Marla Leland / EDU 5165

Literacy Case Study: Background information revision 10-18-14

Background Information: Demographics / Family Life

Jayleen is a third grade female student. She is 8 years old and has
been attending Lu Sutton Elementary School since kindergarten. Jayleen was
born in the United States and is half Hispanic and half Caucasian. She is an
only child. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother. Her
mother speaks both Spanish and English, English is her second language.
Jayleens mother works two jobs to make ends meet. Her mother seems to
have a large support system. Jayleen is often picked up by her babysitter
where she stays until her mother can pick her up after work. Within Jayleens
family household there also a man assumable the mothers partner who is
also Hispanic and speaks bilingual in English and Spanish. Jayleen often sees
her biological father and grandparents on the weekends. Recently she was
away from school to go on a family vacation to Disneyland with her father
and grandparents.
The educational background of the parents is unknown as well as their
socio-economic situation. Though it is evident that Jayleen mother has to
work hard to make financial ends meet. As a result of the scheduling of her
family, Jayleen has been regularly missing school since the beginning of the
year. She has been absent for at least a week since the start of school

August 20th and has missed part-days due to doctor/dentist appointments.

Jayleens teacher is quite concerned about these absents because she is
missing valuable education time, especially being that summer vacation just
ended. There seems to be a lot of coordination of family and work obligations
within Jayleens family unit, which understandable affects getting Jayleen to
school.
Personality / Social Development:
Jayleen according to her teacher is a leader amongst her peers. She
has many friends and is very personable. She definitely likes to talk with her
friends inside and outside of class. She is very aware of her surroundings and

knows what is going on socially in the classroom. She seems to stay on task
during class time and be very compliant, although she seems disengaged
from group discussions. In my personal opinion from observing her, she
almost appears bored or uninterested. Not sure of the reason but it could be
one of the following she cannot contribute to the academic conversation,
needs encouragement to contribute or just does not want to contribute.
I have noticed during my interactions with her that she is pretty
conservative in her conversations. Her contributions to conversations are
generally short and concise. She answers questions, but does not expand or
elaborate. In order to get more information from her, you have to keep on
asking more detailed questions. This will be something I will have to
consider when I am working with her on reading and comprehension. I might
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have to ask continual questions to ensure I am getting the most accurate

information about her thinking.
Academic Literacy Development:
Jayleen literacy scores on map testing are one of the lowest in the
class. She scores in the 18th percentile. Her RIT score was 176 is below basic
for second and third grades. The breakdown of each RIT MAP score is as
follows: Literature = 175, Informational text = 167, Foundation skills &
vocabulary = 170. She took 48 minutes to take the test which means she
took her time and was trying during the test. Her Lexile score = 69-219L,
well below average for her grade level. All these test mean is that she
scores low on standard tests. It is just a signal that something is wrong with
her progress in the standard curriculum.
In addition Jayleens teacher gave me some student progress reports
from the successnet program. I have included it in my material in the binder.
These assessments are not particularly useful for me to interpret Jayleens
current levels, but it does appear she consistently is about at the 45-50%
level. The assessment does not indicate what the x or o mean for each
academic category. I am going to ask the teacher for more information. In
addition I also included a running record which was done for Jayleen. It
appears she received an 84 out of 86. She does a nice job on reading the
text. She seems to be able to phonically read quite well. She does have a
hard time with reading comprehension. In the notes it says that she misses
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details of the story and she could not remember the conflict in the story but
knew the problem was resolve. More assessment will be needed but it
appears from this that Jayleens reading comprehension is the area that she
struggles in. She might be concentrating on decoding words and not be able
to focus on the content or she just might not be interested in the content of
the stories or both. I will further evaluate during my assessments to get a
better idea.
Jayleen was recently referred to the morning literacy intervention
program because she continues to be falling behind in her reading and
writing. Unfortunately due to scheduling her mother declined the service.
However, Jayleen teacher convinced them to reconsider. Jayleens mother is
very busy trying to make sure she can provide for her family, so sometimes it
is difficult to get Jayleen to the morning session. Her mother while having
trouble with getting her daughter to the class is very thankful to the teachers
and volunteers who help Jayleen.
Based upon the academic history notes for Jayleen, since kindergarten
she has struggled in reading and writing. Her kindergarten teacher
commented that she is a sweet girl and is just starting to pick up
academics. She is meeting the kindergarten standards but will probably
need extra academic support as she moves along in school. The teacher
further recommended that she receive jumpstart services for first grade. I
am not sure if she received these services but it is clear early on that Jayleen

was at risk from the start of her schooling. The comments from her first and
second grade teacher reflect the same message. Both noting that that she
needs extra support in reading and writing. She has been recommended for
the at-risk reading program since first grade.
After reviewing Jayleens history, one theory for her struggles in
reading and writing might be based on her having little exposure to reading,
writing and vocabulary at an early age. She seems to be able to read the
words but has difficulty with understanding the content. Coming from a
family where English is a second language, it might have been difficult for
her parents to read to Jayleen. Her comment (see assessment section on
interest survey) that she did not have a favorite picture book lends itself to
support this idea. In addition, it seems the family has to work very hard to
survive economically, so this might not have lend them the time or resources
to expose Jayleen to reading and writing. This theory might be further
supported by looking at how she views reading and writing. From her
comments (see assessment section on interest survey) it is an exercise in
speed and neatness, not something that she sees as engaging or interesting.
In order to help Jayleen with her literacy development, it will be important to
teach her the value of reading by getting her engaged and interesting in
what she reads. If she reads with interest she will begin to build her
vocabulary and reading comprehension skills.