FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
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Dr. Eric J. Smith
Commissioner of Education
T. WILLARD FAIR,
Chairman
Members
PETER BOULWARE
DR. AKSHAY DESAI
ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ
JOHN R. PADGET
Contact Information
KATHLEEN SHANAHAN
Shan Goff
LINDA K. TAYLOR
(805) 245-0445
September 10, 2009
Shan.goff@fldoe.org
DPS: 2009-180
MEMORANDUM #09-21
TO:
Interested
Persons
Early Learning Coalition Chairs
Early Learning Coalition Executive Directors
FROM:
Shan Goff, Executive Director
SUBJECT
:
2009-10 Kindergarten Screening Instruments: Clarification
Given the recent media coverage on the new portion of Florida’s 2009-10 Florida Kindergarten
Readiness Screener (FLKRS), we would like to provide the attached
Questions and Answers
to
clarify information related to the development and use of these new assessments in calculating
the 2008-09 Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate
calculation.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me or the Office of Early Learning at
(850) 245-0445 or via email at: shan.goff@fldoe.org.
c:
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Brittany Birken, Deputy Director, Agency for Workforce Innovation
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District Coordinators of Assessment
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District
Prekindergarten
Contacts
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Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Facilitators
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Attachment
SHAN GOFF
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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OFFICE OF EARLY LEARNING
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325 W. GAINES STREET • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0445 • www.fldoe.org
Florida Department of Education
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Office of Early Learning
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Questions and Answers on the New Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading Used for
the 2009-10 Kindergarten Screening
2009-10 New Kindergarten Screening Measures
1.
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What are the new portions of the kindergarten screening for 2009-10 and when are they
administered?
The
Broad Screen
and the
Broad Diagnostic In
ventory
of the new
Florida Assessments for
Instruction in Reading
are replacing the
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
(DIBELS) Letter Naming
and
Initial Sound
measures. The required kindergarten screening
instruments are administered within the first 30 days of school.
2.
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Are the skills measured by the Broad Screen and Broad Diagnostic Inventory consistent with
the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Standards?
Yes. All of the measures in the
Broad Screen
and the
Broad Diagnostic Inventory
are
consistent with the VPK Standards; expectations of what children should know and be able
to do by the end of their VPK experience.
Development of the New Assessments
3.
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How were these new reading assessments developed?
The
Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading
were developed by the Florida Center
for Reading Research (FCRR) in collaboration with the Department of Education. These
assessments are administered individually three times a year. The purpose of these
assessments is to:
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evaluate progress towards the end-of-year benchmarks
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diagnose learning needs and set instructional goals
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monitor instructional progress.
The
Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading
represent the next generation of
assessments in Florida by providing teachers with data on each child’s mastery of specific
skills essential to future reading success.
4.
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Are these assessments reflective of the current research in early reading?
Yes. There is consensus in the research that the predictors of success in learning to read in
the primary grades (kindergarten – second grade) are knowledge of letter names and
sounds, phonological awareness, word reading, and comprehension of oral and written
language. The assessments for kindergarten through second grade reflect the consensus of
research on how children learn to read, how to predict risk for reading difficulties, and the
recommendations from
Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy
Panel
.
For example, with respect to predicting literacy success, blending syllables is predictive for
preschool, onset-rime blending for early kindergarten, and phonemic blending is more
predictive for the second half of kindergarten and early first grade (Anthony & Lonigan;
Schatschneider et al., 1999). More technical information related to the development of
these assessments is available from the Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State
University at: http://www.fcrr.org/fair/index.htm.
5.
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What types of assessments are included for kindergarten through second grade?
For kindergarten through second grade, the following four types of assessments are
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included:
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Broad
Screen
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Broad Diagnostic Inventory
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Targeted Diagnostic Inventory
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Ongoing Progress Monitoring.
The Broad Screen and the Broad Diagnostic Inventory
6.
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What does the Broad Screen measure?
The
Broad Screen
measures Letter Naming and Phonemic Awareness. Letter Naming
consists of recognizing letters of the alphabet. The majority of items for the Phonemic
Awareness portion of the kindergarten screening are onset-rime activities. For example, the
teacher would say, “Tell me what word I am making: /c/ + “at.” The child would respond,
“cat.”
7.
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What is done with the student’s scores on the Broad Screen?
The two scores from the
Broad Screen
are used to compute the student’s
Probability of
Reading Success
(PRS). The PRS indicates the likelihood that the child will perform on
grade-level (40
th
percentile or better on a standardized, norm-referenced test) at the end-of
the year. These data are also predictive of future reading success as measured by the
Standard Achievement Test.
8.
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What does the Broad Diagnostic Inventory measure?
The
Broad Diagnostic Inventory
consists of Listening Comprehension and Vocabulary. In
Listening Comprehension, children are asked questions about a passage the teacher reads
aloud. Words for the Vocabulary section were selected to tap into the academic language of
school, which predicts understanding of the written language.
2008-09 VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate
9.
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What measures are proposed to be included in the 2008-09 VPK Provider Kindergarten
Readiness rate?
It is proposed that the Probability of Reading Success be used along with the results of the
Early Childhood Observation System (ECHOS)
,
to calculate the 2008-09 VPK Provider
Kindergarten Readiness rate. Eight workshops to obtain public input on the calculation of
this readiness rate have been scheduled in September. Information on these rule
development workshops is available at: http://www.fldoe.org/earlylearning/ .
10. Where can additional information on these assessments be found?
Additional information may be viewed at:
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Office of Early Learning, Florida Department of Education -
http://www.fldoe.org/earlyLearning/FLKRS2009.asp
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Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University -
http://www.fcrr.org/fair/index.htm
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Just Read, Florida! Florida Department of Education -
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http://www.justreadflorida.com/instrreading.asp
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