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Reader Case Study

Jessica Stiffler Professor Eastman

EDUC 301 December 10, 2010

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Phase 1

A. Background Information

The child involved in the reader case study is a female currently in sixth grade. The student is

undergoing special education and remediation in reading due to a learning disability in reading.

She participates in a mixed grade reading program with sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students

combined. The program she is in is known as the Comprehensive Assessment of Reading

Strategies or CARS. The program is used to help build comprehension skills, encourage higher-

level thinking skills, and use self-assessments. The student comes from a middle class family,

and lives with her mother. She has one older brother currently in eighth grade, who is also

learning disabled. The student and her brother found her father after he committed suicide in

their home, which may be the reason to poor academic success in the last year. The student

enjoys reading, being outdoors, and loves meeting new people. The student works well in

groups, has many friends, and enjoys hands on activities.

B. Assessments

After discussing the students reading disability with her special educator, the researcher

has learned that the student struggles greatly with comprehension. After spending time with

the student, the researcher has become aware of the students determination to be able to read

and comprehend. To help the student work on comprehension skills needed to become a

good reader, the researcher will administer three assessments throughout the reader case

study.

The first assessment will be a Running Record. Because the student is reading at around a

first grade reading level, a Running Record will serve as a good starting point for the

researchers screening assessment. The Running Record will be administered during the

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second period of the day while in Comprehensive Assessment of Reading Strategy class,

otherwise known as CARS. This is convenient because the student is not being removed

from the content area classrooms. The student will begin the study by reading a book called

On Our Way. The outcome of the running record will show what the student’s strengths and

weakness are with reading. This will provide a baseline score for the student. The

comprehension questions that are on the Running Record will provide data for the researcher

to use to drive instruction.

The second assessment will be a retelling worksheet. This assessment will be given as a

piece to record progress monitoring throughout the case study. The test will be administered

in the middle of the case study time, around the third week of student/researcher involvement

days. The purpose of progress monitoring is to determine if the student is making adequate

progress in the skill being assessed. The retelling worksheet will focus on comprehending the

order of events and placing them in the beginning, middle and end of the chart. The

researcher will provide the worksheet to the student after the completion of a familiar story.

This allows the researcher to see if the student understands the order of events and if she

comprehends the story and determine if revisions are needed for the next lessons.

The third and final assessment will be an outcome-based assessment given at the end of

the case study. The purpose of the outcome-based assessment is to see how far the student

has come since the screening. Outcome-based assessments are also used to drive future

instruction if the mastery level has not yet been met by the students. The researcher has

decided to do a graphic organizer. The student will complete the graphic organizer filling in

each comprehension detail as she reads. This will allow the student to see what she is capable

of doing after the weeks of practicing the skill. It will allow the researcher to determine how

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far the student’s skill has progressed from the start of day one to the last day of the reader

case study when comparing baseline scores and outcome-based scores. This test, like all

three tests, will be given in the resource room during CARS remediation time second period.

Once all the results are completed, they will be recorded on an Excel spreadsheet to review

the data.

C. Assessment Database

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)

K- 6

A ten minute computerized test.

3 to 4 times a year or as needed.

Phonics, alphabetic principle, accuracy, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension

https://dibels.uore on.edu/

Scholastics Reading Counts

K- 12

Lexiled books are read by students and computerized quiz is given

Beginning, middle, end of year, and numerous times throughout

Reading Comprehension

http://teacher.scholasti c.com/products/ independent_reading/ scholastic_reading_co unts /management_system_ reports.htm

STAR: Strategies to Achieve Reading Success

K- 8

Computer assessment that adjust to the skills of each student

Use anytime one is determining a child is reading comprehension or achievement.

Provides information about the students reading achievement

http://www.curric ulumassociates.co m/products/detail. asp?title=stars

Comprehension Quick Check Assessment

K- 12

Multiple choice quizzes and test for each reading level

Use any time after the completion of a story.

Assess how well students are absorbing their reading and their ability to remember the information.

http://www.readin ga- z.com/assess/com prehension.html

CARS: Comprehensive Assessment in Reading Strategies

K- 8

Computer assessment for each students level

Use to determine twelve key reading strategies and the skill level for each.

Focuses on the 12 key reading strategies to improve students' reading ability.

http://www.curric ulumassociates.co m/products/detail. asp?title=CARS- plus&topic=CR0

Information Provided When to use How to use Resources Grade Assessment

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Phase II

D. Administration of Screening Assessments (attached)

E. Interpretations of Assessments

For the initial screening of the sixth grade student, the researcher decided to use a

Running Record to determine the student’s strengths and weaknesses. The researcher and

the special education teacher decided that the best time to administer the Running Record

would be during second period. The case study student is in a reading remediation course

during the second period of the day. The researcher and the student reported to a familiar

workroom so that the student would feel at ease and comfortable working individually

with the researcher.

The researcher administered the Running Record using a story that the student

had not read prior to this assessment. The Running Record was used as a tool to

determine the students reading accuracy, rate, and comprehension level. It shows the

students errors and self-corrections as well. The student’s special education teacher

informed the researcher that the student was reading around a second grade level. With

this information, the researcher selected an appropriate book for the student. The book

was a second grade level at level 24. During the Running Record, the student was to read

100 words. The student made thirteen errors and had one self correction. This shows her

accuracy rate at 87 percent. Her comprehension scores showed that the student was able

to recall characters’ names, but could not distinguish which character did what. The

student also struggled with the order of events, but could tell what the story line was.

