Getting Started: The Assessment of Orthographic Development
One can gain a plethora of information from making informal observations of a child's reading and writing. A teacher can see how a student's letter-sound knowledge correlated to their writing, if he or she understands patterns in spelling, and how the child might decode and understand words in their reading. However, a more formal assessment can provide more information about a child's ability to understand words in the English language. "Spelling inventories consist of lists of words specially chosen to represent a variety of spelling features at increasing levels of difficulty" (Bear et al., 2012, p. 26). Students are assessed on a list of words that build in complexity that show where they are in terms of common orthographic features. In turn, whatever "stage" that student ends up at provides planning and instruction for moving forward.
Giving a Spelling Inventory
1. Decide which inventory to give based on child's grade.
1. Decide which inventory to give based on child's grade.
- The Primary Spelling Inventory is made up of 26 words ranging rom simply CVC words to words with derivational endings (-ing). This inventory works within skills shown in kindergarten through third grade. It measures skills from the Emergent Stage to the Within Word Pattern Stage. If students spell at least 20 words correctly, they should move onto the next inventory.
- The Elementary Spelling Inventory is composed of 25 increasingly more difficult words. This inventory can be used to identify all the way up to the Derivational Relations Stage (but mostly recommended for third-fifth grades). If students spell more than 20 words correctly, they should be given the next inventory.
- The Upper-Level Spelling Inventory can be used all the way up into high school. This inventory targets what students in the Syllables and Affixes and Derivational Relations Stages are working on. The list is made up of 31 words arranged in increasing difficulty.
2. Analyze spelling using the Feature Guide
Mark the orthographic features that each student has gotten correctly. Scoring this way makes it easier understand what students.Establish a raw score (or power score) to determine which stage the student falls into. As you can see on the inventories, there is a beginning, middle, and end within each stage as well. Analyze the feature guide to see what concepts students have mastered and what skills you need to target for their instruction. For example, a child might spell representing initial and final consonant sounds but struggle to produce short vowel sounds.
3. Organize Groups
A teacher can make up flexible small groups based off of each student's instructional level. For example, you might have a group of students who are in the middle of the Letter Name-Alphabetic sStage, a group that is in the Late Letter Name-Alphabetic Stage, and then groups within the Within Word Pattern Stage. Grouping students within this way can provide differentiated instruction and maximize the time spent to get students to the next stage in their spelling. It will also ensure students are not frustrated or bored when they are working on spelling goals; which will in turn help to build confidence! It is vital that teachers are observing students spelling samples and switch students from group to group when necessary.
A helpful Classroom Composite document can be found here!
4. Monitor Progress
It is also important to continuously monitor the progress that each student makes within his or her spelling abilities. Teachers can do this through a variety of ways: weekly spelling tests (observations), giving the same spelling inventory again, spell checks (mini-inventory of a select few words to show progress). It is also important to set goals with students so there is a high-expectation for implementing the spelling instruction that a teacher is giving.
It is also vital to keep in mind how English Language Learners can be confused or influenced by their native language when learning about spelling in English. The way that students orally pronounce words sometimes does not directly correlate with how the word is said in the English language. However, having ELLs experience Word Study in a hands-on way and experience spelling instruction that is at an appropriate instructional level will help close this gap.