Carrie Kramer

1
Case Study
Jabere

I. Background Information
Jabere is a 5th grader at an Elementary School in Richmond City. He has been identified
for additional support in reading and writing instruction because he did not pass the Reading
SOL last year. Jabere is 10 years old and has attended 3 different schools since Kindergarten. He
lives at home with his mom and older brother. When given the Garfield Survey of Reading,
Jabere scored in the 77th percentile for recreational reading and the 98th percentile for academic
reading. This means that 77% children at his grade level have an enjoyment rating of 33/40 or
lower for recreational reading and 38/40 or lower for academic reading. In summary it means
that Jabere likes to read recreationally for the most part and he also gets enjoyment out of
reading academically.
II. Writing Skills
Writing Sample
Jabere was asked to write a short writing sample. The sample could be about whatever
topic he wanted. He chose to write about football. During the sample he talked about how much
fun football practice is and why he likes to play football. From his sample it was determined that
Jabere needs additional support with Word Choice, Sentence Fluency and Conventions. On the
six traits writing rubric, he scored at developing or emerging in all of those categories.
Writing Known Words Assessment
Jabere was also administered the Writing Known Words Assessment. Of the 52 words he
listed on the assessment, he spelled 51 of them correctly in the ten minutes allotted. The words
he chose to write lacked any sort of pattern and Jabere did not need any prompting. He would

Carrie Kramer

pause every now and then to think however, when I asked if he had more words to write he
would reply yes, I am just thinking. He wrote words in relation to a few places, different
sports, names of friends and family members, different places and different items related to
school.
III. Word Knowledge
The examiner administered the Words Their Way Elementary Spelling Inventory to
assess orthographic knowledge. Of the 25 words on the inventory, he spelled 18 correctly and
received 52 of 62 feature points. Evidence from this assessment places him at the Late Within
Word Pattern stage. He scored 100 percent on feature points until the Inflected Endings category.
For Inflected Endings he received 3 of 5 feature points. For Syllable Junctures he received 4 of 5
feature points. For Unaccented Final Syllables he received 2 of 5 feature points and for Harder
Suffixes he received 3 of 5 feature points. Following the Elementary Spelling Inventory the first
10 words of the Upper Level Spelling Inventory were administered. Of those first 10 words, 5
of them were spelled correctly and a total of 15 out of 25 feature points were received.
IV. Reading Skill
Instruction began with second grade word list from the QRI 5. The level of word list
increased until Jabere reached frustration level, which was at 6th grade. This was performed to
help determine which passage level to begin the reading assessment. It was determined through
word list administration that passage assessment should begin at a 4th grade level due to the fact
that Jabere was at an instructional level on the 4th grade word lists.
Passage Name
Readability Level
Passage Type
Concept %

Johnny Appleseed
4
Narrative
66% Familiar

Trip to the Zoo

3
Narrative
100% Familiar

Cats: Lions and

3
Expository
83% Familiar

Carrie Kramer
Familiar/Unfamiliar
Quality of Prediction
Retelling %
% Total Accuracy/
Level
% Total
Acceptability/Level
Level % Comprehension
Level % Comprehension
with Look Backs
# Explicit Correct
# Explicit Correct with
Look Backs
#Implicit Correct
# Implicit Correct with
Look Backs
Rate WPM
Rate CWPM
Total Passage Level

2 out of 3
12.7%
98%/Independent

2 out of 3
41.8%
98.7%
Independent
98.7%/Independent 99.6%
Independent
62.5%
75%
N/A
N/A

1 out of 3
25.5%
100% Independent

4
N/A

4
N/A

3
3

1
N/A

2
N/A

4
4

100.4
98.4
Frustration

156
154
Instructional

106
106
Instructional

100% Independent
87.5%
87.5%

Word Recognition on Lists

Jabere began read 90% of the words automatically on the second grade word lists. He
recognized 100% of the words automatically on the third grade lists, 75% on the fourth grade
lists (90% total), 90% on the fifth grade lists and 60% on the sixth grade list. The fifth grade list
was a bit of an outlier and the examinee chose to begin passage instruction at his instructional
level of four (taking into account automatically identified words only). Of his two miscues on the
fourth level word list, one was due to dropping of a suffix (adventure instead of adventurer) and
the other was due to mistaking the e in precious for a long e.
Performance on Fourth Grade Passage

