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Introduction to Evidence-Based Reading Instruction

Part 3: The Process & Purpose of Diagnostic Reading Assessment


Online module developed by the Adult Learning Resource Center for the Illinois Community College Board's Service Center Network

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  • Overview of the Diagnostic Assessment Process 

    4

  • Alphabetics Assessment

    5

  • Fluency Assessment

    6

  • Vocabulary Assessment

    7

  • Comprehension Assessment

    8

  • Important Considerations for Diagnostic Reading Assessment

    9
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Overview of the Diagnostic Reading Assessment Process

Diagnostic reading assessments are done to determine the student's mastery and instructional levels for each component. 

Diagnostic reading assessment takes about 30-40 minutes.

The process begins with the tester explaining the full process to the student. Click here to view a video showing a tester giving an overview of the assessment process to a student.


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Alphabetics Assessment

During an alphabetics or word identification assessment, the student is asked to read aloud grade-leveled lists of words. While the student reads, the tester listens for decoding errors. The tester is looking for the highest level word list that the student can decode accurately.

Click here to view a video where the tester explains the alphabetics testing procedure and the student begins reading a grade-leveled list of words.

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Fluency Assessment

For diagnostic fluency assessment, the student is asked to read aloud short, grade-leveled passages. While the student reads, the tester listens and uses a rubric to gauge the accuracy, rate and prosody of the reading. The tester is looking for the highest level of passage where the student is able to read fluently.

Click here to view a video where the tester explains the fluency testing procedure and the student begins reading aloud.


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Vocabulary Assessment

For vocabulary assessment, the tester uses grade-leveled lists of words. The tester pronounces each word for the student, who tells what the word means. The student may give a definition, use the word in a sentence, or provide an example. Each list of words has four or five words on it. The tester is looking for the highest level list where the student can demonstrate knowledge of the words.

Click here to view a video where the tester explains the vodabulary testing procedure and the student begins.

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Comprehension Assessment

To diagnostically assess reading comprehension, the tester gives the student grade-leveled passages to read silently. Following each passage, the tester asks the student a number of comprehension questions. The tester is looking for the highest level passage where the student is able to demonstrate comprehension of what was read.

Click here to view a video where the studen answers comprehension questions about a passage she has just read silently. 


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Important Considerations for Diagnostic Reading Assessment

Diagnostic assessment must be done for all four reading components because research indicates that intermediate readers have very unpredictable patterns of strengths and needs. The assessment results will show each student's reading strengths and gaps. 

Diagnostic reading assessment requires doing oral, one-on-one assessment of each reading component for each student. All together, it takes about 30-40 minutes per student to do the diagnostic assessments.

Diagnostic assessment should be conducted for new students prior to the start of reading instruction. The assessments will indicate the students' mastery and instructional levels for each component. If the mastery level of a component is below grade level 9, that component is considered an instructional need. Teachers will use the results of diagnostic assessments to plan instruction.

Diagnostic assessments should not be used for post-testing. These tests are designed for getting an initial picture of students' skills. Monitoring progress in class during reading instruction provides continual snapshots of students' reading skills and how they are progressing. If students move from one class into a higher level class, the teacher can provide notes for the next instructor.

 

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