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Carrie Schliep
Tool: Words their Way - Spelling Inventory

Strength:  I like that you find the students area they need to work on when it comes to parts of spelling they struggle with.  It isn't a cookie cutter list where they memorize, this is real application.  I find using a list for 2 weeks at a time allowed me to do more writing with the lists and got my students to learn the patterns, not just memorize them!

Limitation:  It does take quite a while to fill out the chart for assessment.  Grouping can be challenging.  I also had to use an online spelling program so that I could give all my students the spelling tests at one time.

Student View of Tool:  My students didn't like that they didn't move out of their group.  Otherwise they liked being successful at spelling because the list met their needs!

Suggested Use: I will continue using this with my 4th graders!!

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Brenda Mondry
Tool: Words Their Way:  Developmental Spelling Assessment Feature Inventory

Strength: Using this assessment you find out both the developmental level of the students, and specifically what spelling features they know, and need to work on.

Limitation: Can be confusing and time consuming to correct.  You need to not only correct for correct spelling, but additionally spelling patterns and features within the words.  Not only do you need to check for the feature or pattern-you may also need to check for some that a vowel or consonant precedes them.

Student View of Tool: Can be frustrating as it likely is testing them on difficult words and many of them.  It can also be hard on students as they want to know how they did.  Explaining the scoring process to younger students is difficult and not developmentally appropriate.

Suggestion for use:The assessment can be given a couple of times through the year to form developmental spelling groups.  It can also be used to form instruction as you narrow in on what features need to be taught.

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Therese Peikert

Tool: Words Their Way Upper-Level Spelling Inventory

Strength: I appreciated how detailed the scoring guide is so I understood precisely which skill a student needs more help. Each word is broken down therefore students don’t just get a word completely right or wrong. The score sheet also clearly shows which spelling stage these skills fall under.

Limitation: Although I liked the scoring guide, it does take some time since each word is taken apart. I’m assuming it would go quicker once I used it multiple times.

Student View: The 6th grade student continuously asked how much more was left, and I didn’t even do all 31 words with him. The 7th grade student thought it was quick and did not have any issues with the assessment.

Suggested Use: Since the results are specific as to which skill the student needs further instruction on, I think this tool would be great to give to the whole class. Using the results, I would place students into different groups based on which skill they have not mastered yet.

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- Megan Stevens

Tool: I used the San Diego Quick Assessment with my soon to be 10th grader to test his fluency.

Strength: It was a very quick assessment. The student read lists of words starting at a 7th grade level all the way through the 11th grade level. There was not a 12th grade level. It is a great tool to use, especially in the secondary level because teachers are usually short on time.

Limitation: My student did really well on the assessment. He only made 4 errors total on all word lists. Because each list only contained 10 words, it was difficult to use the results to understand the students' fluency level. I think more words would be needed to find patterns in errors and truly be able to analyze the results.

Student View: The student was indifferent to the test, but he was happy to be finished with it so quickly.

Suggested Use: I think it would be a great tool to use to get an idea of where students are at with their fluency. I think the teacher could use the results to choose other appropriate tests that are a little more involved. I think it would be more helpful with elementary school readers. The secondary words are very random and obscure.

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Diana Zarrett

Tool: San Diego Quick Assessment. I used this with both of my students: one is going into 6th grade, and one going into 9th grade.

Strength: It really was a quick assessment! Start to finish was about ten minutes, so it's a great one to use if you have limited time.

Limitation: It doesn't really give a ton of information you can actually use. I finished it with my 9th grader, found out he was at the 9th grade level, and then it was like, "Okay. Now what?" It doesn't really identify what the specific gaps are; it just shows you that they're there.

Student View: They both appreciated that it was so fast, and they both liked the success they experienced at the start of the test. Neither one had any real negative feelings about it after they completed it.

Suggested Use: I would recommend it if you think a student is reading above or below grade level. It's like a quick thermometer reading of where they're at, and you can see if you should take some further measures to challenge them more, or identify some gaps in knowledge.

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Cindy Fjelsta

Tool: I utilized the Spelling Inventories from Words Their Way to assess both my Elementary and Middle School Student. Words Their Way has an Elementary Spelling Inventory (ESI) and a Upper-Level Spelling Inventory (USI).

Strengths: Both inventories got progressively harder throughout the list. The lists were 25 and 31 words long, very attainable for most students. The included feature guide helped to identify the spelling patterns that the student understood and an area for growth. This feature guide assists the teacher to analyze a student’s spelling as opposed to just declaring words correct or incorrect. It promotes differentiation and responsive teaching!!! This inventory is a spring board to what you would teach your students. It allows you to create flexible small groups to work on various features that help a student grow.