Carrie Kramer

Jabere began assessment by reading Johnny Appleseed, a fourth level passage from the
QRI 5. He had a Total Accuracy of 98% and a Total Acceptability of 98.7%. When it came to the
comprehension piece of assessment, he recalled 12.7% of the ideas from the story and answered
62.5% of the comprehension questions accurately. Despite his Total Accuracy and Totally
Acceptability being at an independent level, his performance on the comprehension puts him at
frustration level for the entire passage. Jabere read the fourth level passage at a rate of 100.4
words per minute and 98.4 correct words per minute.
Performance on Third Grade Passages
The examinee administered The Trip to the Zoo to Jabere, a third grade passage from
the QRI 5. He read with Total Accuracy of 98.7% and a Total Acceptability of 99.6%. He made
very few miscues in reading the passage at this level. Jabere recalled 41.8% of the ideas from the
story. On the comprehension questions, Jabere answered a total of 75% correct which placed him
at an instructional level. Despite his independent level of reading, his instructional level of
comprehension places him at an instructional level for the entire passage. Jabere read at a rate of
156 total words per minute and 154 correct words per minute on this passage.
The examiner then moved on to administering the expository level three passage from the
QRI 5, Cats: Lions and Tigers in Your House. Jabere read through the passage with no
miscues giving him a 100% Total Accuracy and Total Acceptability. He recalled 25.5% of the
ideas and answered 87.5% of the comprehension questions accurately. He hit an independent
level of oral reading and an instructional level of comprehension placing his overall level on the
expository passage at instructional. Jabere read at a rate of 106 total words per minute on this
passage and 106 correct words per minute.

Carrie Kramer

Comprehension
Many of Jaberes difficulties with this assessment stem from difficulties in
comprehension of text he is reading. In the 4th grade passage of the 8 questions he answered 4
explicit questions correctly and 1 implicit question correctly. In A Trip to the Zoo he answered
4 explicit questions correctly and 2 implicit questions correctly. In Cats: Lions and Tigers in
Your House he answered 3 explicit questions correctly and 3 implicit questions correctly.

V. Listening Vocabulary Knowledge

Student Chronological Age
Raw Score
Percentile Rank
Stanine
Age Equivalent

10:7
151
37
4
9:7

To assess vocabulary knowledge the PPVT was administered. On the PPVT it was
determined that is chronological age was 10 years and 7 months. His basal set was Set 9 and his
ceiling set was set 19, where he made 9 errors. Given this information, his Raw Score was 151
and his Standard Score was 95 with a Confidence Interval of 89-101 at 90%. He fell in the 37th
percentile with a Normal Curve Equivalent of 43 and a Stanine of 4. His age equivalent was 9
years and 7 months and his grade equivalent was grade 4. His score fell in the Low- Average
Score range.
VI. Summary of Assessments
The examiner administered the QRI Assessment (Word Lists and Passages), the PPVT,
the Writing Known Words Assessment, Words Their Way Elementary Inventory and a Writing

