Empower Reading Program Assessment
Assessing Students' Reading Progress Throughout the Year (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyStage 2: Consolidation / Fluency
Ages:
6-9
Grade Range:
1st 2nd 3rdFood Groups:
Primary: Assessment, Letter-Sounds & Phonics, Spelling & Word Study, Reading Fluency & Expression, Reading Comprehension Strategies
Transcript
One of the reading assessment strategies we use in the classroom is one that's provided by the Empower Reading Program. We use this at the beginning of the year, at midpoint and at the end of the year. It's very important, obviously, at the beginning of the year because it helps us gage exactly where the student is and how beneficial the program is going to be for them. The first assessment we use is the Letter-Sound ID. This is simply showing the student a letter and asking them if they know what sounds this letter can make. The next test is the Sound Combination Test, where students are shown a series of letter combinations and asked, once again, if they know the different sounds these letter combinations can make. The next is the Keyword Test and this is connected to the bank of keywords students learn in the Empower Reading Program. After that we have to do the Transfer Word Test, which takes keywords and adds an ending or a beginning to them. So for example, if the keyword was 'luck,' an example of a transfer word would be 'luckless.' And finally, we give students the Challenge Word Test, which is a series of words that eventually, if students have mastered the five Empower Reading Strategies, then this is a word they'll be able to read, without problem, without hesitation and can use a definite game-plan towards decoding this word. An example of a challenge word is 'needlessly.' In this word, a student could use the rhyming strategy to help figure out the word 'need.' They could also use the Peeling off Strategy to find the ending '-less' and the ending '-ly.'
Related References
Empower Reading Program: http://www.sickkids.ca/LDRP/Empower-Reading/index.html
Activity Objective
The goal of Empower Reading Program Assessment: Assessing Students' Reading Progress Throughout the Year (Virtual Tour) is to assess students' decoding skills and reading fluency and comprehension by using a variety of reading assessment tools.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- It is important to assess students' reading at the beginning of the year, mid-year, and at the end of the year.
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