Limitations: This particular inventory is just a sampling or overview of the word patterns in the developmental stages. Once a stage is identified, you could also utilize a more specific stage inventory to find out additional information.

Student View: Both the middle school and elementary student had a very positive attitude when completing this inventory. Neither student was overwhelmed. My middle school student asked about writing more words!

Suggestions: In my classroom I have utilized a similar developmental spelling inventory from Word Journeys. I would suggest setting it up with students where they understand it is not about whether the words are completely right or not. I often tell my students that the inventory helps teachers to know everything the student knows and what ‘our’ (the teachers) job will be this year to teach.  Another suggestion would be to closely monitor the inventory process with your students. As teachers we know our students well, if a child is having a difficult time with the assessment and you can see they have missed several features in the word, you can stop the inventory. You would already have the information you need.

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-Maritt May
Tool: Words Their Way Elementary Spelling Inventory Feature Guide
Strength: This tool gives information about a child's developmental spelling stage.  Many "spelling tests" can be assessments of memory, not the understanding of word features and phonics.  The ESI, is a "cold" test given to students and each word in the test has been carefully chosen for its use of vowels, blends, digraphs, etc.
I feel that greatest strength of this assessment is its ability to give the user meaningful and precise information about the student.
One limitation of this test is the amount of time it takes to score a single test.  The test contains 25 words and each word can be analyzed for spelling errors. When giving this test to a class of 27, it can be quite time consuming to score.
The student view of the tool, is a blank paper where they record the words as they are dictated to them. Again the assessment is 25 words that the student has not previously studied.
A suggested use of this tool would be to administer it to your group of students at least three times throughout the year.  The results of the assessment would help you create instructional spelling groups and track spelling growth throughout the year.

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-Kalyn Heitkamp

Tool: Primary, Elementary, and Upper Level Spelling Inventory

Strength: In using this assessment with my fourth grade students, I've found it to be very helpful in determining each student's individualized spelling stage. I like that the assessment covers each level of differentiated stages and allows students to earn partial points if they've correctly spelled a part of the word. For the assessment required in Assignment 3, I administered the Primary Inventory to my 2nd grade volunteer.

Limitation: The one thing that I didn't like about this assessment is that there are only a couple words featured within each spelling pattern. I struggle to conclude a student's spelling stage when there isn't a ton of evidence to support each level of spelling strategies.

Student View: The 2nd grade student I used for this assessment did pretty well with producing data to help me determine her spelling stage. She got a little bit frustrated with the harder words towards the end, but overall I was impressed with her willingness to participate in the administration of this assessment.

Suggestions for Use: When administering this assessment to an entire class of students, the evaluation and assessment of data can take awhile to conclude. Based on this information, however, I would recommend differentiating students based on their spelling stages for continued "word work" practice in the classroom.

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Lorie Schultz
Tool: Informal Phonics Inventory from the AFRI book.

Strength: Adaptable - once my student hit a frustration level, I had the information I needed and was able to stop the assessment.

Limitation: Individually adminstered - would take a lot of time to assess an entire class.

Student view: My student was overwhelmed by all of the letters and words on the sheet. I would break it into parts, so they only see one assessment at a time.

One suggestion: Use another whole-group screening tool and then use this assessment with students who are struggling.

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Anna Anderson
Tool: Spelling Inventory Words Their Way
Strength: The main strength of this assessment was that I found it very useful in determining what spelling stage my student was in. I also liked that it didn't require the word to be completely correct and they could obtain partial credit for parts of the word.
Limitation: Is that my student needed encouragement to try and write some of the more difficult words. They did not want to try unless they knew how spell the word exactly as it should be, so this was a struggling point.
Student view: Like I mentioned they got overwhelmed when the words were more difficult but I think that they liked it when could spell some of the words correctly.
Suggestion for use: I think that you could administer this assessment as a whole class, but I would reinforce that even if they just write some of the letters they know, they could get some points, and it will give a better picture of what sounds they can actually identify.

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-Christine Moren

Tool: San Diego Quick Assessment: I used this with both my fifth grade (female) student and my ninth grade (male) student.

Strengths: This assessment is QUICK! It also has ten words that the students need to read that get harder as they go.

Weakness: This assessment is a great jumping off point but does not give a TON of helpful information. I also had varying results with it and another test.

Student View: My students loved this assessment was so quick and easy. It was their favorite out of the bunch because it was very quick!

