SPY 627: Survey Level Assessment Rachel Brown-Chidsey, Ph.D. Associate Professor of School Psychology University of Southern Maine

© Brown-Chidsey, What is SLA? Survey Level Assessment SLA is a type of assessment that uses CBM measures It is used to identify a student’s current instructional level SLA helps teachers know what skills a students does have and what instruction is needed next

© Brown-Chidsey, Why Use SLA?? SLA provides information about what a student CAN do instead of what a student CANNOT do SLA starts with the hardest items first and works “backward” the easier ones The student ends the testing session completing tasks s/he can do SLA shows teachers where instruction needs to start

© Brown-Chidsey, How Do I Do SLA? SLA involves using specific CBM items in the areas of reading, spelling, writing, and math Start by gathering the Benchmark probes for the students current grade level and at least 3 grades below that level –Example, if a student is in 4 th grade, get the 4 th, 3 rd, 2 nd, and 1 st probes

How to Do SLA, cont’d. Set up a testing time of about 15 minutes Explain to the student that s/he will complete a number of test items that will start hard and get easier Begin by testing with the highest level items; give all 3 items for that level © Brown-Chidsey, 20095

How to Do SLA, cont’d. Test sequentially “backwards” until you have given all 3 items at the level which the student can complete with 95% accuracy Example order: – th grade items (check accuracy) – rd grade items (check accuracy) – nd grade items (check accuracy) – st grade items (check accuracy) © Brown-Chidsey, 20096

Summarizing SLA Data The easiest way to summarize SLA data is with a table which shows the number correct, the number of errors and the median for each grade –Median score is used as the estimate of performance for that level –Median is the middle score of the 3 given –When two scores are the same, that’s the median Note that the median corrects and median errors may not be from the same item © Brown-Chidsey, 20097

SLA Table Example: Oral Reading Fluency LevelItem 1Item 2Item 3Median 421/1025/819/1121/10 331/1033/835/933/9 243/547/640/743/6 165/371/268/468/3 © Brown-Chidsey, The first number in each set is the total number correct The second number in each set is the total number errors Median is the middle number of corrects at each level followed by the middle number of errors; they may not be from the same set

Calculating Accuracy Once a summary of the data has been created, the next step is to calculate accuracy. This is done by dividing the median correct by that number corrects plus median errors Example: 21/31 = 67% accuracy at 4 th grade © Brown-Chidsey, 20099

Comparing Scores © Brown-Chidsey, LevelItem 1Item 2Item 3MedianAccuracy 421/1025/819/1121/1067% 331/1033/835/933/979% 243/547/640/743/688% 165/371/268/468/396% Once the accuracy is known, then you compare the scores and accuracy with a benchmark table or other form of expected scores such as DIBELS or AIMSweb; the next pages have the DIBELS charts

© Brown-Chidsey, th Grade DIBELS Measure Beginning of Year Months Middle of Year Months End of Year Months ScoresStatusScoresStatusScoresStatus ORF At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk 3 rd Grade DIBELS Measure Beginning of Year Months Middle of Year Months End of Year Months ScoresStatusScoresStatusScoresStatus ORF At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk

© Brown-Chidsey, nd Grade DIBELS Measure Beginning of Year Months Middle of Year Months End of Year Months ScoresStatusScoresStatusScoresStatus ORF At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk 1st Grade DIBELS Measure Beginning of Year Months Middle of Year Months End of Year Months ScoresStatusScoresStatusScoresStatus ORF NA At Risk Some Risk Low Risk At Risk Some Risk Low Risk

Instructional Level For the sample data, the only level at which the student reads at the 95% level is grade 1 The student’s score of 68 in grade 1 material suggests fluency at that level The student’s score of 43 in grade 2 with 88% accuracy suggests that is a little too difficult Current instructional level is end of grade 1 with some readiness for beginning of grade 2 © Brown-Chidsey,

Error Analysis After determining instructional level, the next step is to conduct an error analysis This includes looking at the error patters and classifying the reading errors by type This will help with specific instructional planning © Brown-Chidsey,

© Brown-Chidsey, Summary SLA is a system of identifying a student’s current instructional level It includes testing the students with CBM probes in a sequential, backwards, way The level of material the student can do with 95% accuracy is the current instructional level