CLOZE TEST

ASSESSMENT TRAINING
Angie Kluever & Clint Heitz RDG 570

Assessments

Kluever (Elementary)

Heitz (Junior High)

Informal comprehension and skills tests that accompany textbook series

Informal comprehension and skills tests that accompany textbook series

Formative and summative assessment to monitor understanding

Informal running records

Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments to monitor understanding

Progress monitoring in the classroom

AIMSWEB

Mid-Term and quarterly assessments of Independent Reading logs (maintained by students)

Optional vocabulary work Check students ability to select age/level appropriate texts Promote wide reading Informal comprehension checks done during class to monitor student understanding Administered at beginning and end of the year Dev. by depts. to asses understanding of academic vocab Administered at beginning and end of year Assesses understanding of essential questions developed by each department Essential questions monitored throughout the year
Developed by NWEA and coordinated with Compass Learnings Odyssey computer-based, reading program Assesses four reading categories: Interpretive/Inferential Comprehension, Evaluative Comprehension, Literal Comprehension, and Word Meaning Un-timed, computer-based, and tailored to fit each student Provides grade-referenced instructional level(s) and Lexile

Assesses reading fluency and comprehension Three assessments per year with progress monitoring and an on-line database

Phonics Screener Inventory (PSI)

Anecdotal data collected through observation

Provided by the 95% Group (DIBELS)

Provides nonsense and real-sentence work to focus on phonics skills

STAR Computer Reading Tests

Vocabulary Assessments

Students test at reading level with diagnostic, quarterly, and summative tests. Provides an independent reading level, as well as Accelerated Reading levels

Course Organizer Assessments

A to Z Leveled Reading System

Assesses the approximate reading level of individual students May be used throughout the year to assess student growth

Provides on-line materials

Illinois State Assessment Test (ISAT)

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

Iowa Test of basic Skills (ITBS)

Used to determine student placement in two levels of classes

Survey

The following link would be sent to teachers via e-mail with a request to be completed by a particular deadline

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Whp qX0iwa5Mnnia_2bP76kUA_3d_3d

Justification for Training

The following training has been selected and created based on teacher responses to our survey.
To better meet the individual needs of the students, in regard to the instructional level of classroom text Provide a content area inventory that can be administered to an entire group, as well as valuable information about content area reading comprehension

1. Purpose of the assessment 2. Who to assess 3. How to construct an assessment using content area curriculum 4. Components of the assessment 5. Interpreting the results 6. Using those results for ongoing student monitoring

Training Session Information

Purpose of the Cloze Test

The Cloze Assessment will help teachers understand the appropriateness of text level that is being used within the classroom. Provides information on each of the following:

Helps teachers to better understand how students are comprehending content area text. Helps teachers to better understand how their students use metacognitive skills as they work through text. Determines the readability of the written work. Determines an individual students reading level on content area work. Determines an individual students vocabulary level with content work. Determines an estimated comprehension level for each student. Assesses the language skills of individual students.

Can be administered to a single student, group, or whole class.

Provides a profile for individual students, groups, or a whole class

Allows teacher to use text material from the classroom to create the assessment.

Who to Assess

The Cloze test provides a quick way for teachers to assess:

Individual Students Small Groups of students Whole classrooms of students

Consider administering a cloze assessment if you believe a student, or a particular group of students, is struggling with required classroom text(s). This assessment can also be used at the beginning of the year to gauge an incoming class's vocabulary, language skills, and reading levels.

Components of the Assessment

Constructing a Cloze Test:

Materials come from the students content textbooks or other required classroom reading material. The length of the Cloze passage should be between 250-300 words. Leave the first sentence intact Begin with the second sentence and delete every 5th word for fourth grade and up Do not delete proper nouns (names of specific people and places Tom, Boston, St. Louis Cardinals, etc.) Continue deletions until you reach 50 deleted words. Replace deleted words with 15 typed line spaces Leave the final sentence intact Considerations for younger students:

Younger students should complete two shorter passages with 25 deletions each. Delete every 7th or 10th word for third grade and below

Components of the Assessment (cont.)

Administering a Cloze Test:

Before
No

beginning the test, practice with the students and explain the following guidelines:
time limit for the test Write in the word they feel best completes the sentence Only one word per blank Read over the entire passage before beginning May skip answers and return to them later.

The cloze test may be given to individual students, small groups, or whole classes.

Components of the Assessment (cont.)

How to score a Cloze Test:

Although many words could replace the deleted word, only the exact missing word may be counted as a correct response when determining a students reading level or the appropriateness of materials

Misspelled words are okay if you believe they intended was correct

Synonyms or other replacements that make sense could be used if you are assessing for instructional purposes (practicing context, vocabulary, etc.) To determine the score of the Cloze Test, divide the number of correct responses by the number of total blanks. 50% is an acceptable rate for a cloze test Percent of correct responses:

Scoring a Cloze Test:

60% Independent 40%-59% Instructional < 40% Frustration

May further analyze by breaking the errors down into categories: synonyms, semantically appropriate, omissions, etc

Number of errors in category divided by the total number of errors

Interpretation of the Results

Teachers can look at the errors that the student(s) made and categorize them.

Errors can be categorized as synonyms, or words that mean the same as the deleted word Words can be checked for their semantic appropriateness.

In this case, words may sound okay in the sentence, but they do not follow the context of the passage. These words may work for meaning, but may not work for the part of speech. These words would fit as parts of speech, but may not be semantically correct. These words do not make sense in any fashion (a.k.a. gibberish). No response given

Errors may be semantic/not syntactic.

Errors may be syntactically appropriate.

Nonsense Errors.

Omissions.

By taking the time to distinguish the differences in the mistakes made on a cloze test, we can determine if students are using the clues from the text to better comprehend, even if the text is too difficult.

Management of the Assessment Data

School/District Level

Teachers will record the beginning and end-of-year scores on Infinite Campus or a district server so that other teachers/administrators may access the data The district will keep a performance record for all students to monitor growth

Classroom Level

Individual teachers are encouraged to create charts that categorize their students scores to assist in guiding instructional decisions, creating groups, and selecting materials. Individual teachers are encouraged to administer this test throughout the year and keep a record of students scores to monitor growth or areas of concern We encourage teachers to collaborate with each other and the reading specialists to analyze the data and make informed decisions in regard to instructional goals

Another teachers assessment may reveal a genre that the student performs better with (if the student struggles with the social studies textbook, but works very well with narrative in language arts, then you may be able to collaborate on a lesson that incorporates a non-fiction narrative for the next social studies unit).

Questions/Discussions
Take a moment to think about the following questions and talk with a colleague near you. Well come together in ten minutes to discuss and answer questions.

Can you think of any students who may benefit from you administering this assessment? What text might you use to perform this assessment? How might you use the information gained from this assessment to inform your instruction?

Post-Training Evaluation Tool

Within the next couple of days, all teachers will be sent the following link to complete a follow-up survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=2djNThNt0U9A3eS_2bLUOFzg_3d_3d