INVENTORY ®

Data Interpretation Perfect for RTI Guide Using Scholastic Phonics Inventory Data Effectively

What Is Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI)?

Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI) is a foundational reading assessment that measures the fluency of word- level reading for older struggling readers. SPI is an accurate and easy-to-administer assessment that helps educators answer the following questions:

• Which students are in need of the most intensive, foundational level of intervention (in a Response to Intervention model, typically Tier III)?

• Which students would benefit from an intervention that is focused on developing vocabulary, background knowledge, and reading comprehension skills (typically Tier II)?

The SPI is administered individually via a personal computer in approximately 10 minutes, and contains three equivalent test forms to measure students’ growth during their foundational reading interventions. How Does SPI Work?

SPI was designed to measure fluency for two word-level reading skills: phonological decoding and sight word reading. Both skills are assessed by the speed and accuracy of the students’ response in identifying target sight words or decoding pronounceable nonsense words.

SPI also contains a testing section on identifying letter names. The scores from this section are used to determine if students understand the alphabetic principle. The scores from this section provide evidence as to which struggling readers require the deepest level of intervention.

Each item in SPI has a timed response threshold—the time it takes a proficient reader to respond to the item. The item response thresholds range from 400 milliseconds to 2 seconds. Each of the test items has been empirically validated with the support of Dr. Richard Wagner, of Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research. Dr. Wagner is the principal scientist for SPI and an author of Test of Word Reading Efficiancy (TOWRE).

When a student engages in SPI, his or her response time is a critical component of the assessment. For this reason, students will need to understand that their focused attention and earnest effort will be instrumental to the accuracy of their score and eventual placement.

The timing aspect in SPI can be disabled for students who, for a variety of reasons, cannot respond quickly. While the scoring criteria changes for these students, they are not penalized for participating with this accommodation.

An Important Note:

Because response time is a critical aspect of SPI, the assessment must be installed on machines with certain technical specifications. In SPI, when unexpected low results occur, they tend to occur because of underspecified machines. Please be sure to check the technical requirements of the workstation before you test students. Technical requirements are on page 15 of this guide.

1 Before Your Assessment

What Skills Contribute to Reading Comprehension?

The latest research defining what reading skills and strategies are needed to become successful, independent readers has identified the following skills as those necessary for reading comprehension: • Word Reading Accuracy & Fluency • Vocabulary • Language Structures • Verbal Reasoning • Background Knowledge • Literacy Concepts

Which Skills Does SPI Identify?

The Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI) was designed to measure accuracy and fluency for two word-level reading skills: phonological decoding and sight word reading.

Other assessments, such as Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), identify the level of overall reading comprehension. In addition to its universal screening capacity, the SRI may be used for general comprehension progress monitoring. How Do I Identify Students for SPI Testing?

Research shows us that 50% of the time adolescent struggling readers lack foundational reading skills and the other 50% of the time they lack a context or background knowledge for effective reading comprehension. Source: Jenkins et al., 2003; Stanovich, 1991; Hock et al., 2009.

With SPI, schools can establish if struggling readers lack skills at the decoding level or if their challenges with comprehension may be due to weaknesses in other areas. This knowledge is critical when deciding placements for struggling readers and for determining the intensity of services.

To accomplish this, schools require data from a universal screener that reports on a developmental scale. While we recommend using SRI, any national normed, criterion-referenced reading test should be able to summarize reading performance expectations by grade level.

Once a universal screener has been used to make this determination, students identified in the lowest quartile for his or her grade level are candidates for further assessment with the SPI.

After SPI has identified whether foundational reading skills are at the heart of their specific reading challenges, these students can then be placed in the appropriate interventions targeted to the most fundamental reading skills.

2 FIGURE 1: How SRI and SPI work together in a Response to Intervention Framework

TIER III FOUNDATIONAL SRI SCORE 25TH PERCENTILE READING INTERVENTION

INVENTORY ®

TIER II TH TH ® SRI SCORE IN THE 26 -49 PERCENTILE READING COMPREHENSION

® INTERVENTION

SRI SCORE 50TH PERCENTILE TIER I CORE CURRICULUM INSTRUCTION

SRI, Scholastic’s reading comprehension assessment, works with SPI for accurate placements.

Other Indicators for Screening With SPI

While we recommend universal screening prior to SPI testing, any of the following criteria could be an indicator that a student should be a candidate for screening directly with the SPI: • A score in the bottom quartile on a state or national criterion-referenced reading or ELA test • A prolonged (multi-year) period of being “stalled” at a constant Lexile level • A failure in the content areas, especially when independent reading is required • The recommendation from a teacher or a child-study team • A newcoming ELL student.

