CASE STUDY
This case study focuses on a student named Katie,
who is eight years old. Her primary language is English.
The documents on the following pages describe Katie's
reading performance during the middle of third grade.
Using these materials, write a response in which you
apply your knowledge of reading assessment and instruction
to analyze this case study. Your response should include
three parts:
- identify three of
Katie's important reading strengths and/or needs
at this point in the school year, citing evidence
from the documents to support your observations;
- describe two specific
instructional strategies and/or activities designed
to foster Katie's literacy development for the
remainder of the school year by addressing the
needs and/or building on the strengths you identified;
and
- explain how each
strategy/activity you describe would promote Katie's
reading proficiency.
STUDENT
READING SURVEY
Printed below are Katie's
responses to a survey of reading habits prepared by
her teacher.
INFORMAL
READING ASSESSMENT
Printed below is an excerpt
used for an informal assessment of Katie's reading
performance. For this assessment, Katie read aloud
the beginning of a selection
from a third-grade reader. As Katie read, the teacher
made the following notes about her performance.
After
Katie's oral reading, she reread the passage silently,
and then the teacher asked her some questions. Printed
below is a transcript of part of their conversation.
|
Teacher: |
Where
is Sarah's family from, and where
are they going? |
|
Katie: |
I
think they are from New York State,
and they're going to Oregon. |
|
Teacher: |
What
can you tell me about Sarah? |
|
Katie: |
Um
. . . she's a girl. She has a little
sister. |
|
Teacher: |
Why
do Sarah's eyes fill with tears? |
|
Katie: |
Because
she's tired. My mom says she can
tell when my brother's really tired
because he starts to cry at the
littlest thing. |
|
TEACHER NOTES
Printed below
is an excerpt from the teacher's notes documenting
informal observations related to Katie's reading activities.
READING
LOG EXCERPT AND STUDENT-TEACHER DIALOGUE
Students in Katie's class
keep logs in which they write about the books they
select for independent reading. For each entry the
teacher provides a general question or short assignment
to focus students' responses. Printed below is an
excerpt from Katie's reading log. The assignment was
as follows: "Write a short summary of the book
you read. Identify the main character and tell three
things about him or her."
| My book was
The Elmwood Kids and the best Yard Sale
Ever. I have read 6 other books about
the Elmwood Kids. They are also on a T.V.
show. This story was on T.V. once. In this
story there is a family that has a fire at
their house when they are away, and all their
stuff burns up. So the Elmwood Kids have this
huge yard sale. They make lots of money for
the family. There are 6 main characters, the
Elmwood Kids. They are also on the show. They
are Sally, Mei-Ling, Pedro, Jamal, Tim, and
Vimla. I like Vimla best. She is quiet, but
she always has the best ideas. She has shiny
black hair and dark eyes. |
Printed below is an excerpt
from a dialogue between Katie and her teacher about
this reading log entry.
| Teacher: |
How
did you happen to choose this book? |
|
Katie: |
Well,
I just like the Elmwood Kids. I
always watch them on TV, every week.
I also have almost all of the collector
figures of them. The only one I
still have to get is Jamal—oh,
and Pedro's mom. |
|
Teacher: |
If
a friend asked you why you liked
this book, what would you say? |
|
Katie: |
Well,
it's really good because it's just
like the TV show. |
|
Teacher: |
Is
there anything in the book that
wasn't in the TV show? |
|
Katie: |
Oh
. . . maybe some little parts, like
when they get the rocking horse
for the sale. But mostly it's like
the show, and the kids are just
the same. Like I said, Vimla always
has good ideas. And Tim always is
good with animals. It's nice because
I always know what the kids are
going to be like, even if I don't
know everything that's going to
happen in the story. |
|
WORKSHEET ON
MULTIPLE-MEANING WORDS
Printed below
are Katie's responses to a worksheet designed to measure
students' understanding of multiple-meaning words.
Sample Response for
Case Study
Evaluation of Sample
Response
The case study assesses
content related to the four domains of the RICA Content
Specifications. The response fulfills the purpose
of the assignment by identifying two of Katie’s
reading strengths (i.e., decoding, factual recall)
and one reading need (i.e., comprehension and vocabulary),
discussing two strategies that should enhance Katie’s
literacy development in light of her current performance
(i.e., instruction in inferential comprehension and
understanding multiple-meaning words), and explaining
how these strategies can be expected to benefit Katie.
The writer accurately interprets Katie’s performance
(as indicated in various case study documents) and
demonstrates a solid grasp of current reading pedagogy
by describing instructional strategies that are likely
to improve Katie’s reading skills. Strong supporting
evidence is found in the response’s inclusion
of accurate and appropriate details and explanations
and in the inclusion of an accurate rationale explaining
the probable benefits of each of the two strategies
described.
Sample
Multiple-Choice Questions
Return
to RICA Sample Items Table of Contents
