Psycho Educational Report
Background
This semester I had the opportunity to administer assessments to a nine year old fifth grade student, *Kate. Kate attends P.S. 81, an average sized elementary school located in Riverdale, just off of Riverdale Avenue. The area is a fairly residential setting, allowing pedestrians to walk along the sidewalks. Yet, it also has a few intersections to direct the constant traffic flowing from the Henry Hudson Parkway that runs at a close distance to the school.
Kate is a quiet but kind student. She has a love for animals and art and appeared to be very introspective, which is surprising for such a young girl. At first, Kate seemed excited to receive the individual attention and she gave her full focus to me during our initial sessions, but as we got further along in the semester I felt that I lost a lot of her interest and she seemed less eager to work with me. It seemed as if the novelty had worn off. However, she still did what she was asked without hesitation and we were able to get through a lot of our sessions quickly because of her cooperation.
During the sessions I administered formal and informal assessments, which measured ELA and Math performance. Specifically, I administered the WIAT-II and a running record. I also obtained a writing sample from the student.
Kate is a quiet but kind student. She has a love for animals and art and appeared to be very introspective, which is surprising for such a young girl. At first, Kate seemed excited to receive the individual attention and she gave her full focus to me during our initial sessions, but as we got further along in the semester I felt that I lost a lot of her interest and she seemed less eager to work with me. It seemed as if the novelty had worn off. However, she still did what she was asked without hesitation and we were able to get through a lot of our sessions quickly because of her cooperation.
During the sessions I administered formal and informal assessments, which measured ELA and Math performance. Specifically, I administered the WIAT-II and a running record. I also obtained a writing sample from the student.
Test Results
WIAT-II
SubtestWord ReadingReading ComprehensionPseudoword DecodingNumerical OperationsSpellingListening Comprehension |
Standard Score929789979499 |
Grade Level3.64.22.74.74.24.8 |
Writing Baseline
The student’s writing sample was scored based on a standard writing rubric measuring ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and conventions. The student is at a LEVEL 3 (Meeting Standards).
Reading-Running Record
The student’s reading level was determined based on a running record that measures a student’s miscues, ability to self-correct, fluency and reading comprehension. Based on a running record I administered on a selection titled, “The Statue of Liberty,” the student is at LEVEL N (GRADE LEVEL 3.5).
Discussion
Based on Kate’s running record and scores in word reading, reading comprehension and pseudoword decoding, it is obvious that Kate has a strong ability to understand what she is reading and to comprehend the information being presented, despite any deficiencies she may face in reading the actual words. It was very rare that Kate only received partial credit on the section that measured reading comprehension. Even in Kate’s running record, she had a few miscues, but she was still able to give a very detailed retell of the story and adequately answer all of my comprehension questions. In addition to reading comprehension, Kate has an obvious strength in recognizing sight words. Kate was able to read half of the word card from the WIAT-II automatically because of her familiarity with the words. The ability to recognize these words within context also helps a student acquire reading fluency. This became clear when the WIAT required the student to read sentences aloud, not only did Kate never miss a point on the target words, she read her sentences very smoothly. The one area where I did recognize a deficiency was observed when Kate came to a large word that she did not recognize. Instead of using her phonics skills Kate would make up a word, which sounds did not match the letters of the word. Instead of taking the time to try to sound out the word, Kate would come to the conclusion that she did not know it and just produce a random sound. It is very difficult to increase a student’s reading level if their skills only lie within familiarity. Kate’s phonics skills appear to need improvement.
Based on Kate’s writing sample and spelling subtest, it was again obvious that she has a strength working with familiar words. Not only was Kate able to spell a lot of the words automatically, she also was able to self-correct when the letters she wrote did not look right. This ability to recognize words while reading and writing is a huge strength for a student developing their reading and writing. Another area where I found Kate to be very proficient was in the use of punctuation. Despite the spelling errors, in her writing sample, Kate’s use of periods, exclamation marks, and quotation marks were all used correctly. I thought the use of quotation marks for a fifth grader was a risky choice considering the complexity of the sentence, but it showed Kate’s confidence as a writer which speaks to the teacher grading it. However, Kate still needs to work on ways of writing words she is not familiar with. In contrast with reading, Kate seemed to try and sound out the words and most of the sounds matched the letters she wrote. Yet, English is a complex language and a lot of the words did not follow the basic rules of phonics. Because Kate is in fifth grade, she should be learning the exceptions to the phonics rules and applying them to her writing. It is clear that Kate’s strength of recognition is in her sight, so sounding out words in her head and writing them on paper is more difficult. Kate needs more practice working with complex words to acquire the ability to recognize and spell them correctly. Using more complex words will also increase her level of writing.
