Case Study Project

Rachel Patty
READ 6422
Spring 2015

Table of Contents
Initial Student Profile and Plan3
Photo Journal8
Photo Journal Narrative...9
Lesson Plans and Reflections..10
Running Records15
Final Assessments and Results...17
Assessment Findings/Discussion29
Home-School Partnership A.31
Home-School Partnership B.33
Final Reflection...36

Initial Student Profile and Plan

Summary
Sallie is an eight year old student in second grade at a Chapel Hill, NC elementary
school. Her most favorite activity is watching movies after school and on the weekends. She
somewhat enjoys reading. If she has to read she prefers reading anything make-believe or
scary. She is open to reading comic books, magazines, and books as long as they are scary.
Sallie does not mind reading at school but does not like reading when she is at home because
she would rather be watching movies. When deciding what to read at school, Sallie picks
books that spark her interests. She does not feel like she has learned anything from reading
but would like to learn how to read fast in order to become a better reader. She occasionally
visits the school and public libraries. Sallie is currently in a foster home with a mom who cares
about her well-being and academic success. She is available through email, phone calls,
letters home, and in-person meetings. I have had the most success through emailing with her
thus far.
Sallies classroom teacher has her reading at a level H according to the mCLASS
assessment, which is a first grade reading level. Sallie has a low attention span and has been
brought to the attention of the school intervention team. She will soon begin the tier 3 process
in hopes to have school specialists assist her. She is not on any medication but does go to a
therapist outside of school and will be starting in-school art therapy soon.
I found Sallie to be on a first grade reading level based on the results of her Qualitative
Reading Inventory-5 assessments. This supports her classroom teachers assessment data
and puts her one grade level behind. According to the Words Their Way primary spelling
inventory, Sallie is in the letter name-alphabetic stage of spelling. She appears to be an early

reader as she is controlling of emergent reader behaviors, tracks print with eyes except at
points of difficulty, and rereads text to confirm reading or problem solving.
Discussion of Assessment Data
Sallie was initially given three word lists to identify as many words as she could.
These word lists came from Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 (Leslie and Caldwell,
2010). She scored 100% on the primer word list and 95% on the first grade word list
putting her at an independent level for both. She scored 75% on the second grade
word list putting her at an instructional level. These levels helped me find a realistic
starting point for the passages (Leslie and Caldwell, 2010, p.43). Since Sallie scored at
an independent level on the first grade word list I chose a first grade passage to begin
the reading assessment. On the first grade passage Sallie read 76 words per minute,
putting her right at a second grade level for oral reading fluency (Leslie and Caldwell,
2010, p.70). She completed the passage with 10 miscues and 2 self-corrections,
overall having a 94% total accuracy rate. Since this falls in between 90% and 97% total
accuracy rate, Sallie is perceived to be at an instructional level for word recognition
(Leslie and Caldwell, 2010, p.63). She sequentially retold approximately 50% of the
passage details. When it came to comprehension questions Sallie scored 67%,
correctly answers 4 explicit questions and 0 implicit questions. Because Sallie
answered four out of six answers correctly she falls into the instructional level for
comprehension (Leslie and Caldwell, 2010, p.76). I then tested Sallie on the second
grade reading passage. She scored 89% for accuracy rate and 63% for
comprehension, placing her at a frustration level for both. Sallies probable reading
level is a first grade level based on these results.
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The next assessment I administered to Sallie was the Words Their Way (Bear,
Invernizzi, Templeton, and Johnston, 2011) primary spelling inventory. Sallie correctly
spelled 3 out of 26 words correctly. However, she showed mastery of initial and final
consonants, correctly using 7 out of 7. She correctly used 6 out of 7 short vowels and 4
out of 7 digraphs, placing her into the letter-name alphabetic stage. Instead of spelling
rob she used am to spell ramb. She correctly used the sh and th digraphs, but
used k for ch and c for ch. Sallie would be placed in the late letter-name
alphabetic stage because she spelled more than half of the short vowels on the spelling
inventory (Bear et al., 2011, p.162). In this spelling stage Sallie will be working on using
short vowels in CVC words and using short vowels with blends and digraphs.
Based on the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey Sallie scored a total raw score
of 47 points. This puts her slightly below half way (50 points), therefore she falls about
mid-way on the scale, showing an indifference to reading overall. It was interesting to
see her score higher on recreational reading than on academic reading. Sallie
expressed to me that she doesnt mind reading at school but generally dislikes it at
home.

Initial Tutoring Plan

For Sallies one-on-one lessons I have chosen to work on two things in particular:
reading support and inferring skills. For reading support I will use a guided reading
format because Sallie falls in the middle of the spectrum between student is struggling
so dramatically that direct/explicit teaching is indicated and student reads

independently: constructs and understands without help or support. Supporting Sallie

