Case Report on Andy Hang

Case Report on Israel B.

Introduction Israel, age 10, a 4th grader at Westside Elementary, attended the reading tutoring sessions because he is below grade level in reading fluency and comprehension. As graduate reading clinician in Appalachian State University's Master's Degree Program in Reading Education, I tutored Israel for 4 weeks across the Summer 2010 semester. I, Angela Steele conducted the initial assessment and all 4 weeks of tutoring.

Initial literacy assessments The Initial Literacy Assessments included the following: Word Recognition in Isolation (WRI), Oral Reading (Accuracy, Comprehension, Rate), Silent Reading (Comprehension, Rate), and Schlagal Spelling Inventory. All of the assessment results were analyzed to determine his Independent Levels (where he can benefit in independent work without assistance), Instructional Levels (where he can benefit with instructional support), and Frustration Levels (where he does not benefit even with help) in Word Study, Reading, Spelling/Phonics, and Writing.

Israel was very open to these assessments and eager to want to do what was asked of him. He enjoyed talking with me during his interest inventory and shared a love for history. Each tutoring session proved to be a pleasant experience where he seemed to enjoy our time together.

Spelling The purpose of the Schlagal Spelling Inventory was to understand Israel’s orthographic knowledge Knowing that students can often read words they cannot spell correctly, because correct spelling attends to each letter of a word, I needed to know Israel’s level of understanding. Often students can read words they cannot spell correctly. The letters and letter patterns that they rely on when they read are the ones that their spellings reveal them to understand. To assess Israel’s spelling ability, I started with the first grade Schlagal spelling list, making sure to pronounce the words clearly and also using the words in a sentence. Each grade level list consisted of 12 words. This process progressed by grade level lists, as long as he was spelling at least 8 words correctly. To score this assessment I wrote the correct spelling beside each misspelled word. Then I divided the number of words he spelled correctly by the number of words in that grade level list of words (12), multiplying this by 100 to gain a percentage score.

Israel spelled 11 of the 12 words in the first grade list correctly, obtaining a score of 92%. On the second grade list Israel spelled three words correctly, scoring 25%. On the third grade list, he spelled six words correctly, scoring 50%. With these results I was able to determine his Independent, Instructional, and Frustration Levels in Spelling. To be an Independent Level speller the scores obtained must be 90-100% correct. The first grade level was the only Independent score Israel achieved. Scoring 25% on the second grade lists determined that this was Israel’s Frustration Level in spelling, falling below 40%. Israel’s Instructional level appeared to be third grade where he spelled 6 words correctly, scoring 50%. This score falls in the Instructional range of 50-89%. These results do not follow the norm, where a grade level is skipped, going from Instructional to Frustration.

Israel showed a clear understanding of short vowel patterns. When looking at his assessment, his errors are mainly in the high frequency vowel patterns; spelling train, as “trane”, queen, as “qunene” and year, as “yere”. His spelling is disconnected from his reading abilities. He also has some issues with doubling, shown in trapped (trapeted), shopping (shoping), and stuff (stuf).

Word recognition in isolation (WRI) The purpose for the Word Recognition in Isolation assessment was to evaluate Israel’s automaticity and accuracy of word recognition, free from context. Reading words out of context provides a natural ability to improve reading in context with emphasis on knowing words automatically instead of having to sound them out. In starting this test, I began with using the Preprimer (PP) word list. Israel was asked to read words from a list, first being flashed the word for ¼ of a second. If his response was accurate, we proceeded further on the list. If his flash response was inaccurate, then he was giving an opportunity to look at the word in an untimed setting. This process continued until his accuracy on the flashed list fell below 50%. To generate a score for this assessment, his error were multiplied by five and then taken away from 100. This scoring process was used both for the flashed words and the untimed words.

