Is it “normal” for a 2nd grader to spell words with many missing letters?
It depends on what type of letters is missing. By second grade, children should have good control of the sounds they hear in words and how they are represented by a letter or letter patterns. If the child's spelling attempts of words are "phonetically" correctly (i.e., all the letters appropriately match a specific sound) the child may still be learning the conventions of irregular words or words that she doesn't encounter often. These conventions are still working its way to her long-term memory. It's natural for second graders to still be learning these conventions. However, if the child is missing letters to many sounds that are in words, she may need intervention in accelerating her attention to the discrete sounds in words (or phonemes).
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
My son is in 3rd grade and does not like reading. Does that mean he is not a very good reader?
Not necessarily. If he is doing fine with reading and spelling in school, he may be fine. However, he may not like reading because it is hard for him. Most anyone likes doing things that come easily. Third grade is a particularly critical time where reading is concerned. Third grade is the first time a student is required to read independently. A lot of readers realize reading problems for the very first time in midyear of third grade. Monitor his progress closely to make sure that he continues to make appropriate progress. Identifying a reading issue early is one of the most important things your can do for your child's reading abilities. A child who is one year behind this year will likely by two years behind next year and so on.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Can both adults and children be assessed for spelling and reading problems?
My daughter is in seventh grade and reading and spelling have always been hard for her. Reading and spelling were always hard for me too and I still don't like reading very much. Should she be assessed or can we both be assessed?
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Having trouble viewing detailed Acrobat reports?
In order to view detailed reports, our system requires that you have free Acrobat Reader 4.05 (or later) as well as the Acrobat Reader PDF browser plug-in properly installed. For Microsoft XP operating system users, you must have Acrobat 5.05 or later. Check our Technical FAQs for more information. If you still cannot view your reports, e-mail us and we will e-mail you a version of the report as a stand alone PDF file which you will be able to open with Acrobat 3.0 or later.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
What does it mean if my student misspells a word several different ways?
My daughter is in fourth grade. She is not a very good speller. The weird thing is, she seems to spell the words wrong differently every time. She spelled "straight" several different ways in the same paragraph. Why does she do that?
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
How do I get assessment results?
When the user is done with the test, go to http://www.letsgolearn.com and login with your user name and password. Click on then . Under the column "Detailed Reports", select the type of report you would like to view, click on it, and then click on "Display Report." You will be able to view and print it out as a PDF document. You can login to print a report as many times as you wish.
2 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
What is the nature of DORA’s Silent Reading sub-test?
DORA's Silent Reading sub-test is composed of leveled passages with six comprehension questions each. Students are invited to read the passages carefully, taking as much time as they need to thoroughly understand what they read. Afterwards they answer multiple choice questions about what they have read.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Why do you use non-fiction passages?
Using non-fiction passages with topics taught in most classrooms across the nation provides less variability in assessment results. The language involved in generating non-fiction passages is easier to standardize, as it does not contain conversational colloquialisms that are often regionalized in the U.S. Also, non-fiction passages offer a range of topics common to many classrooms,
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Is a false high score likely on DORA’s Silent Reading sub-test?
While it is possible for a child to produce a score on DORA which is much higher or lower than his or her comprehension ability, it is very unlikely when the assessment is administered properly. A false high score is particularly unlikely, because DORA is a very rigorous comprehension assessment which demands that children recall facts and make inferences about the text.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Why do the Silent Reading sub-test scores on DORA seem low for my students?
Many factors affect a student's ability to successfully comprehend a text. Some students struggle with decoding the text they encounter or with the language structures (i.e., phrases and idioms) used. Other students may possess limited background knowledge about the topic of the text or they may not be interested in what they're reading. While Let's Go Learn's comprehension test presents students with non-fiction topics that they are likely to have encountered in school, some groups of students may have less familiarity with the subject matter in DORA than in other comprehension assessments.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Why aren’t students allowed to re-read the passages when answering questions?
Allowing students to re-read passages introduces a new variable to the assessment that is difficult to control for. That is, some students choose to re-read the passage over again while other students choose not to re-read the passage. Allowing students to re-read a passage thus increases the variability of the comprehension sub-test score.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007
How do the Homeschool and School versions of DORA differ?
The test are the same, whether given at home or at school. The differences are found in the account managemnet set-up and reporting format.
0 Comments Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007