Suggested use: I think this would be helpful to assess students that are above grade level to quickly find out where they are at. My fifth grader was reading at an eighth grade level according to the test so that was very helpful to know!

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-Katie Cordes
Tool: San Diego Quick Assessment, Form 1

I used this with my secondary student (female who is going into 10th grade)

Strengths: The words get progressively harder and include words in multiple content areas. The test is quick and does not overwhelm student.

Limitations: The test only asks the student to read the words in isolation and does not ask for meaning.

Suggestions for use: I would use with any grade student who is reading at or below grade level. I think this assessment would be good for students reading above grade level as long as they are NOT in 12th grade because I do not think you will get good information to help instruction. Or maybe it will help tell the teacher what the student is above grade level.

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-LeAnn Karl
Tool: Z-test
Strength: This is a quick check in with students to determine if they are able to follow spelling pattern rules. Every word starts with a Z, but they have to figure out the ending. For example, zap, zat, zump, zight. They are made up words without context to really determine if the student has their phonics skills down.
Limitation: Because there is no context and the words are made up, it may be difficult for the child to get used to this test. I would have to explain that some of the words don't make sense.
Student view of tool: because this was used with a first grader, she thought it was fun to get to say silly made up words. It went extremely fast too. I made sure to emphasize that if she didn't know it to give it her best shot and move on.
Suggestion: I would suggest doing this when you don't have a lot of time because it goes fast for students who are average at phonics. I could see where this would be hard with students who always need a literal meaning for words. Making sure they understand that some of the words are made up is important too.

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-Amy Hopper
Tool: Primary, Elementary and Upper Level Spelling Inventory

Strength:
A strength for me is that I have used this tool for years in my classroom. It is easy to give to the whole class. Having three levels is also helpful when you have a wide range of abilities in your classroom. If my 5th graders would score high on the elementary level, I used the upper level and I was able to find an area that they can work on.

Limitation:
One part that can be long and cumbersome is the scoring sheet. It takes a while until you are familiar with it, and then scoring goes much faster.

Student View of Tool:
The students at my school are used to this assessment.  They like to know if they need to take the next level test, or where they are in their spelling development. They always seemed to remember from 4th grade and could base their score on that.

Suggestion for Use:
We always used this to put students into "word work" groups. This made it easier to meet the needs of all students.

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-Erin Bakke

Tool: Primary, Elementary and Upper Level Spelling Inventory- Reading and Writing Project Website (also available with Words Their Way)

Strength: One strength of this assessment is that it is available at different levels.  With the first grade student, I used the primary inventory, and then I was able to use the upper inventory for the middle school student.  All levels of this assessment have the same goal of identifying the spelling stage of the student.

Limitation: I feel that one limitation is that there are only a couple of words for each spelling pattern.  I sometimes wonder if spelling one or two words with that pattern incorrectly is enough to generalize that it is where the student's need lies.

Student View of Tool: The students both felt success while completing this assessment.  I feel that it helps to tell students the purpose of the test ahead of time, as well as the fact that it gets harder as it goes on.  Telling the students this helped them to not feel frustrated when the words became more difficult.  The primary inventory became long for the first grade student.  I ended up stopping after the 1st 15 words, and even that took 2 periods of time.

Suggestion for Use:
This is a great tool to do with an entire class. Scoring the assessment and putting into the class composite gives the teacher a clearer view of where the students are in their spelling abilities. This tool can be used to create differentiated groups, determine patterns to work on and instruction, and to also use to measure growth by repeating later in the year.

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by Valora Unowsky

Tool: Informal Decoding Inventory (McKenna & Stahl, p. 137-149)

Strength: This assessment assesses the skills used to decode single and multisyllabic words.It really gets to the heart of gaps in decoding skills! I was able to pinpoint the skill needs of my focus students, and then was able to spend some time reteaching and practicing these skills with them.

Limitation: This assessment would be imposing if using it with an entire class due to the necessity of it being administered individually. It is very time consuming.

Student View of Tool: The two students I used this with both found it interesting! One really liked the inclusion of the nonsense word lists, but the other did not (also an interesting observation). Both students liked that they were able to see the types of words that they made mistakes on, and then were able to work with those words specifically to improve their decoding on them.

Suggestion for Use:

This would be a great assessment to use with students reading below grade level to determine where his or her gaps exist in decoding! If too imposing, perhaps an AE or para could be trained to administer the assessment in order to get the data on all students. This would be really helpful data to have before creating reading or skills groups.