through the Neufeld (2005) strategies is one way to increase her comprehension skills.
These strategies include clarifying a purpose for reading, overviewing the text,
activating prior knowledge relevant to the text, making predictions about the text,
attending to text structure, and creating summaries. These strategies are achieved
through introduction and justification, modeling, guided practice, and independent
practice (Neufeld, 2005). As I discovered through the QRI-5 assessments, implicit
comprehension questions are a weakness of Sallies. By using the strategy lessons in
Strategies that Work (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007) I will work with Sallie on making
inferences from the cover and illustrations as well as the text, inferring with text clues,
recognizing plot and inferring theme, and visualizing and inferring to understand
information. For each strategy I will explicitly teach the strategy, model through a think
aloud, work with her trying out the strategy, and have her practice the strategy
independently.
Some accessory work that I will include in her one-on-one lessons will be
working on sight word knowledge and trying to improve her interest in reading. After
analyzing the primary spelling inventory and seeing that Sallie is in the late letter namealphabetic stage I think the most appropriate course of action is support reading and
sight word learning. The more words students can recognize automatically, the greater
the opportunity for making generalizations across words in their word sorts. The result
is a general increase in word knowledge. (Bear et al, 2011, p.162) However, students
may only have partial word knowledge and do things like substituting similar words for
one another because they attend to beginning letters. Partial word knowledge is not
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enough to be accurate and fast in word recognition (Bear et al., 2011, p.162). Letter
name-alphabetic spellers are often called support readers because they need support
when they read (Bear et al., 2011, p.163). To improve, the student needs to acquire a
larger sight vocabulary through repeated word exposure and support from the teacher
when reading. To widen Sallies sight vocabulary I will use word banks and personal
readers (Bear et al., 2011, p.163-164). To support her during reading I will read the text
aloud and encourage her to choral read and echo read (Bear et al., 2011, p.163). This
strategy will work particularly well for Sallie because I noticed her making multiple
careless errors in her QRI-5 reading, rather than reading each word as it is printed on
the page.
When looking at Sallies reading attitude survey scores the main thing that comes
to mind is simply trying to get her interest in reading to improve. Engagement leads to
remembering what is read, acquiring knowledge, and enhancing understanding.
(Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p.66). Sallie mentioned in our roaming the known
sessions that she picks books based on her interest in them. I think finding books that
are not only of interest to Sallie but are also just right books for her is key here. She
needs to be reading books that she likes but also are a good fit and will be successful
experiences for her. My main goal for this area is to collect a variety of books that are
on her independent reading level as well as her instructional reading level. She can use
these books for reading in the classroom with her teacher and reading independently at
home.

Photo Journal
Please copy and paste the link below into your web browser to view the photo journal.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19S92rzxKwAxhCErn9hwzZHjdU2q4S6b3MdhuyDXFJs/edit?usp=sharing

Photo Journal Narrative

The photo journal section of this assignment allowed me to get a glimpse of
Sallies life outside of school. Every child comes into school with some sort of baggage,
whether it is good or bad. School is often times a comfort for children and is in fact a
home away from home. Its hard for a teacher to know how to best support a child
without knowing if there are any major issues going on at home. I knew from the
beginning that Sallie had a troubled childhood, being separated from her sibling and
moving from foster home to foster home. I enjoyed seeing the pictures Sallie brought in
and having her tell me about them. I was able to see an excited and happy side to
Sallie that I havent seen before as she told me about the important things in her life. I
learned through the photos that she loves her current foster mom and dad, sisters, and
grandparents. It is evident that having a loving family means the world to her. She also
really loves her dog and taking care of the neighbors dog. The photo journal also
allowed me to connect with Sallie on a deeper level. Once I found out the things that
were important to her I could talk about relatable subjects, such as my dog. I think this
was a very important part of the case study as a whole and I would campaign for every
teacher to do this with each student in his or her classroom.

