Revmom's experience is exactly how DRA was explained to me. They are strict about the number of mistakes - even small ones - and cannot move to the next level of the testing if they trigger a certain number. DD was stuck at the same level through most of first grade for that reason.
When she was first identified as 2E she couldn't pass a level 4 DRA. The school psych testing her had me sit in and watch. She made more than 20 mistakes (including reading the main character's name wrong each time i.e. saying "Tad" for "Ted".) After completing the book when asked what happened in the story she recounted it, exactly. I mean just about word for word. They explained to me that because of the way the DRA system is structured it would never be something DD would be successful in. Neuropsych eval over the summer between first and second grade showed her reading at mid grade 2 level. Her DRA testing has her solidly a year behind at a level 14. And that 14 was cause for celebration at a recent IEP meeting. YMMV but DRA is just not something we can accept as accurate for our DD.
By the way she is testing DRA 14 at school (first grade) but we are currently on the last few discs of the 7th Harry Potter book (8th grade+) for audio books. So DRA may measure her dyslexic difficulty with decoding but has nothing to do with what her comprehension level would be. Maybe it's because she is so very 2E that the weakness of the system is so apparent for her.
Last edited by Pemberley; 10/14/12 05:19 AM.