Carrie Kramer

Sample. Overall the data lines up and the results are consistent. It would appear that Jabere was
putting forth his best efforts on all assessments. On all assessments he fell between a 3rd and 4th
grade level. The only assessment that would appear to be lower than that is his writing sample.
On the QRI Word Lists he scored instructional at Level 4 and on the QRI passages he scored
instructional at Level 3. On the PPVT Jabere scored equivalent to 4th grade. Due to the closeness
of leveling in the test results, clear patterns can be seen across the board.
The differences in instructional level between Jaberes QRI word lists score and the QRI
Passage Score can be easily explained. Data shows that Jabere would have scored Instructional at
Level 4 of the QRI Passage Assessments if there were no comprehension piece. His
comprehension scores on the implicit and explicit questions brought his overall score on the
Level 4 QRI passage down to a frustration level. At level 3 of the QRI Passages he scored
independent on the reading and miscues portion, but instructional on the implicit/explicit
questions, bringing his overall score to an Instructional Level.
Jabere hit a grade equivalent of Level 4 on the PPVT assessment, which would be
consistent with his scoring on the QRI Word Lists as well. The one outlier in all of the
assessments would be the words their way assessment. Jabere fell within the Late Within Words
Pattern Stage on this assessment. According to the Words Their Way text this places him at Late
Level B/Early Level C (Late Within Word Patterns/Early Syllable and Affixes) these spelling
stages would be equivalent with a 2nd or 3rd grade spelling level.
VII. Recommended Instructional Plan
Jabere needs support with writing skills, spelling and comprehension skills. It would be
suggested that techniques like QAR and Reciprocal Teaching be used. QAR would help Jabere

Carrie Kramer

with comprehension. Reciprocal Teaching would help Jabere with comprehension and writing as
well as spelling.
To assist Jabere in developing his writing skills, regular lessons will be included in
tutoring sessions. These lessons will primarily focus on the parts of paragraphs, which will help
ensure that he maintains proper flow and structure when writing. For example, hamburger
writing will be used on a regular basis. A hamburger graphic organizer that breaks down the
different pieces of a paragraph will be provided for Jabere to use as reference when structuring
his paragraphs. Lessons will also have a focus on word choice as well; different interesting
words will be looked at and brainstormed as replacements when revisions of his writing take
place. The goal of the mini-writing lessons will be for Jabere to improve flow and structure in
writing.
In tutoring, daily fluency lessons will be continued with short comprehension questions at
the end of each to work on Jaberes overall fluency with reading. More detailed comprehension
lessons will be built in to work on his comprehension strategies. These would include QAR,
Reciprocal Teaching and Graphic Organizers. Picture walks will be performed before readings to
allow Jabere to make inferences about the text. Picture walks and text Walk-throughs will also be
a beneficial opportunity to make sure Jabere has appropriate vocabulary instruction. Reciprocal
Teaching can also be used for vocabulary instruction as well.
To enhance Jaberes word knowledge and spelling, word study will be built into tutoring
lessons. Focus will begin to be placed on the Late Within Word Pattern stage, inflected endings
more specifically. Different games and sorts will be used and pulled from Words Their Way. At
the end of each week Jabere will be quizzed on the words covered before moving onto the next
stage or set of words.

Carrie Kramer

Reassessments
Words Their Way Spelling Assessment
Jabere was reassessed on the Words Their Way Spelling Assesment in order to track any
improvement he may have had throughout the tutoring experience. The reassessment was
actually given 2 separate times. On the first reassessment, Jabere received 51 of 62 feature points
and spelled 16 of the 25 word correctly. The examiner chose to reassess a second time due to the
fact that during the very first assessment, Jabere received 52 of 62 feature points and spelled 18
of the 25 words correctly. The possibility of Jabere not putting forth his best work was weighed.
Upon administering the second reassessment, Jabere received 54/62 feature points and spelled 17
of the 25 words correctly.
Although the amount of words spelled correctly was fewer than the original assessment,
Jabere received 2 more feature points which shows a small improvement. Some interesting
things to note; in the original assessment Jabere spelled float and favor correctly however in both
subsequent reassessments he did not. He also spelled pleasure correctly in the original
assessment however in the 2 subsequent reassessments he did not. Some improvements to be
noted was the correct spelling of marched in the 2 reassessments vs. the incorrect spelling in the
original assessment. During the original assessment Jabere had left off the ed ending of
marched. This is one of the word groupings that had been worked on regularly during tutoring
sessions. Another improvement was the correct spelling of bottle in the 2 reassessments vs. the
incorrect spelling in the original assessment. In the original assessment Jabere had spelled bottle
as bottel. Words ending in el and le were also during tutoring sessions. The reason for the
incorrect spelling of previously correctly spelled words is not apparent, it could be that Jabere is