Determining Israel’s Independent, Instructional, and Frustration Levels for Word Recognition in Isolation were based on the results of only the flashed words, rather than the untimed. Israel scored 100% on the first grade word list, making this his Independent Word Recognition in Isolation level. For this to be his Independent Level, his score needed to be between 90-100%. He showed an Instructional Range at 2nd (85%) and 3rd Grade (65%). The Instructional Level criterion is a score of 70-89%. The “gray” area for WRI is 50-69%. At 3rd grade level he was able to recover at 95% on the untimed portion of the assessment. Israel’s Frustration Level was fourth grade, where he scored 60%, which falls in the “gray” area, but his recovery was not as successful, 85%. Israel’s levels of Word Recognition in Isolation are closely correlated to his Spelling Assessment results, only a grade level increased difference. This shows that Israel was better at recognizing words in isolation than he was at spelling them. As a Fourth Grader, Israel has seen words that are above his spelling level. With this, his knowledge of how letters work in words will delimit the speed and ease with which his reading will grow.

Contextual Reading (Oral and Silent) The purpose of contextual reading assessment, for both oral and silent, is to gain a greater understanding of Israel’s reading fluency, word recognition accuracy, and comprehension; therefore, to be able to establish his Independent, Instructional, and Frustration Levels in reading. To begin this oral reading assessment, I chose the passage that matched Israel’s Independent Word Recognition in Isolation Level. Each passage read, was taped using a digital recorder. This process began with me stating Israel’s name and the date, asking him to make a prediction based on the introduction I read to him about the passage he was to read. Upon him making a prediction he was then asked to read aloud, knowing he would be asked about the passage following his reading. As Israel began reading, I timed and recorded his errors as he read. When he finished reading the stop watch was discontinued and I asked him comprehension questions that accompanied the story. This process continued as long as his oral reading accuracy was 90% or above, or his fluency dropped below the range acceptable for that passage. The same protocol was followed with the silent reading assessment. Scores for these passages included: Oral Reading Accuracy (WRC), Rate (Fluency), and Comprehension. Accuracy errors that counted in this scoring were: substitutions (changing a word), omissions (leaving out a word), and insertions (adding a word); self corrections were counted as errors. Errors were then counted and multiplied by the error quotient for that passage, then subtracting this from 100 to get a percentage score. Fluency was scored based on words per minute (WPM). The formula used in fluency was: number of words times 60, divided by the number of seconds taken to read the passage. Comprehension scoring was specific to each passage.

Israel’s Independent Oral and Silent reading levels were both at second grade. His Word Recognition Accuracy (WRC) was 98%, Fluency 123 WPM, and Comprehension 80%. His silent reading rate was 97 WPM and Comprehension was 100%. For this to be his Independent WRC Level, his accuracy needed to fall between 98-100%, Fluency between 80-120 WPM, and his Comprehension at 90-100%. For his Silent reading his fluency fell between the acceptable 70-145 WPM. The third grade passage was shown to be his Instructional Reading Level. The results from this passage show: his WRC was 95%, Fluency 89 WPM, and Comprehension 100%. In his Silent Reading he scored: 83 WPM in Fluency and 93% in Comprehension. The acceptable oral reading scores for the Instructional Level are: 70-89% WRC, 80-135 WPM, and 70-89% Comprehension. For Silent Reading 95-170 WPM and 70-89% Comprehension are the criteria at the Instructional Level. Fourth Grade proved to be his Frustration Level. At this level he scored: 84% WRC, 84 WPM, and 100% Comprehension. His silent reading scores were 113 WPM and 41% Comprehension. At this Frustration Level the criteria are: below 90% WRC, below the Fluency range (95-150 wpm), and below 50% Comprehension. Israel meets the criteria in Accuracy and Fluency, for this reason I decided that Fourth Grade would be his Frustration Level. These Contextual Reading scores correlated directly to his Word Recognition in Isolation scores. At this level, Israel’s silent reading rate also fell below the acceptable range for a Level 4 passage (120-185 wpm).

Writing Israel and I shared stories about our likes and dislikes based off of the “Interest Inventory”. He told me a story about catching a detailed story about a catching a catfish. When I asked him to write the story, he was a little hesitant in putting pencil to paper. I told him that all he had to do was write about what he told me and he began to write. Time did not allow for us to complete this task in one day, I told him we would finish the story later. He used lots of details, had great ideas, and had no trouble organizing his thoughts in logical sequence. He spelled difficult words by writing down sounds he heard. He felt more comfortable writing when I freed him from the “correct” spelling stipulation to writing, as he knows what this is not his strength.

