Running Record Analysis

Erica Buedding
8/8/14
Emergent Literacy EDUC-681-009.2014SUM
Instructor: Linnette Fehr
The following running records were completed at the preprimer level with Grace who will be entering
first grade during the 2014-15 school year.
Proficiency Levels:
Form A: The Lost Candy
Accuracy Percentage- 72%
Self Correction Ratio- 1:4
Proficiency Level- Frustrational
Form B: Winning the Game
Accuracy Percentage- 52%
Self Correction Ratio- 1:14
Proficiency Level- Frustrational
Form C: The Runaway Dog
Accuracy Percentage- 79%
Self Correction Ratio- ~1:3
Proficiency Level- Frustrational
Miscue Analysis:
When analyzing Graces miscues, it is apparent that when substitutions occur, the miscues are
very often similar in the initial position. Occasionally, Grace will also pick up on a medial or final
phoneme, but she consistently chooses miscued substitutions that have similar beginning sounds.
Clost to 60% of Graces miscues were syntactically unacceptable so it would appear that there is not
a strong skill base behind the miscues that turned out to be syntactically acceptable. However, all of
Graces miscues altered the texts semantics.
Strategies Used:
Graces running records suggest that one of her word identification strengths is the ability to
recognize common beginning reader sight words. When there are many sight words that Grace is
comfortable with within a sentence, she is able to produce a fluent sentence and therefore
comprehend what she is reading. For example, Grace started off very strong with her initial reading of
The Lost Candy. She was able to read I lost my candy, and Help me find it. / I see it, said Mom.
Within these first two sentences there were many sight words like I, my, me, it, and see, along with the
words lost and candy that may not have been sight words but were just discussed with the teacher
right before the read. When Grace was asked to retell the story and answer the comprehension
questions, this appears to be the part of the story that she retained. Once Grace began to struggle
decoding and making meaning of the text in the second half of the read, she lost comprehension of
how the story was resolved and where the candy bar was found. Grace is beginning to rely on the use
of phonics to sound out primarily the initial sounds in words. For example, Grace substituted
when/where by/boy yur/your dad/dont some/said. These errors show that Grace does

possess a developing understanding of phonics when it comes to sounding out individual syllables
sounds at the beginning of a word.
Strategies Neglected:
An analysis of Graces miscues also suggest that Grace has weaknesses in the use of context
clues. She is unable to self monitor and go back and self correct miscues for meaning. For example,
Grace read, It can not him. and You will not get! some else instead of It came right to him, and
You will win the game, she said. However, the deeper issue here lies in the fact that Grace cannot
improve her comprehension of the text until she can decode multisyllabic words using phonics. First,
Graces inability to sound each part of the word must be addressed before we can clearly judge if she
is able to self monitor for meaning. Grace showed glimpses of sounding out multiple word parts when
she had miscues such as oy for boy, sand for said, and yur for your. Perhaps if Grace
sounded out the entire word phonetically, the self monitoring weakness could be solved
simultaneously.
Instructional Recommendations:
There are many instructional steps that I might take if I were sweet Graces teacher. In order to
begin to reinforce that our main goal of reading is to learn something and comprehend what we are
reading rather than just to say all the words, I might start with encouraging Grace to read to the end
of the sentence because the words following usually give more help than what came in the beginning.
I would also encourage Grace to think about the sentence that she just got done reading as she trys
to solve unknown words within a sentence. Grace would also benefit from both oral and written fill in
the blank sentences. Grace could be asked to choose the correct word from several choices to fill in
the blank in a sentence and give reasons for why that word makes sense. For example a sentence
might be, We had to wait in a long ______ at the movies. [bench, line, car]
It would also be helpful to model with Grace how to brainstorm words that would make sense
for a word she is unsure about in a sentence and then help her to also consider phonics clues
(especially beginning sounds which she is already strong in decoding) in order to narrow down and
decide on which word holds the correct meaning. Grace is already a positive, confident and energetic
little girl so I would simply encourage her to become a risk taker and try sounding out words and
considering what would make sense in the context.
In order to review and address Graces tendency to not sound out the entire word phonetically,
I might allow Grace to have picture cards for each sound spelling in front of her so she can associate
a letter with an image and a key word if she gets stumped on sounding out the entire word
phonetically. We might also try stretching out each word with a rubber band as we read together. In
order to incorporate a home connection, I would select simple books with predictable text that Grace
could read and reread with the help of a family member in order to build sight word mastery and help
improve Graces fluency and in turn comprehension. All of these recommendations would be
beneficial future instructional steps for Grace.