Texas Primary Reading Inventory

We received the boys' beginning of the year reading assessments. Since they are in the dual immersion program, we received assessments in both English and Spanish. The problem is that I don't know what the assessments mean. Are they at grade level? Should we be working on some skills more at home? And here's the danger of having twins: I can compare the scores. I find they read at about the same level. So why does Aaron have some NA scores, while Jacob seems to have complete scores?

I just want to pull my hair out. I figure they have to share the scores by state law. But what good is sharing the scores if I don't know what they mean? If they plan to discuss them during conferences at the end of the month, why not tell us that in the informational cover sheet? :gah:

 

I don't know about the way Texas does things or if there is a difference but we got back assessments for both of my girls and I am not sure how to read them either. My girls are in two different classes and for some reason Kira's assessment got sent to our house but Katrina's got sent to my parents (who live in a different town and county). Anyway Kira's assessment says she is above average in reading in almost all sections and even higher than above avg, but it said that the math section couldn't be completed since she didn't do it. Katrina got above avg in reading and she did get a math assessment which it looks like she is above avg in math too but then it goes on to say that she could use some help in one section of the math. I have no clue what that means. I figure I will talk to the teachers about the assessments at the teacher conferences in a month. I would do it sooner if they seemed to be having trouble in school but so far they both seem to be doing well and no complaints from the either teacher.

 

Many times young kids don't get scores on a portion of a standardized test simply because the computer couldn't read the scantron sheet. The schools do get more of a breakdown than the individual parents, but the parents generally get a summary. Basically, you look for percentiles. They will tell you how your child compared to their same aged peers on the test. You can also look at state averages, and compare their scores to that. Standardized tests generally don't give grade equivalents. Most of the comparison is how they do in relation to their peers.

 

Sharon, these aren't standardized tests. I don't think it involves the bubble answer sheets. They are one-on-one assessments with the teacher. It will say that the goal is 60 words read per minute, then list how many words the child read. It's also recognition of phonics and other components of learning to read.

The problem is that their "scores" mean nothing. There are no % or a chart to measure against. So my child read XX words correctly per minute. Is 60 words per minute the goal at the beginning of the year, end of the year, etc? Is that the bare minimum to be at grade level now or the goal they are reaching towards? In some portions of the test, the boys got the same score, but they were categorized differently (this was in reading in Spanish).

The least the school could do is provide a range of scores to measure against. But we experienced this same thing in K in Virginia. An assessment that provided us no information on where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

 

Cathy, I am surprised they even gave you results of that type of test. Usually they are simply used as placement tests, and the results really don't have a meaning except to put them with other kids of like ability. In other words, if they can read 40 of the words, they are put in a group with other kids who also can read 40 of the words. I wonder if the only reason they give results is because parents "had to know" what the results are. I know we never saw the results of our K assessments, they just used them to make a classroom mix so no one ended up with all the "low" kids, and no one had all the "high" kids. We would get an informal "they did great" or "they may need to work on xxx".

Does that make more sense?

 

I would guess that the 60 wpm is the goal at the end of the year.

 

Thanks for the link Lisa. I know that their assessments were only on stories 1 & 2.
I honestly wish that the district had not shared them. Why stir up parental anxiety with incomplete information?

 

We're not in 1st grade, but they had assesments in Kinder and the results were discussed during the teacher conferences we had yesterday. Our teacher told us the averag score in each area and then gave us the kids score to compare. I'm surprised that they would mail those out to you without any explanation.

 

My kids are in TX schools so I am familiar with the reading inventory. Our teachers usually give it 1-2 weeks before parent teacher conference and it is always brought up at the conference. The teacher can tell you what the start of the year and end of the year goal should be for both WPM and the level (ours use a A-Z level system)

My kids have always been above the mark so I have never worried. Just ask your teacher and they can easily explain and you can get a conference with them most any day and you do not have to wait or simply email or call them Do not let it stress you, get the info you want by asking.

Cindy