Instructional Plans and Progress Report Plans were made across the Instructional Areas of Reading (comprehension/fluency), Writing, Word Study (spelling/phonics), and Being Read To in accord with the conclusions drawn from the initial assessment. Tutoring lessons included activities in these four areas and were adjusted according to Israel’s progress and needs.

Reading During each tutoring session a book on Israel’s instructional reading level (3rd grade) was chosen in advance. Points of anticipation were marked throughout the book as a place to stop for questioning, predicting, and checking for comprehension. If Israel was unable to make a logical prediction, I would guide Israel to go back and reread the page, and ask again what he thought would happen next in the story. As the book was read aloud, I made any necessary corrections to pronunciations or errors made during the reading monitoring his understanding of the story to ensure that the errors were not interfering with his reading comprehension.

Across the four weeks, Israel’s fluency and comprehension increased steadily in level 3 books. At times, Israel would struggle with reading exactly what was on the page, although making very few meaning change errors. During those times, I would guide him to look back to a word or even reread a sentence. As Israel read the book aloud to me, he would stop to inform me of facts in his prior knowledge of our reading topic of “westward expansion”. For fluency checks, I chose to read books at his independent level to drive his efforts in this area. I graphed his words per minute and also used “expert reader” to track his errors. Israel reads well, he just needed attention driven to read what is on the written page. These fluency checks were almost done daily.

Writing For tutoring Israel in writing, he and I discussed things he was interested in such as fishing and history. Israel has a love for being outdoors so I used this as a preface for writing topics. We then used bubble maps to assist in planning ideas about the topics he chose, and then he ordered the ideas logically. Upon completion of this plan, he would begin writing and elaborating on his ideas. During the next tutoring session, we would work on another idea for a writing topic. After writing a few different stories, Israel would choose one to edit/revise to “publish”. In “publishing”, I would type up the story and then give him the opportunity to illustrate it. During this process we would read it aloud a few times and add more to it, making revisions where necessary. Across the four weeks, Israel told me about his love of fishing. He once caught a fish that was ______feet long, so we wrote a story about his catch, using details that Israel knew from his fishing trip. We started out by talking about his great catch, and began writing down some key points that he wanted to include in this story. Then we expanded that information into paragraphs for a story. In another writing activity we wrote about trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Israel told me about a three week trip to Niagara Falls and Philadelphia. He was ecstatic that he got to visit the Liberty Bell and we focused on this idea to write a story. He did very well with this story as he had in-depth knowledge of the history of the Liberty Bell.

Word study Israel needed work on high frequency vowel patterns. We worked with both short and long vowel words including “a”, “I”, “o”, and “e”. I had him sort the words for noticing vowel patterns because he could read these patterns wells, but lacked fluency in his spelling.

Across the four weeks, we used the words that included these high frequency vowel patterns for sorting and practicing spelling. He grasped this concept quickly and was able to sort and read these words without effort. We continued moving to new vowels fairly quickly as he grasped the concept of sorting. He also enjoyed the different games, such as, BINGO, Concentration, and Pitty Pat.

Being read to Across the first days of tutoring, a story rich in book language was chosen approximately at Israel’s grade level. The purpose of this activity was to expose him to rich book language and stories with compelling plots so that he might improve his vocabulary and comprehension by being exposed to book language in contexts that he understands. At points of anticipation, I stopped and asked Israel what he thought might happen next and what I had read to make him think that way. These questions insured that Israel was attending to the meaning and fully engaged.

Israel responded to this activity positively, as he loves being read to. Often he would ask for the book we chose to be read aloud. He never struggled with making logical predictions to the question, “What do you think will happen next?” He relied on his historical background knowledge to guide his predictions. While I was reading to him, we stopped at predetermined places to check for comprehension and predictions.