Lesson Plans and Reflections

Session 5
Objective: Introduction to inferring
Lesson: I will begin the lesson by introducing Sallie to the concept of inferring. I
will tell her that inferring is when you figure out something that is not directly stated
using clues. When we read we use clues and prior knowledge to find out an answer
that the author did not directly tell us. We will then play a game to model this concept. I
will model how to play the game first and then Sallie will play with me. I will tell her a
feeling word and then come up with clues to describe incidents where I would feel this
particular way. Next, we will take turns coming up with our own feeling words and use
clues to describe it to one another. The other person must guess which feeling word is
being described.
Reflection: This was my first strategy lesson with Sallie and I decided to begin
with something simple that she could really relate to and understand easily. I learned
about this strategy game from Harvey and Goudvis (2007). Answering implicit
questions was what I found Sallie struggling with most in her assessments so working
on making inferences is the top priority for these strategy lessons. Learning about
making inferences can sometimes be quite difficult for children to understand. After
explaining what inferences are to Sallie we started playing the game. She caught on
very quickly and became very involved in the clues. Without me even saying anything
she would automatically reference the feeling clues to specific times in her life. This
opened up a window to go ahead and talk about how using background knowledge is
very important in making inferences. For our next lesson I will model how to figure out
unknown words in a book using inference strategies.
Session 6
Objective: Inferring the meaning of an unfamiliar word
Lesson: Using the book Snakes and Other Reptiles by Mary Knudson Schulte, I
will teach Sallie how to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words using clues from the text. I
will tell Sallie that good readers use clues from the text to figure out words they dont
know. Sallie will read the book aloud and stop every time she comes to a word she
doesnt know. Using a piece of paper separated into four columns, Sallie will write down
the word in the first column. We will work together to figure out the word using
illustrations, rereading, and reading on. Sallie will write down in the second column
what strategy we used to figure out the word and the meaning of the word in the third
column. In the fourth column Sallie will write her own sentence using the word. After a
few times of modeling and working together Sallie will complete the rest of the book and
words on her own.
Reflection: This lesson took a little bit longer for Sallie to warm up to, but by the
end she was practicing identifying words by herself so I would call it a success. I used
an explicit explanation sequence for this lesson. I first explained to Sallie that good
readers always have an inner conversation with themselves as they are reading as I
learned from Neufeld (2005). I told her as she reads she should always be asking
herself questions about the book in order to see what she understands and what she
doesnt understand. I explained that major thing we come across when reading is
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words we dont know. Using inference strategies can help us figure out the meaning of
the word instead of having to constantly pull out a dictionary. I had a paper divided up
into four different columns, a strategy I read about in Harvey and Goudvis (2007). This
paper was used to record the unfamiliar words and how we figured them out. Using the
book Snakes and Other Reptiles I modeled how to come across an unfamiliar word, use
an inference strategy to figure it out, write down the meaning of the word, and then
make up my own sentence using that word. The inference strategies that I taught Sallie
were using background knowledge, looking at pictures, rereading the sentence or
sentences, and reading on. At first Sallie was able to write down the words she didnt
know but I had to help her go through each strategy to figure out the meanings. Sallie
needs to become more familiar with the inference strategies in order to use them
successfully when she is working independently. Sallie kept her chart of unfamiliar
words in her word bank folder to widen her vocabulary knowledge, an idea taken from
Bear, Invernezzi, Templeton, and Johnston (2011). For our next lesson we will continue
to use these inference strategies, but widen it to the whole book instead of just
vocabulary.
Session 7
Objective: Learning how to use all aspects of a book to make inferences and
predictions.
Lesson: Using the book Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen, I will work with
Sallie on making inferences using the cover, illustrations, and the text of a book. I will
start by introducing the text and stating that good readers use all parts of a book to
make inferences about the meaning. I will read the title of the book and model by
asking questions and making inferences using the cover. I will read the book to Sallie
and I will model making inferences from the text. Sallie will then join with me to make
inferences using the illustrations and text.
Reflection: This strategy was taken from Harvey and Goudvis (2007). Today we
went over the strategies we learned for inferring: using background knowledge, reading
on, rereading, and looking at the pictures. I explained to Sallie that these strategies
could be used to figure out things that the author does not directly tell us. A major part
of this is using our inner conversation along with our strategies (Neufeld, 2005). For our
first read through of this book we spent most of the time looking at the illustrations,
seeing what we could learn about the characters from the pictures. I asked questions
as we read, modeling how to have an inner conversation. Our next lesson will be a
continuation of this one, delving deeper into making inferences.
Session 8
Objective: Inferring with text clues (continuation of lesson 7)
Lesson: This lesson will be a continuation of lesson 7, using Tight Times. I will
reiterate to Sallie that good readers make inferences using text clues and background
knowledge. I will read the book aloud to Sallie again, stopping to show her how to use
background knowledge and text clues to make inferences throughout the text. I will
explain how these inferences help me to understand the book. Sallie will join in with me
to make inferences as we read through the book. We will create an anchor chart,
recording our background knowledge, text clues, and the inferences we make.
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Reflection: Sallie and I read Tight Times together again today. Our last lesson
was spent mainly looking closely at the illustrations and coming up with questions as we
read. Today was spent connecting our background knowledge to the story. I explained
to Sallie that in order to infer when reading we must use our background knowledge
plus the clues that the text gives us. As we read through the book a third time we
created a chart with the inference we made and what text clues and background
knowledge led us to infer what we did. Sallie, again, was very good at connecting the
story to her own life. This showed me that she has a very strong skill when it comes to
prior knowledge. This is a great skill for her to have in order to make meaning of what
she is reading. I will have Sallie practice these inferring skills independently for our next
lesson.
Session 9
Objective: Inferring using all aspects of the book + text clues independently
Lesson: Sallie will take what we have learned thus far about making inferences
and read a book independently, making inferences using illustrations, text clues, and
background knowledge. She will record her inferences and unknown words on an
anchor chart as we did in our previous lessons. Sallie will use the book Corduroys Best
Halloween Ever! by Don Freeman.
Reflection: Today I wanted to take everything we have gone over thus far and
have Sallie practice it on her own. After constantly modeling the strategies, I felt it was
time for her to show me how well she can do it on her own, in order to pinpoint what I
need to revisit. Sallie had a chart for her unfamiliar words as well as a chart to record
what she inferred during her reading. I found that she did a really great job making
inferences with the vocabulary she didnt know, but she did not include very many
inferences. We went over the inferences she did make and I found she did a very good
job with these. She used her background knowledge, illustrations, and reading on as
the strategies to make these inferences. However, there were a lot of inferences
missing from her chart. I went over more in depth about having the inner conversation
while reading and what types of questions to ask before she reads, while she reads,
and after she reads (Neufeld, 2005).
Session 10
Objective: Mid-way checkpoint
Lesson: I will use a level one running record from the QRI-5 book to assess how
Sallie is doing with implicit questioning mid-way through our strategy lessons. We will
look at her results together and go through the questions to recognize and use the
inferring strategies that we have been working on.
Reflection: I had Sallie read a level one passage titled, Air, today as a mid-way
checkpoint on how she is doing. I conducted a running record as she read and asked
the explicit and implicit questions that went along with the passage. Sallie only made 2
miscues and got 6 out of 6 comprehension questions correct. Although 2 of the 6
comprehension questions were implicit, I am happy with the fact that she answered both
correctly. This was a nonfiction passage, which can sometimes prove to be a little more
difficult. Compared to her initial assessments, Sallie has improved on answering implicit
questions. I would like for Sallie to have more independent practice with inferring
12