Carrie Kramer

using but confusing different features however, a relation between the misspelled words is not
apparent.
QRI Assesment
The examiner chose to reassess Jabere on the QRI passage assessment due to the fact that
comprehension was one item Jabere needed help with. Comprehension has been a large focus of
each tutoring lesson. During the reassessment, the examiner administered the same level of
passage that Jabere had scored at an instructional level on (Level 3). During the reassessment,
Jabere still scored at an instructional level of 3. However, it should be noted that in the original
assessment of the level 3 passage The Trip to the Zoo, Jabere read at 156 words per minute
with a total acceptability of 99.6% and a total accuracy of 98.7%. He had a total of 4 miscues
while reading, 1 of those was considered a meaning change miscue. Jabere was able to recall 23
of 55 total ideas from the passage or 41.8%. Also to be noted, on the comprehension questions
for The Trip to the Zoo, Jabere answered 6 of the 8 questions correctly, 4 explicit and 2
implicit. During the reassessment the passage A Special Birthday for Rosa was administered.
Jabere read the passage at 157 words per minute with a total acceptability of 100% and a total
accuracy of 99.5%. While reading Jabere had 2 miscues, none of which were denoted as meaning
change. Jabere recalled 33 of the 74 ideas (44.5%) during the retelling. He answered 7 of the 8
comprehension questions correctly, 3 explicit and 4 implicit.
When comparing the data, although both assessments placed him at an instructional level
at level 3, small improvements can be seen. Jabere recalled a larger percentage of ideas, had
fewer miscues and answered more comprehension questions correctly.

Carrie Kramer

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Accomplishments
Fluency and Reading Skill
Due to the fact that there were improvements seen in Jaberes comprehension of text, it
can be concluded that his overall fluency and reading skill has improved. Jabere has always read
text very smoothly from the beginning, in the QRI assessments he had very few miscues and
scored independently on the reading section of each passage. At the level 4 passage on Johnny
Appleseed, Jabere scored a 98% total accuracy but was placed at a frustration level due to the
comprehension component of the passage assessment. On each of his running records Jabere
scores independently (an average of 94% accuracy) with few miscues. Throughout each lesson
Jabere continued to read smoothly and his comprehension improved. He was asked about reading
on several occasions, and is notably more confident in his reading. He is quick to realize when he
hasnt employed the best reading strategies and will verbalize what he has done wrong. For
example in reading The Chocolate Touch, Jabere once asked if he could start over because he
was not thinking while he was reading and had no clue what he had just read about. Jabere
realized that a good reader is someone who not only reads the words correctly, but comprehends
what they are reading.
Comprehension
Over the course of each tutoring session improvements in comprehension can be seen.
Most notably was the 5 finger summary created by Jabere from Skippyjon Jones. The story was
leveled at an N, which meets his instructional reading level. When asked about different
components from the story (setting, characters, problem, solution) Jabere was able to recall each
component and then place the components into paragraph form. Improvements can also be seen

Carrie Kramer

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in the reassessment of the QRI passage assessment. Jaberes score improved on each component
of the test as seen in the above data.
Word Knowledge
Jabere did have improvements within word knowledge. Although he scored lower on the
reassessment of words their way spelling assessment, he was able to correctly spell words that he
had previously missed and fixed feature points that he had previously missed as well. All of the
feature points he gained on the reassessment were from word sorts that had been used during
tutoring sessions. Ample time was spent on each of the 3 word sorts completed and the tutor did
not move on until all knowledge and patterns of the words were gained. Jabere learned and
demonstrated knowledge of how to determine the spelling of words when inflectional endings
are added (-ed and ing). He also demonstrated knowledge of the meanings when ed and ing
are added to words. He had many questions about those endings when we first began the word
sorts on inflectional endings however by the end of the sorts he was able to correctly pick the
appropriate tenses of the words.