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Oh and there was a ton of comprehension Testing on the QRI. In depth comprehension tests for each level. And I mean a ton of comprehension questions .... It WAS NOT only word ID At all( although he took he took word ID subtests for each grade level). I saw the assessment, the passages he read and the questions he had to answer and what he got wrong. I can even link the assessment I think. There was heavy emphasis on comprehension especially as he went up in the levels in the test.

Irena, we have the same issue! My DS6 (K) was tested with the DRA upon entry in September and was determined to be on a beginning second grade level at that time. They pulled him and a small group 2x/week. Now it's June and what are they reading? Beginning second grade level. We just had him tested and he's reading at least two years above where the school has him. Very frustrating.

Thanks I am going to approach it this way. Perhaps he has not made progress because he was never taught at the appropriate instructional level?!? And now we will have summer? Will he regress even more. Perhaps he needs ESY now? Do you think I can at least ask for to be tested again to make sure he hasn't made nay progress?

It is so frustrating! How have you been handling it ? I think it's even harder at the lower levels dealing with this!

When the school is limiting kids to a ceiling, the DRA number will end in an '8'.

The new skill required in the 30s of the DRA is to be able to infer the feelings and intentions of characters in a story. For immature kids, literal kids, or those who otherwise struggle with such social inferences in the real world, the child will stagnate in the 30s.

I have repeatedly asked that DS be tested on comprehension, fluency, and accuracy independently within the DRA mess, but to no avail, even where we have diagnoses indicating difficulty with these specific skills. Maddening.

We are stuck at 28!

Irena, I have not done much this year as I was waiting for testing. We are in a district where everyone thinks their kid is gifted so my saying so was not going to mean much without the data, if that makes sense. I knew this year would be a wash, and it's only half-day. I did ask that they give him additional reading material or some chapter books but they only started that lately when he was singing "Let it Go" at the top of his lungs for two days straight and they needed to distract him.

I really cannot understand how a school can imply a child made no progress.

Ugh, Ktpie. Sorry that is happening!

Geofizz, thanks for your insight. My fear is that they do not like that he moves up as quickly as he does- If ends the year on 38 - he'll be in 40 by October of next which is beginning of 4th grade level and level black in 100 book challenge and I just don't think they want that. I think they are stalling. They tried to stall in January. The want him in the 30's for at least some of third grade - that is my feeling though I am not sure of the "why" behind their strategy. I just get that distinct feeling. I think they are just dragging every chance they get, in order for him to at least "look" not too far above the others in his class. I don't know, that is just my suspicion. As it feels like he never moves ahead without my being proactive and asking for him to be tested, etc. We already had trouble towards the end of this year with him being bored and too far ahead the others in his reading group... HE started getting in trouble for calling out answers telling kids what the word was that they couldn't read, etc.

I am thinking of sending this email:

Teacher, I have talked this over with DH and the more we think about this the more concerned DH and I become. Our son should show at least one full year of growth, this most recent DRA score not only shows that stopped growing mid-year (stagnating); but, in fact, is now declining based on his percentile rank. We are wondering what went wrong in reading class that he hasn't learned or made adequate progress since January? While DS may still be ahead of his peers, he has actually started to regress and that is troubling. We are very concerned that this may be because he was never taught at his instructional all year as he was the only one in your class at his DRA level so he was in a reading group that was instructing at least one level, if not two levels, below him. Perhaps he is not growing because he is not being taught at his “just right instructional level?” We are thinking, if this is the case, he needs some remediation as soon as possible because if DS’s percentile continues to fall, he will continue to regress. With summer recess coming up I am afraid he will regress even more. Please let me know when we can have a parent-teacher conference regarding this issue. We do not think it would be prudent to wait too long before starting some remediation as there isn't much time left in the school year.

Thanks,

I was just reading the techinical manual for the computerized test that DD takes and thought you would find this interesting. It's not the same as the DRA but maybe you could borrow some of the wording. Although your post sounds fine.

"It's also helpful to compare multiple testing periods (ex. Fall & Winter, Fall & Spring) to watch for overall patterns of learning growth. Some very high ability students will remain in the “Exceeds” or "Advanced" category, but will experience “Low Growth.”

Low Growth for any student, regardless of Percentile Rank, is a red flag and needs to be addressed. EVERY child needs to experience growth, regardless of where he/she was at the beginning of the year. A high ability learner who needs intervention and receives it should also experience growth. Some educators believe that it is okay for high ability learners to stagnate at their current ability level while peers catch up. This is never okay and indicates a need to advocate for academic intervention on behalf of that student."

And more trouble! I picked up DS from school and they are doing money for math, which DS learned, I don't know - last summer maybe? I seem to remember them doing some money in 1st grade too... Anyway, he raised his hand and asked for a harder worksheet b/c this one was too easy for him and the teacher responded by asking the entire class to each raise their hand if they though what DS asked for was just him "bragging." And so everyone raised their hand. And DS learned nothing all week in math except that when he asks to be challenged he will get made fun of. Nice, huh? I am really losing my patience with this teacher.

Also, in regards to the DRA thing, teacher told DS that his summary for the DRA was excellent and something else was excellent but he got one literal comprehension question wrong (well, half wrong as the question was "what two things did a character lose ?"and DS only said one thing) and the "what do you think the most important point of the story" question wrong. I am wondering if that is enough to fail? It looks like his "most important" question was almost right to me... Apparently there is an "independent descriptor" and an "advance descriptor answer" - his answer matched the independent descriptor answer but was lacking, I think, for the advanced descriptor. I am not sure what the difference between the "independent descriptor" and an "advance descriptor" is - what that means in terms of moving levels. Anyone know?