Presenter: Keystone ALTA Qualified Instructor

The focus of this course is on screening, diagnosing, and monitoring the instructional needs of students in grades K-3 who are showing signs of risk. The purpose of these activities is early identification and intervention to reduce reading failure at these early levels, and progress-monitoring to determine response to Intervention (RtI). A targeted strategy for selecting and using assessments for specific purposes will be presented. Interpretation of classroom screening results and individual students’ diagnostic assessments is examined through case studies that represent range of student subtypes or profiles, including those with decoding a phonological processing weaknesses, orthographic processing or fluency problems, and/or oral and written language comprehension difficulties. Assessment results are connected to appropriate instructional methods, goals, and programs.

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

þ Explain why early intervention is crucial for preventing reading problems

þ Understand the purposes of four kinds of assessments (outcome, screening, diagnostic, and progress-monitoring)

þ Demonstrate the basic tenets of a Response to Intervention problem-solving model

þ Explain when and why universal screening is important

þ Demonstrate familiarity with typical tasks in screening tests

þ Develop component skills and processes measured by various tasks

þ Classify students into levels of risk

þ Define the major subgroups of students with reading difficulty

þ Explain why and for whom diagnostic surveys are useful

þ Demonstrate familiarity with decoding and encoding surveys

þ Practice error analysis