[LIT] Running Records/IRI/Miscue Analysis/NWEA

[lbrazell at comcast.net]

Lori Jackson <ljackson at gwtc.net>wrote:
Part of the process
is the valueing of errors which do not impact meaning.  I have only done a 
couple, but one thing that really hit me hard was
that when a child makes a sophisticated susbstitution, it is a an act of 
comprehension -- that the child must have an
understanding of the text to make this substitution.  

I just read what Lori wrote.  When working with struggling middle school students, initially, I just want to know if they have strategies for both decoding and for comprehending.  A modified IRI/miscue analysis helps me do this.  It is not a formal test and I usually do it in the classroom during Independent reading when the classroom teacher is also conferring with students. It is more like a conversation about reading:  "Show me a part you really liked/didn't understand/confirmed your prediction.  Can you read me this page?"  And then our conversation about the book is founded on textual evidence...helpful for me if I haven't read it.  I may or may not make a copy of the text...I usually do only if I think it will help the classroom teacher understand the student's reading difficulty better.

For formal reporting we use the DRA with our below grade level readers.  Also, this is the second year our students were given the NWEA but I have not used the results to inform my instruction.  Has anyone else done this with NWEA?  I know using the data will be a focus for us next year.