Identifying Reading Disabiilties:
Reading disabilities are difficult to diagnose. If students are slow learners but are progressing that doesn't mean that they have a disability but that they need more time. There can be many indicators to why students aren't learning at the same pace as other students. I teach all english language learners so sometimes it's hard to decipher whether it's a language issue that's causing them to not read well or if it's a reading disability. If a student didn't receive proper schooling in their native language they aren't going to be able to transfer that into English so it's not easy to tell whether they have a reading disability in English or not. I am actually running into this problem now with a student of mine (5th grade) who just moved here from Mexico but didn't get proper schooling his whole life there. He doesn't know any reading in Spanish so we are starting with letter recognition in English. This is a very slow process and he has only been able to remember 7 words over the past three weeks. I am not sure if this is due to a reading disability or if he is just having a hard time adjusting to a new language. The RTI process has helped teachers recognize where problems lay and given strategies to help students gain growth in the classroom. This process keeps changing due to super intendents and the states not wanting as many students in Tier 3. There has to be so much data and documentation taken in order for a student to qualify for any subject area. I have to keep in mind that there is a process in order to help the students out that really, truly need to be in RTI.
Assessment: Formative and Summative
Assessments have different purposes for both teachers and learners. Formative assessments are there to help drive instruction. These are meant to be used to see what students have gotten so far and maybe areas that need to be readressed before the end of unit assessments. Formative assesesments don't need to be extremely formal or long by any means. They can be self assessments by students, thumbs up thumbs down, quizzes, ticket out the door, and many many more. Summative assessments are at the end of units. These are post tests that tell you how students did according to the instruction they recieved. These can also be the end of year standardized test scores or district wide tests throughout the year. These are for reflection on student achievement and should be used with students to help them see what they have mastered or not.
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