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F. Plan of Action

The plan of action is set in place by the researcher to help the student improve reading

comprehension. By working on comprehension, the student will become a more confident

reader. The student loves books, and has expressed a strong desire to become a good reader.

The student will work on the comprehension skills during her second period reading

remediation time. This will benefit the student and give her the opportunity to build on her

comprehension skills needed to be a good reader.

Lesson 1 Prior Knowledge and Questioning

Before beginning the lesson, the reader will share her current Reading Counts book with

the researcher. The student will read her current Reading Counts book to the researcher. The

student is familiar with the book and the researcher will ask questions about the characters,

setting, and conflicts to get the student comfortable with sharing. This is when the researcher

will talk with the student about setting a goal for her to work on her comprehension skills to

become a good reader. For the first lesson, the researcher will introduce a new book to the

student titled The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry. The researcher will introduce the

book and ask the student to think about everything she knows about rainforest. The

researcher will then use a think aloud to tell some important well-known facts about how

trees and forest are destroyed by man and it harms the animals. This will help the student

access her own prior knowledge on rainforest and their destruction by man. Then the student

and researcher will fill in a KWL chart as a team. By working as a team, the researcher will

demonstrate and model think alouds while creating questions for what the team wants to find

out about the story. The student will have the opportunity to see how questions are formed

for the middle column of the KWL chart. After the story, the researcher will give the student

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time to fill in the L portion of the KWL chart. The researcher will scaffold when needed.

The researcher will then review the KWL chart with the student and verbally praise her for

her accomplishments.

Lesson 2 Characters

To begin the second lesson, the researcher will have the student read the story The Great

Kapok Tree from the day before. The researcher will have a list of the characters in the story

that the student read aloud the previous day. The researcher will lay the characters names

face down on the table, and the student will be instructed to select one and verbally tell

everything that she knows about the character from her reading. The student will continue

until she has discussed all of the listed characters. If the student is confused about a certain

character, the researcher will have the student look back at the story and KWL chart to

refresh her memory. The researcher will then perform a think aloud to help the student regain

her thoughts on the given character. This lesson will help the student identify the similarities,

differences, and problems that each character faces throughout her chosen book. She can use

the skill of sorting through characters traits with future reading as she works on identifying

important characters in a story. Once the lesson is complete, the student will read the book A

Medieval Feast, by Aliki.

Lesson 3 Setting and Time/ Sequence of Events

The student needs to understand how the setting and time affect the characters in the

story. For this lesson, the student will read the story from yesterday’s lesson, A Medieval

Feast. Then the researcher will explain the importance of the setting and time of a story. By

helping the student understand how the setting and time of the story help with

comprehending, the student will know it is important to determine these things while reading.

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These things are important to know so that the reader can comprehend what is going on in

the story and why. The student and researcher will then read the story together looking for

the setting, time, and characters. During this time, the researcher will use think alouds to help

the student think about what the setting, time, and characters are in the story. When they find

out where and when the story is taking place, the student and researcher will place sticky

notes on the pages so that they can easily return to the pages when finishing reading. Once

the story is finished, the student and researcher will examine their findings and discuss the

importance of each when comprehending what one reads. Following this lesson, the student

will be introduced to a new book called Thank You Mr. Falker. She will take sticky notes and

the book home for homework and repeat the practice for the next day. This helps the student

look for clues and see how the setting and time, and characters of a story plays a huge role in

the storyline and leads to better comprehension.

Lesson 4 Vocabulary and Context Clues

Now that the student has a good understanding of who the characters are, what the setting

and time are, the student and researcher will focus on to vocabulary. The student will read a

familiar story aloud to determine which words are difficult for her to pronounce or

understand. The researcher will pause at hard or confusing words and write them each down

on separate note cards. Once the story is completed, the researcher will lay the unknown

words out on a table. Together, the researcher and student will then go back and look for

context clues on what the words may mean. The researcher will explain that context clues

help readers determine meanings of ideas and other words. The researcher will do think

alouds to help the student better understand how context clues work. Next, they will look the

words up, write the correct definition on the back of the note card, and place them in a note

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card holder. Then the researcher will explain that the student’s mission for the night is to

record words that are difficult or confusing in a new story she will read. She will place the

words on the note cards and provide then look for context clues to write on the opposite side

of each. This will help the student build vocabulary and look for context clues.

Lesson 5 Review Review Review

For the final lesson in this series, the researcher will give the student an assessment of the

knowledge she has gained over the lessons. The researcher will start by reviewing the

activities of the KWL chart, and they will review character descriptions. The researcher will

then check to see if the student can determine the setting, time and place of a story. The last

thing the researcher will check for is the student’s ability to locate and use context clues.

To check the student’s progress, the researcher will ask the student to think about the

book Fire Girl that her teacher has been reading to the class. She will then select her favorite

character and tell the researcher about the character on a character diagram. The student will

then tell the researcher what the setting, time, and events of the story are and the researcher

will record her answers on a story cube. The last thing the student will do is to use two words

that were difficult for her and have her locate the context clues. By using this review practice

with the student, the researcher will be able to determine if there was improvement with her

comprehension strategies and practices. The student will benefit greatly from all of the

lessons and this review will help her see her accomplishments.

At the end of the review, the student will be given a graphic organizer over the familiar

story Thank You Mr. Falker. This will be the final assessment for the student to show her

progress. This outcome-based assessment will help show the researcher what progress has

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