3 Data and Reports

How Will SPI Report on Student Performances?

After students are tested on SPI, their teachers have immediate access to their performance data.

SPI will summarize the student performance and offer targeted placement recommendations. SPI makes four descriptive instructional recommendations that align to the RTI tiers with a narrative suggestion on content of that intervention.

With the rapid rise of Response to Intervention frameworks to address learning gaps across intervention tiers, SPI provides valuable data for use in RTI tier placement, by delineating which students require a Tier II (typically a reading comprehension intervention) and Tier III (typically an intensive word-level intervention).

For Tier III interventions, SPI further stratifies students into three levels.

1. Students identified asPre-Decoders are recommended for the most intensive, foundational level intervention, which would include instruction on the alphabetic principle. Their intervention would be associated with the beginning of the scope and sequence of an explicit phonics instruction.

2. Students identified asBeginning Decoders would receive explicit phonics instruction starting with simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) patterns.

3. Students identified asDeveloping Decoders demonstrate early phonological decoding skills and a basic facility with sight word recognition. These students would be best served with a Tier III reading intervention, starting with consonant blends.

4 Data and Reports

As indicated on the chart below, the SPI decoding status is associated with actionable recommendations to more effectively place students within an intervention program.

Once a candidate has been identified as needing word level intervention, SPI can be used through the course of the intervention to monitor growth and student response to treatment.

Chart 1: Decoding Status and Placement Recommendations

Placements Levels Results Should Include Student shows no mastery of the Tier III: Foundational reading alphabetic principle. intervention including alphabetic PRE-DECODER principle and phonemic awareness.

Student shows mastery of Tier III: Explicit phonics instruction BEGINNING basic letter recognition, usually starting with simple consonant- DECODER consonants. vowel-consonant (CVC) patterns.

Student shows emerging word- Tier III: Explicit phonics instruction DEVELOPING building skills with mastery of basic starting with consonant blends. DECODER word structures.

Student shows adequate mastery Tier II: Text-based reading with ADVANCING of decoding skills. direct support in building vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency DECODER with connected texts.

5 Data and Reports

How Do I Use The Screening and Placement Report?

The first report most educators generate is theSPI Screening and Placement Report. This report is extensive and the most effective report, because the overall student performance includes data on the percentage of items answered accurately and fluently, or within the required response time.

As we will present in this guide, there are times when further interpretation of this report may be required to confirm placement within a reading intervention. For a basic understanding, please review the elements of the SPI Screening and Placement Report.

In This Report, Data Will Be Reported by:

1 Date of SPI Placement Test: The data from each student’s first SPI test.

2 Percentage Accurate and Fluent on SPI Subtests: The percentage of items in each subtest answered correctly (accuracy) and within the given time limits (fluency).

— Letter Names Accuracy (assesses accuracy only)

— Sight Words Accuracy

— Sight Words Fluency

— Nonsense Words Fluency

3 SPI Fluency Score: The total number of fluent responses in the Sight Words and Nonsense Words subtests, out of 60 items. Please note: If you are using accuracy-only scoring for a student who requires accommodations, the SPI fluency score is the total number of accurate responses in these subtests and N/A will appear in the Fluency columns.

4 SPI Decoding Status: A criterion-referenced indicator of each student’s foundational reading skills (Pre-Decoder, Beginning Decoder, Developing Decoder, Advancing Decoder).

5 SRI Score (Lexile®): If Scholastic Reading Inventory has been used, this column provides the student’s most recent SRI score.

6 Accuracy-Only Accommodation: The asterisk next to a student’s score indicates that he or she is not being measured for fluency. This is a special education accommodation.

There are 30 items in the SPI subtests for sight-word reading and non-word reading. To determine actual raw responses in relationship to the percentage score, please see page 16.

6 Data and Reports

2 3 4 5 1

6

7 Data and Reports

How Does Scoring in SPI Work?

General placement recommendations are featured in the SPI decoding status column in the Screening and Placement Reports. The status is based on the SPI Fluency Score which is determined by the combined score for the Sight Word Fluency and the Nonsense Word Fluency sections.

For each test in SPI, there are 30 Sight Word items and 30 Nonsense Word items.

As depicted in the Scoring Rubric below, non-accommodated students earn one point for every item that is answered both accurately and fluently.