because I think this is what makes her more confident in the comprehension strategy.
For our next two lessons I will have her do more independent inferring work.
Session 11
Objective: Independent practice with inferring
Lesson: Sallie will take what we have learned thus far about making inferences
and read a book independently, making inferences using illustrations, text clues, and
background knowledge. She will record her inferences and unknown words on an
anchor chart as we did in our previous lessons. Sallie will use the book The Boy and
the Airplane by Mark Pett. We will then go over the inferences she has made together.
Reflection: When working independently today Sallie struggled with staying on
task and being careful to include more than just one or two inferences she made. The
inferences she did make were right on target and she clearly showed me the clues and
strategies she used to make them. We had another discussion about the inner
conversation and I used a different picture book to go through together and model how
to constantly ask questions. At this point I feel like Sallie knows how to infer, its just
staying on task, actively thinking, and being engaged the entire time she reads that is
holding her back and causing her to miss a lot of the information.
Session 12
Objective: Independent practice with inferring
Lesson: Sallie will take what we have learned thus far about making inferences
and read a book independently, making inferences using illustrations, text clues, and
background knowledge. She will record her inferences and unknown words on an
anchor chart as we did in our previous lessons. Sallie will use the book This is Not My
Hat by Jon Klassen. We will then go over the inferences she has made together.
Reflection: I had Sallie work independently on her inferring skills again today. I
think that the more she practices on her own the more confident she gets with doing it
on her own in general. She relies on me too much when we work through it together
first. Since she has all of the tools needed for making inferences I feel comfortable
having her work independently and then going over her work together after. Today was
the first day that I saw a huge improvement in Sallies two charts; unknown words and
inferences from the book. She did a much more diligent job overall and I can tell she
was working on her inner conversation while reading. For our next lesson we will work
on inferring with content area texts such as history or science. Inferring is an important
skill to have not only in fiction texts but also for comprehending textbook and content
area informational texts.
Session 13
Objective: Inferring to understand historical concepts
Lesson: Sallie will practice using the inferring skills she has learned for literary
texts and apply it to historical concepts as we read I Have A Dream by Kadir Nelson.
Inferring is a skill that is not only needed in literacy but also other core subjects such as
social studies and science.
Reflection: I got the idea of this lesson from Harvey and Goudvis (2007),
Strategies that Work. It is important that students not only learn how to infer when
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reading a book for pleasure, but also how to apply those skills to other subjects. I didnt
have as much time as usual with Sallie today so I had her activate her prior knowledge
and tell me what she knew about Martin Luther King Jr. already. We recorded this
background information on a chart that we will continue to use for this book. We talked
more about how prior knowledge is useful in learning about historical concepts or
figures. It helps us put all of the information pieces together in our mind to infer. Our
next lesson will be a continuation of this book.
Session 14
Objective: Inferring to understand historical concepts (continuation of lesson 13)
Lesson: Sallie will practice using the inferring skills she has learned for literary
texts and apply it to historical concepts as we read I Have A Dream by Kadir Nelson
Reflection: Since we didnt have enough time during our previous lesson to read
our book about Martin Luther King Jr., thats what we did today. We first reviewed the
background knowledge we had already recorded. On the same chart we made two
columns, labeled I wonder and I think. As we read the picture book Sallie practiced
questioning as she read, writing down questions that came to mind as we went along.
Using these questions, concept clues, and her prior knowledge she also practiced
making inferences, recording those as we went along as well. I was pleased with how
consistent Sallie was at questioning and then making attempts at inferring throughout
the text.
Session 15
Objective: Rereading to clear up misconceptions
Lesson: After completing I Have A Dream I will encourage Sallie to go back
through the text and find the parts that surprised her. For these surprising parts I will
have Sallie find the clues she missed in the text that could have been useful for making
inferences. It is good to go back through a text to check your inferences.
Reflection: This tip, taken from Harvey and Goudvis (2007), was one that was
perfect for Sallies last one-on-one lesson. While Sallie has made an enormous amount
of progress on inferring, she is still missing quite a bit of contextual clues that will help
her infer even more. I had to guide Sallie quite a bit for this activity in order to show her
exactly what I meant by going back through a text to find the clues that were missed
before.

