EP- DRA

I chose my research because when the year started and we tookthe MAP test, I had 5 ESL students that scored extremely low. The ESL teacher told me that it is common because they have been home all summer and not around the English language so they regressed but they will show quick improvements. She pointed out two students that would be on grade level in no time, which did in fact happen. The other three did not. In my research I came across an article, Effects of adding multisensory components to a supplemental reading program on the decoding skills of treatment resisters, that I found interesting. On reason becasue I had never heard of this term, the other because it described my focus students almost exactly. The study focused on a small group of African American students that were considered "at-risk" because they had failed to aquire basic skills. The Orton Gillingham program (multisensory) was used. Campbell, Helf, & Cooke (2008) have researched that students like the ones in the study often encounter the Matthew Effect and continue to fall behind. An analogy to explain the Matthew Effect is “the rich get richer, the poor get poorer”, which is what I was afraid of for my struggling readers. I already knew that they were very low ESL students from discusssion with their last year's teacher and their testing data. They were reading on level C and D, which correlates to DRA 3 and 4. I have had an ESL student here and there, but never a group and never as far behind as these students. I felt like the research project would be a great way for us all to learn and improve. From the beginning of the year, EP has stood out to me. Just when I think I have her on track, she puts on the brakes. Thanks to my research, I have TONS of data. I am conferencing with mom about the options we have for EP to be successful, retain or refer. The fact that EP is an ESL student makes the decision much mroe difficult, but my gut(and data) tells me she needs more individualized instruction. I have serisouly lost sleep over this child!

EP
In January, EP read independently at DRA 10. I was impressed because BD and FP were at 8. She read with 95 percent accuracy. EP scores higher because she TALKS ALL THE TIME (and about everything under the sun). She made great predictions during the picture walk, she reflected and connected to the story which helped her comprehension score because her retell was very limited. She really would have been a solid 8. EP relies very much on pictures when she reads.
In March, I DRA'd EP at a level 12. Her accuracy level was "emergent" because she made 14 mistakes. At this point of the DRA, they recommend to stop and reassess with a lower text level. I have a hard time doing that because I always want to check comprehension. Again, her retell was very limited and the events were general. For example, the ending is "Robert decided he liked Maria and tells Mama he will help take care of Maria, too." After prompting "How does the story end?" She responds, "Robert was happy." So...EP is still at a DRA 10.
*Next steps: EP's errors were lazy errors, so we will review word reading strategies also, but focus more on sentence comprehension and asking "Does that make sense?" For example. "Robert want share he liked Maria." was what she read and she didn't stop to self correct.
I will also help her to rely less on pictures and more on context clues when reading. I think these things will help make her retell stronger with more specific details/events from the story.