For students with the accuracy-only accommodations, the scoring criteria are based upon students earning one point for every accurate answer.

Chart 2: Scoring Rubric for Non-Accommodated Students

Pattern Accurate Response? Fluent Response? Fluency Score

1 No No 0 2 No Yes 0 3 Yes No 0

4 Yes Yes 1

Chart 3: Scoring Rubric for Accommodated Students

Pattern Accurate Response? Fluent Response? Fluency Score

1 No No 0 2 No Yes 0 3 Yes No 1

4 Yes Yes 1

It is important to note that scores based on accuracy alone are not as predictive as those based on accuracy and fluency. This option should be selected when students require test accommodations because they are unable to manipulate a computer mouse efficiently, have severe attention deficits, or have an Individual Education Plan that would indicate the need for this specific accommodation.

8 Data and Reports

What Criteria Is Used to Establish Decoding Status and Recommend Intervention Placement?

With the scoring data, SPI calculates placement recommendations. The basic formula is the sum of the fluency response points. Poor performance with letter names will influence placement into the Pre-Decoder status only.

The chart below describes the criteria used for determining the decoding status for students. This status is provided for both the fluency- and accuracy-based versions of the test. The fourth column in the chart provides the scoring criteria when the accommodation is made for Accuracy-Only Scoring.

Chart 4: Reading Program Placement and Criteria to Establish Decoding Status

Criteria for Decoding Status Description General Criteria Accuracy-Only Scoring

SPI Fluency Score of 0–10; Accuracy Score of 0–45; less less than 70% accuracy on than 70% accuracy on Letter A student with little or no Letter Names OR less than 50% Names OR less than 50% knowledge of letter names or PRE-DECODER accuracy on Nonsense Words accuracy on Nonsense Words letter-sound correspondences. that assess consonants and that assess consonants and short vowels (CVCs) short vowels (CVCs)

SPI Fluency Score of 0–10; at Accuracy Score of 0–45; at least least 70% accuracy on Letter A student who can identify 70% accuracy on Letter Names BEGINNING Names AND 50% accuracy on letter names but cannot AND 50% accuracy on Nonsense Nonsense Words that assess DECODER decode fluently. Words that assess consonants consonants and short vowels and short vowels (CVCs) (CVCs)

A student who can fluently DEVELOPING decode words with consonants and short vowels (CVCs) but SPI Fluency Score of 11–22 Accuracy Score of 46–49 DECODER cannot fluently decode more complex words.

ADVANCING A student who can decode with SPI Fluency Score of 23–60 Accuracy Score of 50–60 DECODER adequate fluency.

What Is the Role of the Letter Recognition Portion of the Assessment?

Letter recognition is an important part of SPI as it is the key indicator between the Pre-Decoder status and the Beginning Decoder status. If a student fails to recognize letter names fewer than 70% of the time, he or she will achieve a Pre-Decoder status. If a student knows his or her letter names but struggles with Consonant or Short Vowel construction, he or she will achieve the Beginning Decoder status.

9 Are There SpecificS coring Trends in SPI?

SPI is a valuable tool for ensuring that the right students are placed into the right type of intervention for just the right amount of time. The Screening and Placement Report consolidates this information in an actionable and easy-to-understand format.

A common expectation when viewing the SPI Screening and Placement Report is that a low Lexile score is directly associated with a low SPI decoding status, and that fluency scores for sight words and nonsense words are reported at similar percentages. “Straight forward” scoring tends to support what we might already know about a student: low reading comprehension exists with weak foundation skills. However this profile occurs approximately 50% of the time for older struggling readers.

If we recall, reading research reveals that 50% of the time the older struggling reader demonstrates challenges related to vocabulary, fluency, background knowledge, comprehension skills and strategies; the other 50% of the time these reading challenges stem more directly from word level reading difficulties. Indeed, one of the purposes of SPI data is to help educators better understand such scoring trends to form a profile that can inform the students’ intervention.

The descriptions below are examples of actual students using SPI. While one student follows the typically expected trend of a low Lexile score/low SPI fluency score, the other examples are more varied and represent real performance profiles.

Michael | Grade 7 | Far Below Basic Lexile Score/Low SPI Fluency Score • Lexile Score: 150L (1st percentile for grade 7) • SPI Fluency Score: 9 • Placement Recommendation: Pre-Decoder, Tier III SPI Scores: • 70% Letter Names • 40% Sight Word Accuracy • 30% Sight Word Fluency • 20% Non Word Accuracy • 10% Non Word Fluency Interpreting the Scores and Making Placement Decisions: Michael’s performance on SRI suggests that he has a significant challenge with reading comprehension. His performance on SRI is confirmed with further poor performance on the more fundamental reading skills assessed with SPI. He is identified as a Pre-Decoder and recommended orf Tier III intervention.

