Reading Diagnostic Assessments Vs. Reading Assessments to Inform and Monitor Instruction

Reading Diagnostic Assessments Vs. Reading Assessments to Inform and Monitor Instruction

We create mountains of useless data in schools. Most data in Schools is Useless for helping low students close the gap or gifted students accelerate! Diagnostic Data is the most Important data that in needed to help students thrive and succeed!
What is a Diagnostic Reading Assessment?

Diagnostic reading assessments are a set of comprehensive targeted

assessment tools with the specific goal of finding and correcting reading problems. Diagnosing reading problems may start by assessing development delays that can impede Reading Readiness, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Sight Word Fluency, Reading Fluency, and Tier 1, 2, and 3 Reading Vocabulary acquisition. Building a comprehensive understanding of developmental competencies and a clear understanding of present academic levels is the key to diagnosing reading delays and reading disabilities in students. The key to creating targeted interventions (RTI), short-term and long-term instructional reading goals and objectives, and tailor effective instruction is actionable diagnostic data! 

Diagnostic reading assessments are an adroit and systematic approach to diagnosing reading readiness and possible problems in a one or more reading domains. Reading readiness screens can be administered school-wide to find and target students that need further diagnostic interventions (RTI). Understanding reading  readiness and academic grade level reading norms gives teachers the all important, what do we do next! Targeted diagnostic information is used to build an understanding of a student’s problem and a real way to fix them. The results of a diagnostic reading assessments are designed to evaluate reading readiness or academic reading problem with precision and quickly. The recommend use of diagnostic reading assessment and school-wide screens is to support student success. RTI procedures should guide teachers to targeted and easy to follow reading interventions, as well as to determine an ongoing course of action to help students succeed. A complete description of a student's abilities, delays and or reading disability is necessary in order for teachers, parents and students to inform strategic instructional planning. Special education professionals, teachers, parents, and students must incorporate the highly targeted and individualized intervention strategies, tasks, lessons, procedures into daily school lessons and home support for reading success. Best practice reading instruction, all school reading programs should include a comprehensive diagnostic reading assessments inventory that is available to use by all teachers. Sean Taylor M.Ed 



What is a Reading Assessments to Inform and Monitor Instruction?
The purpose of reading Assessments to Inform and Monitor Instruction is to check the progress of developmental reading levels and reading curriculum acquisition. Continual tracking of each student’s reading levels (i.e fluency rates) helps inform curriculum decisions and short-term instructional planning. The important key use of Reading Assessments to Inform is they supply immediate data on the depth to which students are making progress in meeting developmental reading levels and acquisition of reading curriculum or standards. Collecting weekly or monthly data on the students reading growth and learning outcomes helps teachers, parents and students target the next steps in learning.  Continual progress monitoring provides critical information for continual adjustments to teaching and improvements in curriculum planning. 

Empowering teachers by allowing them to discard, revise, and adjust curriculum and modify instructional practices in response to student’s rates of learning is an important element in helping students thrive academically. The instructional needs of the students must guide the instructional pacing. More teacher and student support is the key to a students continual growth. Many teachers are pressed to effectively do quantitative progress monitoring.