New year, new semester. What better time to
find out what’s new with your
students?
Cloze testing is an easy way to get an updated
snapshot of how well your students comprehend on-level text. It also offers a
useful indicator of how they will do in a grade level of BrightFish Reading.
So if you’re just getting started with
BrightFish Reading – or re-starting
– now is a great time to administer
the Cloze test that comes with the program. The Cloze has been validated as an accurate indicator of reading comprehension in numerous research studies (Bormuth, Alexander, Rankin, etc.). It’s a five-minute, fill in the blanks
test at grade level that uses Lexiled passages of 200-250 words, with about
every fifth word left blank. Students choose the best word to complete sentences.
What do Cloze results
mean?
Cloze scores map to reading ranges: 0 to 39 (frustration); 40 to 60 (instructional); and 61+ (independent). Students scoring in the mid- to high-frustration zone and the instructional zone typically progress at their own pace in the corresponding grade level in BrightFish Reading. Students who score at the high end of the independent zone (above 80) may respond well to the challenge of working on passages from a higher grade level. In contrast, students scoring below 10 may struggle in that level of BrightFish and could benefit from being assigned a lower grade.
Cloze scores map to reading ranges: 0 to 39 (frustration); 40 to 60 (instructional); and 61+ (independent). Students scoring in the mid- to high-frustration zone and the instructional zone typically progress at their own pace in the corresponding grade level in BrightFish Reading. Students who score at the high end of the independent zone (above 80) may respond well to the challenge of working on passages from a higher grade level. In contrast, students scoring below 10 may struggle in that level of BrightFish and could benefit from being assigned a lower grade.
Since you have access to levels 1-10 with your
BrightFish subscription, you can assign different grade levels to your students
as needed.
When should you skip
the Cloze?
Generally
speaking, students in K-1 are given DIBELS-type assessments to determine reading
proficiency, rather than a reading comprehension test. Unless a student is in
the second half of 1st grade, I would recommend skipping the Cloze. Similarly,
if students are non-readers and essentially reading at a 1st grade
level, they may get frustrated doing the test and their results will not be
very informative. The test is optional, so you can use your discretion when
assigning it to students.
How do you schedule
it?
When your
classes are first created, the BrightFish system automatically enables the test
for a period of 30 days. To see if that 30-day period has passed, you can check
your Calendar in the Teacher Dashboard. If there are no tests scheduled, you
simply click “Schedule Quiz” and assign the Cloze pre-test to
your class. Your students will click on their Quizzes Tile to take the test.
Once the tests are submitted, you can see the results in the Reports/Assessments page of the Teacher Dashboard.
Cloze Test Results in BrightFish Reading
No comments:
Post a Comment