10 Caroline | Grade 7 | Below Basic Lexile Score/Low SPI Fluency Score • Lexile Score: 650L (15th percentile for grade 7) • SPI Fluency Score: 18 • Placement Recommendation: Developing Decoder, Tier III SPI Scores: • 100% Letter Names • 80% Sight Word Accuracy • 50% Sight Word Fluency • 40% Non Word Accuracy • 10% Non Word Fluency Interpreting the Scores and Making Placement Decisions: Caroline was referred for SPI because she was beginning to fail in the content area. Her SPI scores indicate that she does well on Sight Word Accuracy but at a cost to her fluency. The breakdown in her Non-Word Fluency suggests that she struggles to decode unknown words. It is likely that Caroline is a highly compensated reader who reads from memory. She is identified as a Developing Decoder and recommended for Tier III intervention. Jill | Grade 8 | Far Below Basic Lexile Score/High SPI Fluency Score • Lexile Score: 250L (1st percentile for grade 8) • SPI Fluency Score: 45 • Placement Recommendation: Advancing Decoder, Tier II SPI Scores: • 100% Letter Names • 90% Sight Word Accuracy • 80% Sight Word Fluency • 80% Non Word Accuracy • 70% Non Word Fluency Interpreting the Scores and Making Placement Decisions: Jill decodes adequately and her sight word fluency is good. Despite a very low Lexile score, Jill is identified as an Advancing Decoder and recommended for Tier II intervention. With a low Lexile score, she could be considered for Tier III placement, but Jill demonstrates foundational reading skills. It is likely that her reading struggle is due to other factors. With a closely monitored placement in Tier II intervention, she will have the opportunity to consolidate her reading skills. Maria | Grade 6 | English Language Learner • Lexile Score: BR(0) • SPI Fluency Score: 10 • Placement Recommendation: Pre-Decoder, Tier III SPI Scores: • 100% Letter Names • 20% Sight Word Accuracy • 10% Sight Word Fluency • 70% Non Word Accuracy • 23% Non Word Fluency Interpreting the Scores and Making Placement Decisions: Maria scores indicate her decoding fluency is stronger than sight word fluency. This scoring pattern suggests that Maria is literate in a phonetic first language. Maria is transferring those rules to her English reading. Maria is also stymied by sight words, suggesting that she has had less exposure to English and its orthography.

11 Summary of Scoring Trends

The SPI provides guidance on what learning challenges specific scoring trends may indicate. The chart below describes the potential challenge that may be indicated by the score comprised of sight word accuracy, sight word fluency, non-word accuracy, and non-word fluency. The Response to Intervention Tier is also identified. Chart 5: Scoring Trends Summary Chart

Letter Name Sight Word Sight Word Non-Word Non-Word Potential Placement Accuracy Accuracy Fluency Accuracy Fluency Challenge

Compensated dyslexic- 100% 80% 50% 40% 10% Tier III “word caller”

Lacking foundational 70% 40% 30% 20% 10% Tier III reading skills, dyslexic, and/or ELL

100% 20% 10% 70% 23% Tier III English Language Learner

Accuracy and fluency indicate 100% 90% 80% 80% 70% Tier II Tier II reading intervention

An Overview of Potential Learning Challenge Categories Identified From the Scoring Trends

Highly compensated dyslexic students may perform better than expected on sight words but exhibit real challenges when it comes to decoding non-words. In this case, the student has memorized a large number of words as “sight words,” but is unable to apply decoding strategies to unfamiliar words. Caroline above might fit this profile.

Students who lack basic reading skills usually have low scores across the board. Factors that may contribute to low scores could be: 1.) environmental— such as poor instruction or limited English language exposure; or 2.) inherited or biological— such as dyslexia. It is also possible that students may have a combination of environmental and biological conditions that result in poor performance on SPI; for example a student with limited English proficiency may also have learning challenges related to dyslexia. Michael might fit this profile.

English Language Learners who are literate in their first language and who speak Spanish, or other phonetically regular languages, may perform better on the non-words task as compared to the sight word task. This is because exposure to the primary language has solidified the letter–sound correspondences and such skills are easily transferred to the non-words task. Such students may have a harder time with the sight word task, since they have less exposure to the irregularity of the English language. Maria might fit this profile.

