Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DRA Reading help

Hi all, not a new problem here but could use some of your help! DS is well above grade level in reading and has been all year - several tests support this. The school, however, always seems quite reluctant to move him up. So, for example, he was on their third grade level back in January (level 34) in instruction. They warned most third graders stay at that level all year and basically "be happy." However, he was just tested again a week ago and he is allegedly still at level 34. Allegedly he didn't pass the test to move to 38. Personally I don't think they want him starting third grade in the fall already at the 4th grade level. I also find it very hard to believe he didn't make progress. So I am asking for a conference on the issue. I told them I want to see the test, his answers and what he got wrong. Any advice and tips? Does anyone know what is required to pass the DRA ? My suspicion is they will just tell me he didn't pass when he really did because they don't want him that far ahead. Any help on what to say, look for and ask would be very appreciated!

I actually have reason for this paranoia - they were very reluctant to move him to 34 in January - they gave him several tests before doing so even though he passed the DRAs and I do believe the only reason they did that was because I wanted him moved to level he was testing at. I'm convinced they would have left him at the same level all year to let the other kids catch up and everyone would be the se.

The DRA is not a well-designed test, and IME kids with any kind of disability involving attention, memory, or sequencing tend to do worse on it. It requires the child to summarize the text, blow-by-blow. Kids who want to go off on a tangent because the text gave them an idea, kids who don't remember things in order, kids who think the whole exercise is pointless-- all these tend to do poorly on it.

We have requested that our school use a different assessment of reading comprehension. The Reading A to Z assessment is more accessible for 2Es.

I think I might approach this differently.

How about asking what happened in class that he didn't learn a thing, as illustrated by the DRA? Your child is entitled to one full year's growth each year, and this DRA score shows he didn't grow, and in fact declined based on his percentile rank.

http://www.wrightslaw.com/advoc/articles/tests_measurements.html#progress

Look down to "When apparent progress means regression"

I think you have a case that his teacher has been a disaster this year, and that the school needs to do some remediation to get him back up to where he was at the beginning of the year.

http://www.slideshare.net/faymus1/administering-the-dra-2

This is a link to a slideshow that gives more information about the DRA. It includes assessment samples at different levels, which I think you might find helpful. These assessment sheets should have been kept. I'd ask to see them.

I "think" some schools have a policy about testing too far out of grade level. That is, I think in some districts there is a ceiling that the tester won't go beyond. I don't know if this is the case for your district, but it could explain the reluctance.

I think the issue for the schools is twofold:

1. the time involved in testing kids to their "true" capability.
2. thematically difficult materials at the higher grades (i.e. age inappropriate text).

I would certainly ask for a conference.

Actually that was how I approached it in January... When they were reluctant to move him up then, it looked like he had not made any progress all year long ( he would have stayed where he had been in the beginning of the year). Their tests showed he's actually several years ahead in January on the QRI he passed the fourth grade level in comprehension and fifth in words he was also strong with fluency. Now they are pulling the same thing again - not sure why this is such an issue for them! When I inquired as to what went wrong this test, Teacher gave me some vague details that he did "well on the summary and fluency" but had lower scores on "literal comprehension, "interpretation" and "reflection"?

Thanks to all this helpful! Thanks Kathryn - that's exactly what I need... I need to know exactly what is required to pass the test so I can see where DS failed!

The QRI and the DRA are very different assessments. At his level, the DRA is more focused on comprehension skills, while the QRI tends to focus more on word identification.

They were reluctant to move him up, when I pushed they refused to tell me how he did on the DRA and then pulled him for QRI without telling me. After QRI they finally told me what his DRA scores were (they did warrenr his being moved up) and his QRI scores,.,.. He had also had the WJIII and they all lined up nicely with each other, putting him well above grade level.