Diagnostic Assessments of Reading Second Edition Form A
A Snapshot Diagnostic Reading Assessments Ages 5 Adult Reading Levels from Early Reading through High School Nine Tests of Components of Reading and Language
Authors Florence G. Roswell Directed Reading Center of City College, City University of NY. Co-author of four editions of Reading Disability: A Human Approach to Evaluation and Treatment of Reading and Writing Difficulties. Jeanne S. Chall Leader in reading research, teacher education, and clinical practice. Founded the Harvard Reading Laboratory. Author of numerous books and co-author of the Dale-Chall Readability Formula. Advised governmental and educational groups and school systems on issues related to reading and reading instruction. Mary E. Curtis Professor of Education and founding director of the Center for Special Education at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. Author of numerous articles on reading diagnosis and remediation, the role of vocabulary in comprehension, and the reading skills of at-risk teens. Former director of Boys Town Reading Center and associate director of the Harvard Reading Laboratory, where she worked with Chall. Gail Kearns Educator and reading clinician who worked with Chall on the first edition of the DAR. Former reading specialist at various public schools in MA and FL. Former instructor and practicum supervisor for Lesley University. Presenter of professional development workshops and author of articles for the International Reading Association.
Administration Designed to be used by classroom teachers, reading specialists, special education teachers, psychologists, and other professionals charged with helping students read better. No special training or instructions required beyond reading the Teacher s Manual and the Response Record. No special qualifications to administer.
General Testing Procedures Follow established procedures Script in colored boldface type Do not teach the correct response Establish rapport with students Encourage and foster a positive attitude
General Testing Procedures Appropriate encouragement for a student If a test question is missed; I m learning a lot about what you can do. That s a hard one.everyone has trouble with it. Comments to both correct and incorrect responses: That s good. You re doing very well.
Accommodations Since the DAR is individually administered, accommodations for individual students are built into the test administration. The following are examples of possible accommodations that would be permitted. The teacher may repeat, explain, or modify the directions in any way necessary for the student to understand them fully. The student may hold a marker or ruler under a line of text while reading. An assistant may record student responses on the written portions of the test if the student is unable to do so because of a disability.
Time Requirements and Testing Pace Testing is untimed Try to maintain a brisk pace Allow the student just enough time to think through a task and decide on an answer The tests are to be administered and scored simultaneously
Diagnostic Assessments Of Reading Teacher s Manual Student Book Response Record
DAR Tests
DAR Tests Print Awareness Phonological Awareness Letters and Sounds Word Recognition Word Analysis Oral Reading Silent Reading Comprehension Spelling Word Meaning
DAR Subtests Print Awareness Phonological Awareness Rhyming Words Segmenting Words Hearing Initial Consonant Sounds Hearing Final Consonant Sounds Auditory Blending
DAR Subtests (continued) Letters and Sounds Naming Capital Letters Naming Lowercase Letters Matching Letters Matching Words Writing Words Word Recognition
DAR Subtests (continued) Word Analysis Consonant Sounds Consonant Blends Short Vowel Sounds Rule of Silent E Vowel Digraphs Diphthongs Vowels with R Two-Syllable Words Polysyllabic Words
DAR Subtests (continued) Oral Reading Silent Reading Comprehension Spelling Word Meaning
Early reading tests Print Awareness Phonological Awareness Letters and Sounds Word Recognition Word Analysis Oral Reading Silent Reading Comprehension Spelling Routing Word Meaning
Word Recognition A test of word reading that also provides an entry level for the other tests.
Word Recognition Level 3
Word Recognition Level 4
Word Analysis A test of letter/sound correspondence and structural analysis that is administered to students who score at Level 3 or below on the Word Recognition Test.
Scoring Word Analysis: Short Vowel Sounds
Scoring Word Analysis: Rule of Silent E
Oral Reading A test of students oral reading that allows a teacher to identify specific errors in word analysis and to evaluate students oral reading fluency.
Scoring Oral Reading Level 3
Oral Reading Optional Scoring Method
x 65 Oral Reading Optional Scoring Method 2 1 1 1
Silent Reading Comprehension A test of reading comprehension that reveals how well students can extract information from text by answering objective questions and by giving an oral account of what they have read.
Scoring Silent Reading Comprehension
Scoring the Oral Response (in Silent Reading Comprehension)
Spelling An orally administered test with written responses that reveals the level of spelling proficiency and types of spelling difficulties and also provides a printing or handwriting sample from the student.
Scoring Spelling
Word Meaning An orally administered test of meaning vocabulary that serves as a measure of language development and can suggest students learning potential, especially for younger readers.
Scoring Word Meaning
John Smith 4 Ms. Jones Easy-to-use DAR Interpretive Profile
1/4/05 3 1-1 x 2--good 1 -
1/4/05 5/16/05 3 1-1 x 2--good 1-4 2 1-2 3--fair 2 3
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ N N + + + N
Reporting DAR Results to Students Start with an informal discussion of DAR results Use approach that is comfortable for teacher and Appropriate for the student
Reporting DAR Results to Students Students should not be told their grade level scores for the DAR Results should be given only in terms of relative strengths and instructional needs Listen carefully be supportive & accepting of students feelings