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Running Records
QRI - 5 Passage Calculations
Clinicians Name_____Sallie___________________ Date of
administration____3/19/2015_____
I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level one titled Air. The
passage contained 85 words. She read it in 1 minute(s) and 22 seconds. She made 2 miscues and 0
self-correction(s). She retold approximately 11 of the 20 ideas noted on the retelling scoring sheet. She
answered 4 explicit questions correctly and 2 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
83(# words read correctly) =

98% accuracy rate

85 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
85 (# words in passage) = ___42.5____ (expressed as a ratio),
2 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__42____

Fluency Rate
__85__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____5100___ /
__82____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_62___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_11__ (# of ideas retold) /_20__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_55___ %

Comprehension

15

explicit _4___, implicit __2__,

__6__/__6__ overall comprehension score =___100______%

Details about prior knowledge:

Sallie scored 100% on her concept questions. She was able to tell me in detail about air, what it
does, and what wind can do before she read the passage. This proved to me that this passage
was appropriate for her to read.

Details about prediction:

Sallie predicted the passage to be about air based on the concept questions. However, she did
not go into further detail in her prediction. I asked her to elaborate and she responded with, I
dont know, just about air.

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Final Assessments and Results

Pre-Assessments
QRI - 5 Passage Calculations
Clinicians Name_____Sallie___________________ Date of
administration____3/4/2015_____
Word List Administration
Grade
P
Level/%Automatic
100%
Level/%Total
100%

1
95%
95%

2
75%
75%

I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level one titled The Bear
and the Rabbit. The passage contained 181 words. She read it in 2 minute(s) and 23 seconds. She
made 10 miscues and 2 self-correction(s). She retold approximately 15 of the 31 ideas noted on the
retelling scoring sheet. She answered 4 explicit questions correctly and 0 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
171(# words read correctly) =

94% accuracy rate

181 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
181 (# words in passage) = ___18.1____ (expressed as a ratio),
10 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__18____

Self-correction Rate
10

+2

(errors + sc) = _6___ = ______ (expressed as a ratio)

sc

therefore self-correction rate is 1:__6_____

Fluency Rate
17

__181__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____10860___ /
__143____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_76___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_15__ (# of ideas retold) /_31__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_48___ %

Comprehension
explicit _4___, implicit __0__,
__4__/__6__ overall comprehension score =___67______%
Instructional level

This passage is at an instructional level because Sallie completed the prior knowledge
questions at a 66% success rate, read the passage with a 94% accuracy rate and answered the
comprehension questions with a 67% success rate. Both the word recognition and
comprehension scores fall into the instructional level range.

Details about prior knowledge:

Sallie scored 66% on her concept questions. She was very vague when she answered the first
question, what makes a friend, as she responded with you meet one. It was apparent that
she knew what I was talking about with the questions but had a harder time putting her answers
into comprehensive words.

Details about prediction:

Sallie predicted that the story would be about a bear. I gathered that she made this prediction
based on the title, The Bear and the Rabbit. However, she lacked including the rabbit in her
prediction.

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Next Steps for Instructional Support:

Sallie fell into the instructional level in both her word recognition and her comprehension. I will
test her with a second grade passage to be sure this is the right reading level for her. Based on
this passage she needs the most help with implicit questions.

I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level two titled Fathers
New Game. The passage contained 298 words. She read it in 3 minute(s) and 28 seconds. She made
33 miscues and 0 self-correction(s). She retold approximately 16 of the 49 ideas noted on the retelling
scoring sheet. She answered 3 explicit questions correctly and 2 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
265 (# words read correctly) =

89% accuracy rate

298 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
298 (# words in passage) = ___9____ (expressed as a ratio),
33 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__9____

Self-correction Rate
33

+0
0

(errors + sc) = ____ = ______ (expressed as a ratio)

sc

therefore self-correction rate is 1:_______

19

Fluency Rate
__298__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____17880___ /
__208____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_86___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_16__ (# of ideas retold) /_49__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_33___ %

Comprehension
explicit _3___, implicit __2__,
__5__/__8__ overall comprehension score =___63______%
Frustration Level

This passage is at a frustration level for Sallie. She completed the prior knowledge questions at
an 89% success rate, read the passage with an 89% accuracy rate and answered the
comprehension questions with a 63% success rate. Both the word recognition and
comprehension scores fall into the frustration level range.

Details about prior knowledge:

Sallie scored 89% on her concept questions. She was able to answer these questions much
more thoroughly than the level one passage.

Details about prediction:

Sallie made a prediction that the passage would be about a dad, his two daughters, and a
repairman. She gathered more information to make this prediction than she did for the level one
passage.

20

Next Steps for Instructional Support:

Sallies word recognition and comprehension fell into a frustration level range. This is
confirmation that her probable reading level is a first grade level and she needs more instruction
with implicit questions.

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Midway Check-Point Assessments

QRI - 5 Passage Calculations
Clinicians Name_____Sallie___________________ Date of
administration____3/19/2015_____
22

I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level one titled Air. The
passage contained 85 words. She read it in 1 minute(s) and 22 seconds. She made 2 miscues and 0
self-correction(s). She retold approximately 11 of the 20 ideas noted on the retelling scoring sheet. She
answered 4 explicit questions correctly and 2 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
83(# words read correctly) =

98% accuracy rate

85 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
85 (# words in passage) = ___42.5____ (expressed as a ratio),
2 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__42____

Fluency Rate
__85__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____5100___ /
__82____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_62___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_11__ (# of ideas retold) /_20__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_55___ %

Comprehension
explicit _4___, implicit __2__,
__6__/__6__ overall comprehension score =___100______%

Details about prior knowledge:

23

Sallie scored 100% on her concept questions. She was able to tell me in detail about air, what it
does, and what wind can do before she read the passage. This proved to me that this passage
was appropriate for her to read.

