teaches in at least one of each of her student's classes and is able to see
them in her own Academic Focus class daily. This affords her a unique vantage point as it relates to understanding
student performance beyond the data. She often utilizes portfolio assessments when evaluating overall student
performance including classroom work, teacher notes, observations, test scores, and assignments to make evidence
based decisions as it relates to student interventions and academic needs. She believes working from what you
know about a student's strengths is pivotal in generating and implementing interventions, as she says "imagine if
everything teachers taught you came from the negative, it would be so easy to get discouraged and give up and
these kids can't give up we have to teach them to keep going and keep working and we have to support that".

Work Sample Analysis

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Baylor Lopez 10/03/2003
Legal Name of Student DOB LASID SASID

Informal writing assessments administered by the lead special education teacher, demonstrate his shift between
meeting standards and approaching standards, or a 3 and 2 respectively on a 4-point rubric. He most commonly
misses points due to a disconnect between theme and supporting details or textual evidence. Baylor has
demonstrated that he can identify supporting details but they are weak, this is why his main idea or theme is often left
unsupported. There are additional work samples where he excels in this area but they are inconsistent and
sporadic. We are implementing the use of a graphic organizer to support his recognition of the main idea of a text
and the identification of supporting details. It is the intention that with the implementation of a uniform intervention in
this area he will begin to improve his own consistency in the identification of these components. It is also a strategy
that can be utilized in all of his classes and exams.

Systematic Observation

Observation Focus and Rationale: There is a significant amount of quantitative data available regarding Baylors
reading levels and abilities. There is little qualitative data available that adds more information to the overall picture
of his abilities. In order to gain a deeper and perhaps more accurate picture of Baylor as a student instead of a set of
test scores, I sought to observe his level of engagement and willingness to take risks in the educational setting. I
seek to understand how often he contributes to reading discussions during instruction. For these purposes an event
recording will be utilized.

Definition of Task: The focus of this observation is to understand how often Baylor contributes to reading instruction
discussions. Baylors propensity toward reading instruction discussions is recorded by marking the total number of
opportunities Baylor could feasibly contribute to the discussion by either responding to discussion prompts, sharing
his product, or answering questions in contrast to the the number of times he actually contributed.

Results: Baylor had an opportunity to respond to questioning five times over the course of twenty minutes and
share his thoughts and product three times over the course of twenty minutes. He actually responded once out of
five possible opportunities and shared his work once out of three times in the same course of time. In both cases he
was observed to be eager and willing to participate and once he did so he did not engage again, perhaps due to the
fact he felt he met his duty (an observational inference).

EVALUATION SUMMARY
Document information from a variety of sources including data in all areas related to the students suspected
disability. 300.304(c)(4), 300.306(c)(i)-(ii)

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Baylor Lopez 10/03/2003
Legal Name of Student DOB LASID SASID

In reviewing the GORT IV concurrent miscue analysis, the informal and authentic assessments (also delivered
concurrently), and work sample analysis, trends began to emerge that supported the challenge in reading comprehension.
Observed was the propensity to commit graphophonic errors while reading such as reading treacherous as tremendous.
In addition to the verbal commission of these errors, this trend was also observed in his writing, such as
writing snack for snake. In reviewing the grades attributed to Baylor's written work he most often misses points due to a
disconnect between theme and supporting details. Likewise when reading aloud during the informal assessment he
committed graphophonic errors much like in the reading during the diagnostic test. Witnessing this tendency provided the
foundation for understanding the challenges in reading comprehension. Baylor is unable to correctly read and understand
several words (approximately twenty out of every one hundred) in a given passage leading to a diminished understanding
of the text, thus providing difficulty in identifying the main idea and subsequent text-based supporting details. Based upon
this evaluation the need area is decoding multi-syllabic words in context and graphic support in identifying the main idea
and supporting evidence.

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