New Tools for Identifying Learning Challenges
In September, classroom teachers at BCS administered the aimsweb Plus Fall benchmark. Although aimsweb is not a new assessment for our school, updates to the assessment program have given us access to new assessments and new information about the students in our classrooms, which, in turn, allows us to better identify and respond to students who are at risk to have difficulty reaching year end goals in their current grade level. The reading assessments given at each grade for the Fall benchmark are listed below. Please keep in mind that the subtests for Winter benchmark (January) and Spring benchmark (May) may be different than those administered for the Fall benchmark.
Kindergarten:
Initial Sounds ~ This is an untimed assessment, which asks students to identify pictures of items that begin with a given sound, and conversely, identify the beginning sound when given the picture of a known item.
Letter Naming Fluency ~ This is a one minute timed assessment, during which students are assesed on the number of given letters they are able to name during that time.
Letter Word Sound Fluency ~ This is a one minute timed assessment, during which students are asked to identify sounds associated with given letters and letter combinations.
1st Grade:
Letter Word Sound Fluency ~ This is a one minute timed assessment, during which students are asked to identify sounds associated with given letters and letter combinations.
Word Reading Fluency ~ This is a one minute timed assessment, during which students are given a list of sight words. They are assessed on the number of words they are able to identify.
Oral Reading Fluency ~ Students are asked to read two grade level passages for one minute each. The number of words read correctly in one minute for the two passages is averaged together.
2nd & 3rd Grades:
Oral Reading Fluency ~ Students are asked to read two grade level passages for one minute each. The number of words read correctly in one minute for the two passages is averaged together.
Vocabulary ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to read sentences containing target vocabulary words and then asked to choose a similar word from a list of four words.
Reading Comprehension ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to answer inference questions about the content of a grade level reading passage to assess their level of understanding when reading.
4th Grade :
Oral Reading Fluency ~ Students are asked to read two grade level passages for one minute each. The number of words read correctly in one minute for the two passages is averaged together.
Vocabulary ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to read sentences containing target vocabulary words and then asked to choose a similar word from a list of four words.
Reading Comprehension ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to answer inference questions about the content of a grade level reading passage to assess their level of understanding when reading.
Silent Reading Fluency ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are given a passage of text to read which is followed a series of questions to assess understanding. The purpose of this assessment is to see how quickly and accurately students are able to process a grade level reading passage.
5th - 8th Grades :
Vocabulary ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to read sentences containing target vocabulary words and then asked to choose a similar word from a list of four words.
Reading Comprehension ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are asked to answer inference questions about the content of a grade level reading passage to assess their level of understanding when reading.
Silent Reading Fluency ~ This assessment is given on a computer. Students are given a passage of text to read which is followed a series of questions to assess understanding. The purpose of this assessment is to see how quickly and accurately students are able to process a grade level reading passage.