Details about prediction:

Sallie predicted the passage to be about air based on the concept questions. However, she did
not go into further detail in her prediction. I asked her to elaborate and she responded with, I
dont know, just about air.

Post-Assessments

QRI - 5 Passage Calculations

Clinicians Name_____Sallie___________________
Date of administration____4/1/2015_____
Word List Administration
Grade
1
Level/%Automatic
90%
Level/%Total
90%

2
70%
70%

I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level one titled The
Surprise. The passage contained 210 words. She read it in 1 minute(s) and 25 seconds. She made 7
miscues and 1 self-correction(s). She retold approximately 10 of the 44 ideas noted on the retelling
scoring sheet. She answered 4 explicit questions correctly and 2 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
203 (# words read correctly) =

97% accuracy rate

210 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
210 (# words in passage) = ___30____ (expressed as a ratio),
7 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__30____

24

Self-correction Rate
7

+1

(errors + sc) = _8___ = ______ (expressed as a ratio)

sc

therefore self-correction rate is 1:__8_____

Fluency Rate
__210__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____12600___ /
__85____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_148___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_10__ (# of ideas retold) /_44__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_23___ %

Comprehension
explicit _4___, implicit __2__,
__6__/__6__ overall comprehension score =___100______%
Instructional level

This passage is at an independent level because Sallie completed the prior knowledge
questions at a 66% success rate, read the passage with a 97% accuracy rate and answered the
comprehension questions with a 100% success rate. Both the word recognition and
comprehension scores fall into the independent level range.

Details about prior knowledge:

Sallie scored 66% on her concept questions. She was able to tell me what a puppy is and why
a child wouldnt get everything he/she wanted for his birthday. She was not able to tell me
about an animal care center, but that is to be expected if a child has not had prior experience
with an animal shelter.
25

Details about prediction:

When asked to make a prediction about the story Sallie responded, I dont know. This did not
stop me from continuing this level of assessment because I know Sallie does not put forth the
effort of trying sometimes.

Next Steps for Instructional Support:

Sallie fell into the independent level in both her word recognition and her comprehension. I will
test her with a second grade passage next.

I documented a running record with Sallie. She read a narrative passage on a level one titled What Can
I Get for My Toy?. The passage contained 171 words. She read it in 2 minute(s) and 0 seconds. She
made 8 miscues and 2 self-correction(s). She retold approximately 13 of the 38 ideas noted on the
retelling scoring sheet. She answered 3 explicit questions correctly and 3 implicit questions correctly.

Accuracy Rate
163 (# words read correctly) =

95% accuracy rate

171 (# words in passage)

Miscue/Error Rate
171 (# words in passage) = ___21.4____ (expressed as a ratio),
8 (# miscues/errors)

therefore miscue/error rate is 1:__21.4____

Self-correction Rate
8

+2
2

(errors + sc) = _5___ = ______ (expressed as a ratio)

sc

therefore self-correction rate is 1:__5_____

26

Fluency Rate
__171__ (# of words in passage X

60 = ____10260___ /
_120____

(#seconds read)

Final fluency rate = number of words read per minute (_86___ WPM)

Retelling Score
_13__ (# of ideas retold) /_38__ (# of ideas noted on QRI-5 retelling scoring sheet)

=_34___ %

Comprehension
explicit _3___, implicit __3__,
__6__/__8__ overall comprehension score =___75______%
Instructional level

This passage is at an instructional level because Sallie completed the prior knowledge
questions at a 66% success rate, read the passage with a 95% accuracy rate and answered the
comprehension questions with a 75% success rate. Both the word recognition and
comprehension scores fall into the instructional level range.

Details about prior knowledge:

Sallie scored 66% on her concept questions. She was able to explain the difference between
old and new toys but was not able to explain reasons you would trade toys.

Details about prediction:

When asked to make a prediction about the story Sallie responded, I dont know. This did not
stop me from continuing this level of assessment because I know Sallie does not put forth the
effort of trying sometimes.

Next Steps for Instructional Support:

27

Sallie fell into the instructional level on a level two QRI-5 assessment. This is the level where
instruction should take place in the classroom. Sallie has increased one level in her reading
instruction since her pre-lesson assessments. She was initially at an instructional level one and
now she is at an instructional level two. This is the result of conducting fifteen one-on-one
lessons, teaching Sallie how to make inferences.