Students who struggle with poor comprehension or fluency generally have adequate decoding and sight word skills and will likely score above 60% or 70% across all SPI subtests. However, the low Lexile score indicates that these students struggle with reading for other reasons, like poor comprehension or fluency. Jill might fit this profile.

12 How Do I Interpret Unexpected Results?

Scenario 1: Non-compliant Workstations

First and foremost, when you encounter unexpected results, you should ensure that the SPI is being administered on computer workstations that comply with the updated SPI technical specifications (see Updated Technical Requirements on page 15).

As discussed above, the SPI measures “fluency” by both the accuracy and the speed of students’ responses. If students take the SPI on an underspecified workstation that is erroneously inflating their time of response, that factor will contribute to a lower overall score and corresponding placement. Scenario 2: Placement Recommendations Do Not Align With SRI Scores

Placement Recommendations are based on Total Fluency Scores. When Placement Recommendations are not in line with SRI scores, results may be questioned. There are two types of unexpected results:

• Typical

— Students with low SRI scores who place into Tier III

• Atypical

— Students with low SRI scores who do not place into Tier III

— Students with relatively high SRI scores who place into Tier III

The two types of atypical results may be further understood by comparing sight word accuracy and fluency to non-word accuracy and fluency. Check to see if the student is breaking down in one area more than the other.

Some ELL and SPED students may require additional evaluation to determine whether manual placement into Tier III is warranted.

Additionally, if aggregate scores are not what were expected (i.e., all students placed in Tier III), schools should review their selection process for SPI testing to see if the criteria was broad enough.

13 Conclusion

Scholastic Phonics Inventory (SPI) is a breakthrough tool for assessing foundational reading skills for students in grades 3-12+. As a universal screener, placement test, and progress monitor, SPI helps educators quickly and easily identify which students are in need of intense foundational intervention (most often Tier III), and which students can have their needs addressed through intervention focused on building vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension skill and strategies (most often Tier II). SPI makes it possible for educators to test, score, and report in approximately 10 minutes. In addition, automated, easy-to-generate, baseline reports speed placement of students.

With minimal impact on teachers to administer, this research-based and validated assessment program eases identification and placement for Response to Intervention so that educators can focus their time on responding to the reading gaps of their varied student populations.

References

Hock, M. F., Brasseur, I. F., Deshler, D. D., Mark, C. A., Stribling, J. W., Catts, H. W., & Marquis, J. G. 2009. What is the nature of struggling adolescent readers in urban schools? Learning Disability Quarterly. Guilford Press: New York. Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K. & Rashotte, C. A. (1999). Test of Word Reading Efficiency. Austin, TX: PRO-Ed.

14 SPI Technical Requirements for Workstations

Chart 6: Scholastic Phonics Inventory Technical Requirements for Workstations

Operating Free Hard Computer Platform Processor Memory Other System Disk Space

Pentium 4, Windows 2000 512MB 2.5 GB 2.8Ghz QuickTime, 16-bit sound card, Pentium 4, headphones Windows Windows XP Pro 512MB 2.8Ghz (analog headsets recommended), Adobe AIR STUDENT Pentium 4, Windows Vista 1GB WORKSTATION 2.8Ghz

G4, 166 GHz/ QuickTime, MAC OS X 10.4.1 Intel Dual-Core, 1GB 2.5 GB 16-bit sound 1PC/Intel 1.8GHz card, headphones Macintosh (analog G5, 1.8 GHz/ MAC OS X 10.5 headsets Intel Dual-Core, 1GB PC/Intel recommended), 1.8GHz Adobe AIR

15 SPI Scoring Percentages By Points

Chart 7: SPI Items Answered Accurately & Fluently In Relationship To Percentage Score

Points Scoring Percentage Points Scoring Percentage

0 0% 16 53% 1 3% 17 57% 2 7% 18 60% 3 10% 19 63% 4 13% 20 67% 5 17% 21 70% 6 20% 22 73% 7 23% 23 77% 8 27% 24 80% 9 30% 25 83% 10 33% 26 87% 11 37% 27 90% 12 40% 28 93% 13 43% 29 97% 14 47% 30 100%

15 50%

16 Notes

17 The Right Placement for Every Student

For more information about your Scholastic Phonics Inventory, please contact your Scholastic Implementation Manager or call 800-387-1437.

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