Read Naturally Software Edition

Monitoring Student Performance

You will need to monitor student performance to make sure students have been placed correctly and are appropriately challenged as they work through the program.

To monitor performance, you will need to check students' data for trends. To access the student data, create Read Naturally SE reports. Each report includes important information about a specific student's progress or the progress of a group of students. Use the data from the reports to check initial placement and keep students challenged.

Read Naturally SE Reports

Use the following reports to help you monitor performance. For instructions for creating the reports, refer to the Read Naturally SE v2.1 Teacher's Guide.

Report	Description
Needs At-a-Glance for Students Report	Includes a student-by-student summary of results for Read Naturally SE stories passed for a selected set of students. Use this report to quickly identify students who may not be making adequate progress in fluency and comprehension and therefore may require an adjustment in their program or additional instruction.
Student Level Details Report	Includes a summary of results for each story a student has passed at a given Read Naturally SE level. Stories are listed in order of completion, so you can compare the student's scores for earlier and recent stories to see if the student is improving over time.
Student Fluency Details Report	Shows charts and data that reflect a student's reading fluency. Monitoring trends in a student's fluency cna help you decide when it's time to adjust the student's reading level or goal.
Student Comprehension Details Report	Shows charts and data from the student's retells and quiz results to help you evaluate the student's comprehension of the stories. Quiz results are reported by question type and story.
Story Details Report	Provides a student's detailed results for a specific Read Naturally SE story.

Checking Initial Placement

Once a student has finished two or three stories, check the student's data to see if he or she is placed correctly. Refer to the student's reports to find the necessary data.

To check placement, ask yourself:

Is the cold-timing score approximately 30 less than the goal for students below fifth grade or 40 less than the goal for students in fifth grade and above?
Can the student read at the goal rate after practicing three to ten times?
Is the hot-timing score at or just above the goal?
Does the student answer most of the questions correctly?

Students are correctly placed when most of their data fit within these suggested ranges for cold and hot timings, number of practices, and comprehension questions. Use these guidelines and your judgment to determine if placement is correct.

If a student has been incorrectly placed, explain to the student that you made a mistake when placing him or her. Then, adjust the student's level or goal as needed, and continue to monitor the student until you feel confident that the student is placed correctly.

Keeping Students Challenged

After checking placement, you will need to turn your attention to accelerating learning by keeping students challenged as they improve.

To make sure your students are continually challenged, regularly monitor their performance to determine if they need a change in level or goal. Typically, you should carefully review performance and consider changes after a student has completed 12 stories.

Determining When to Make a Change

If you see a trend in one or more of the following, it may be time to make a change.

The student's cold- and hot-timing scores improve significantly.
The number of practices to goal has decreased significantly. If a student typically reaches the goal in fewer than three practices, this is a strong indication that it is time for a change.
The student's goal is consistently exceeded on the hot timing.
The student's behavior indicates the student is no longer challenged. For example, the student may appear bored.

Determining Whether to Raise the Level or the Goal

Once you determine a change in level or goal is needed, you must decide which one to raise. When changing levels and goals, raise only one element at a time.

After a student completes all of the stories in a series/level, raise the student's level. Typically, a student works in only one series per level. But, if a student would benefit from staying in the current level and if you have another series available that would be appropriate, you can keep the student in the level by assigning him or her another series.

If you need to make a change after the student has completed only a portion of the stories in a level, consider the student's comprehension and accuracy, and use your judgment.

If the student frequently scores less than 80 percent correct on the quiz questions on the first try, keep the level the same.
If the student has high error rates during cold or hot timings because he or she lacks the oral vocabulary to read the current level of material or lacks the phonics skills to decode the words in this level, keep the level the same.
If the student has high error rates due to carelessness or a desire for speed, keep the goal the same.

If the student's comprehension is good and error rates are low, consider the gains he or she needs to make in level of material and reading rate to achieve his or her long-term fluency goal. The student's long-term fluency goal is typically reading unpracticed, grade-level material at a rate that is at least at the 50th percentile of national norms.
Hasbrouck-Tindal table of oral reading fluency norms

Once you've decided which element to raise—level or goal—follow the guidelines below to help ensure the student's continued success.

Typically, raise levels by half a year. In rare cases, you may raise levels by a whole year if a student is reading in level 3.0 or above and has made significant fluency progress, comprehends well, and can handle the extra challenge.
Raise goals by ten words at a time.
Discuss the change with the student, asking for his or her input.

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