28

Assessment Findings/Discussion
When I first began working with Sallie I started by conducting a series of
assessments to see what reading level she was on, her literacy strengths and
weaknesses, which spelling stage she was in, and how much she likes literacy in
general. The most telling data, which I based my lessons off of, came from the results
of the QRI-5 assessment. At a level one Sallie read with a 94% accuracy rate and
successfully comprehended 67% of the questions. I determined this level to be
instructional for Sallie. After testing her at a level two I found Sallie to read with 89%
accuracy and successfully comprehend 63% of the questions. These results proved
that level two texts are at Sallies frustration level. I noticed on the level one
comprehension questions Sallie answered all of the explicit questions correctly and
none of the implicit questions. Based on these cumulative results I decided to create
fifteen one-on-one lessons, focusing on making inferences when reading in order to
answer implicit questions and comprehend better overall. I explicitly taught each
inference strategy, modeled the strategy through a think aloud, worked together with
Sallie to try out the strategy, and then had Sallie practice the strategy independently.
Throughout the lessons on inferring I introduced Sallie to a variety of strategies
that help make inferences. We began our lessons with an introduction on inferring and
the importance of using text clues and prior knowledge when making inferences. Sallie
was taught how to infer the meaning of an unfamiliar word, how to use all aspects of a
book to make inferences, how to make inferences with historical concepts, and how to
reread in order to clear up inferential misunderstandings. Sallie showed consistent
progress throughout all of our lessons. There were a few times when I had Sallie
practice a particular strategy several times to build her confidence. Midway through the
lessons on inferring I assessed Sallie using a level one nonfiction QRI-5 passage. She
read this passage with a 98% accuracy rate and successfully answered 100% of the
comprehension questions. This proved to me that Sallie was understanding and
applying the strategies on making inferences that I had been teaching her.
When all fifteen lessons on inferring were over I conducted a post-lesson QRI-5
assessment. On a level one QRI-5 passage Sallie read with a 97% accuracy rate and
successfully answered 100% of the comprehension questions. Overall, this passage
would be considered instructional for Sallie since 97% accuracy rate falls into the
instructional range. Since 97% accuracy rate is at the cusp of being independent, she
correctly answered all of the comprehension questions, and we have been working
solely on a comprehension strategy, I made the executive decision to test her on a level
two passage. On the level two passage Sallie read with a 95% accuracy rate and
successfully answered 75% of the comprehension questions. Both of these scores
place a level two passage in the instructional range for Sallie.
Based on the results from Sallies pre- middle- and post- assessments
improvement has been recorded. Sallie went from not being able to answer any of the
implicit questions, to answering all of them correctly at a level one and being at an
instructional comprehension level at a level two QRI-5 passage. By spending time
teaching Sallie strategies to make inferences, she went up one whole reading level,
putting her on grade level in reading. I think the QRI-5 passages are good umbrella
assessments for determining reading level and pinpointing which strategy a student
needs extra support with. However, I felt that with my case study student in particular
29

they did not accurately test the strategy we worked on. There are indeed implicit
questions on the assessments, but there are only 2-3 for each passage. In order to
better determine Sallies knowledge of making inferences, a more in depth assessment
of implicit questions should be conducted

30

Home-School Partnership Part A

Meeting 1 (March 13, 2015)
During this initial meeting I went over Sallies assessment data that I
gathered from her QRI-5, WTW spelling inventory, and reading attitude surveys with her
mom and classroom teacher. I talked with her mom and teacher in a collaborative way
to find out more in depth about Sallies reading habits at school and at home as well as
the involvement Sallies parents play in her motivation to read. At the end of this
meeting I went over my plan for the one-on-one lessons with Sallie regarding her
reading comprehension. Knowing more about her reading habits at home and her
parents influence will help guide me in making suggestions to improve her reading
outside of school.
Meeting 2 (March 20, 2015)
For this second meeting with Sallies mom and classroom teacher I took
their input from the initial meeting and made a list of tips for them on how to be
exemplary readers and how to encourage Sallies interest in reading. We discussed
these tips during our meeting. Here are the tips I provided:
Home
o Read in front of Sallie
o Encourage Sallie to read rather than watch TV
Alternative storylineonline.com < books being read aloud online
o Read with Sallie for a set amount of time each day make it a routine
o Visit the library more often and check out books that interest her
o Take her to story time at the public library or bookstore on the weekends
School
o Have Sallie sit in a quiet place while reading to help her focus
o Assign Sallie a reading project on fantasy
o Find a stack of books for Sallie that deal with fantasy or horror
Independent and instructional levels
Meeting 3 (March 27, 2015)
During this meeting I informed Sallies mom and classroom teacher of the
work we have been doing together. I showed them my lesson plans for our one-on-one
lessons and went through one lesson as an example to them. Most parents dont know
how to interact with their children while reading and this was a great way to give Sallies
mom the tools needed to provide Sallie with additional reading support at home. In
particular we discussed how to have an ongoing inner conversation while reading, what
inferring is, how to use background knowledge and text clues to make inferences, and
how to fill in anchor charts for inferring.
Meeting 4 (April 3, 2015)
This will be my final meeting with Sallies mom and classroom teacher.
During this meeting I plan to go over the information I have gathered from the very
beginning. This will entail revisiting her initial assessment information, tips on how to
31

help her become a more motivated reader, strategies to work on while reading with her,
and the results of her post-lesson assessments. Hopefully we will be able to see some
growth in Sallies reading skills from the post-lesson assessments. This meeting will be
the culmination of all of the work and visits I have had with Sallie. It will be a time for
reflection and a recap on what I have been doing with Sallie as well as how to proceed
in a positive way.

