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Dana Davis

March 24, 2015


ELD 307
Dr. Casey
Spelling Inventory Assessment
Spelling Inventory is used to assess a students spelling developmental stage so that they
can be placed into groups for instruction according to their stage. This assessment will tell a
teacher what the students knows, what they are missing, and what they are doing incorrectly.
Spelling features involved in this assessment include, consonants, short/long vowels, blends,
patterns, digraphs, etc., which relate directly to the stages of spelling development.
I chose to assess C, a student in Mrs. Gs 2nd grade class. I chose C randomly, without
knowing her specific spelling stage. I administered the assessment at a table in the back of the
classroom away from the other students, during the quiet time period after lunch. I gave C a
piece of lined paper and asked her to write each word as I read it to her. I read each word twice
and then also used it in a sentence and allowed her time to write her response. I stopped after
eight words, as C had made more than five spelling mistakes at this point and I was confident
that this was enough to complete the assessment. In a regular classroom situation, I would have
read the entire class the complete list of twenty-six words on the primary spelling inventory as an
initial assessment and then continued to administer the appropriate assessment to each group
depending on their spelling stage periodically through the year. As the students advance, groups
can be redesigned to fit the needs of their progression.
The result of the assessment that I gave C put her into the mid Letter Name-Alphabetic
stage, which is below grade level expectations according to Words Their Way benchmarks. Now
that I have determined Cs spelling developmental stage, I would put C into a group with other
students who are also in this stage. If there are no other students at the same level as C, then I
would put her in the group that was closest to her level that did not cause her to struggle. I also
think that C may require some extra instructional support in spelling to help her reach the
benchmark for her grade level. Using an instructional approach, such as Words Their Way, each
week I would give Cs group a new set of words to focus on. Words Their Way focuses on word
sorts, which teach students how to examine and recognize the regularities of the English
language. Word sorting helps student organize what they know about words to make
connections with new words they encounter. As Cs group masters each developmental spelling
stage, they will be periodically reassessed and moved on to the next stage.

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