During the math section I was able to observe a lot about Kate’s behavior and skill. After going through her answers it was obvious that Kate knew how to utilize specific formulas and arrive at an answer through calculations. Watching her while she completed the math problems, for many of the questions she did not hesitate to begin showing her work in the correct fashion. Setting up the appropriate calculation is a huge portion of a math problem and Kate knows how to do this successfully. Another strength in Kate’s math skills lies within her ability to show her work. While many problems she was given were simple showing all of her work, including borrowing and carrying over when subtracting and adding, are helpful to go back over and check where mistakes were made. I did not observe Kate checking over her answers, but by showing her work on a math test, a teacher can see where Kate’s errors lie. If she continues to show her work and eventually learns to check over her answers, it will make it easier for her to eliminate mistakes. The one problem I did observe through Kate’s behavior is that she constantly had to count on her fingers for almost every problem she did. Not being able to add numbers mentally or on paper makes complex problems a lot more difficult. By fifth grade a student should have enough skill to add most numbers mentally or use their memory of multiplication tables to find particular numbers. Because the counting was quick, Kate ended up arriving at inaccurate numbers and most of her answers were off by a number or two. Because she set up the calculation right, it was obvious that she knew how to find the answer; she just had trouble with the computation portion of the problem. With the correct help I have no doubt that Kate will excel in all areas of academics.
*Name has been changed
Based on Kate’s writing sample and spelling subtest, it was again obvious that she has a strength working with familiar words. Not only was Kate able to spell a lot of the words automatically, she also was able to self-correct when the letters she wrote did not look right. This ability to recognize words while reading and writing is a huge strength for a student developing their reading and writing. Another area where I found Kate to be very proficient was in the use of punctuation. Despite the spelling errors, in her writing sample, Kate’s use of periods, exclamation marks, and quotation marks were all used correctly. I thought the use of quotation marks for a fifth grader was a risky choice considering the complexity of the sentence, but it showed Kate’s confidence as a writer which speaks to the teacher grading it. However, Kate still needs to work on ways of writing words she is not familiar with. In contrast with reading, Kate seemed to try and sound out the words and most of the sounds matched the letters she wrote. Yet, English is a complex language and a lot of the words did not follow the basic rules of phonics. Because Kate is in fifth grade, she should be learning the exceptions to the phonics rules and applying them to her writing. It is clear that Kate’s strength of recognition is in her sight, so sounding out words in her head and writing them on paper is more difficult. Kate needs more practice working with complex words to acquire the ability to recognize and spell them correctly. Using more complex words will also increase her level of writing.
During the math section I was able to observe a lot about Kate’s behavior and skill. After going through her answers it was obvious that Kate knew how to utilize specific formulas and arrive at an answer through calculations. Watching her while she completed the math problems, for many of the questions she did not hesitate to begin showing her work in the correct fashion. Setting up the appropriate calculation is a huge portion of a math problem and Kate knows how to do this successfully. Another strength in Kate’s math skills lies within her ability to show her work. While many problems she was given were simple showing all of her work, including borrowing and carrying over when subtracting and adding, are helpful to go back over and check where mistakes were made. I did not observe Kate checking over her answers, but by showing her work on a math test, a teacher can see where Kate’s errors lie. If she continues to show her work and eventually learns to check over her answers, it will make it easier for her to eliminate mistakes. The one problem I did observe through Kate’s behavior is that she constantly had to count on her fingers for almost every problem she did. Not being able to add numbers mentally or on paper makes complex problems a lot more difficult. By fifth grade a student should have enough skill to add most numbers mentally or use their memory of multiplication tables to find particular numbers. Because the counting was quick, Kate ended up arriving at inaccurate numbers and most of her answers were off by a number or two. Because she set up the calculation right, it was obvious that she knew how to find the answer; she just had trouble with the computation portion of the problem. With the correct help I have no doubt that Kate will excel in all areas of academics.
*Name has been changed