32

Home-School Partnership B
Meeting 1

March 13, 2015

Meeting 2

March 20, 2015

During this initial meeting I went over

Sallies assessment data that I gathered
from her QRI-5, WTW spelling inventory,
and reading attitude surveys with her
mom and classroom teacher. I talked
with her mom and teacher in a
collaborative way to find out more in
depth about Sallies reading habits at
school and at home as well as the
involvement Sallies parents play in her
motivation to read. At the end of this
meeting I went over my plan for the oneon-one lessons with Sallie regarding her
reading comprehension. Knowing more
about her reading habits at home and
her parents influence will help guide me
in making suggestions to improve her
reading outside of school.
For this second meeting with Sallies
mom and classroom teacher I took their
input from the initial meeting and made a
list of tips for them on how to be
exemplary readers and how to
encourage Sallies interest in reading.
We discussed these tips during our
meeting. Here are the tips I provided:
Home
o Read in front of Sallie
o Encourage Sallie to read
rather than watch TV
Alternative
storylineonline.co
m < books being
read aloud online
o Read with Sallie for a set
amount of time each day
make it a routine
o Visit the library more
often and check out
books that interest her
33

Meeting 3

March 27, 2015

Meeting 4

April 3, 2015

o Take her to story time at

the public library or
bookstore on the
weekends
School
o Have Sallie sit in a quiet
place while reading to
help her focus
o Assign Sallie a reading
project on fantasy
o Find a stack of books for
Sallie that deal with
fantasy or horror
Independent and
instructional levels

During this meeting I informed Sallies

mom and classroom teacher of the work
we have been doing together. I showed
them my lesson plans for our one-onone lessons and went through one
lesson as an example to them. Most
parents dont know how to interact with
their children while reading and this was
a great way to give Sallies mom the
tools needed to provide Sallie with
additional reading support at home. In
particular we discussed how to have an
ongoing inner conversation while
reading, what inferring is, how to use
background knowledge and text clues to
make inferences, and how to fill in
anchor charts for inferring.
My final meeting with Sallies classroom
teacher and mother was review of the
time I have spent with Sallie during the
last few months. We first reviewed the
tips given in our second meeting on how
to make reading more enjoyable for
Sallie and how to encourage her to read
at home. We then reviewed the
strategies Sallies mom can use to help
her infer while reading at home. These
34

strategies encompassed all of the

lessons I have had with Sallie, learning
about how to making inferences in
literacy and how to apply those skills to
other core subjects. The last part of our
meeting was spent comparing Sallies
pre- and post-assessment results.
I was not able to receive a comment from Sallies mom on how she felt about my
work with Sallie before the assignment deadline. I was able to get in contact with
Sallies classroom teacher who stated,
I consider Rachel to be a lifesaver. Sallie is one of the students in my
classroom that needs one-on-one time in most academic areas but I dont have that
time to focus on her independently. She has been behind in her reading and spending
extra time working on comprehension has made a clear improvement. Not only are
there concrete results through the assessments Rachel conducted, but I also see it in
her reading during our guided reading time. It goes to show that working one-on-one
with a student who is behind can give them the extra support they need to be on grade
level.

35

Final Reflection
The most important aspect of teaching is finding ways to support your
students in order for them to succeed. This cumulative case study has given me a
glimpse of how to do that for one student in particular. While every student in a
classroom has different strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles, this assignment
has taught me how to break down a students knowledge and find ways to successfully
support them. One area struggling readers need extra support with is comprehension.
Comprehension is an integral part of literacy as learning from texts aids in learning in all
subject areas and when hands-on learning is coupled with text-based learning students
learn and process more (Neufeld, 2005, p. 302). Neufeld (2005) taught me how to
coach readers how to activate their inner conversation while reading in order to better
comprehend.
The most effective way to break down a students strengths and
weaknesses in literacy is through formative assessments. For this case study I used a
primary spelling inventory from Words Their Way (Bear, Invernezzi, Templeton, and
Johnston, 2011) and passages to determine word accuracy and comprehension from
Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 (Leslie and Caldwell, 2010). When you are able to see
exactly what a struggling reader needs you are then able to create a unique,
personalized plan to support them. Resources such as Strategies That Work (Harvey

36

and Goudvis, 2007) prove to be fantastic in providing lessons for a variety of

comprehension strategies. Through the formative assessments I used with Sallie I was
able to see that she needed the most assistance with making inferences. Once I knew
this I used a chapter from Strategies That Work (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007) to create
fifteen lesson plans that were specifically differentiated to meet Sallies comprehension
needs. Formative assessments are also beneficial to see if a student has made any
gains. For instance, I formally assessed Sallie prior to the comprehension lessons I
taught and then again after the lessons were complete. By comparing the two sets of
data from the assessments I was able to tell exactly how much she had progressed.
As I pointed out earlier from Neufeld (2005), comprehension is a key
component in literacy success. Struggling readers should be given formative
assessments and differentiated lessons to meet their individual needs. That is exactly
the best way teachers can support them, which brings me back to the main goal of
every teacher; finding ways to support your students in order for them to succeed.

37

Works Cited
Bear, D. R., Invernezzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2011). Words Their Way (Fifth
Edition). Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall.
Harvey, S. and Goudvis, A. (2007). Strategies That Work (Second Edition). York, Maine:
Stenhouse Publishers.
Leslie, L. and Caldwell, J. (2010). Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 New York: Addison Wesley
Longman.
Neufeld, P. (2005). Comprehension instruction in content area classes. The Reading Teacher,
59(4), p.302-312. doi:10.1598/RT.59.4.1

38