RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

ASSIGNMENT E
CASE STUDY

Record your written response to the case study in the Case Study Response Booklet. Your response is
limited to the lined space available in the four-page Case Study Response Booklet. You are to prepare a written
response of approximately 300–600 words to Assignment E.

This case study focuses on a student named Isabel, who is eight years old. Her primary language is
English. The documents on the following pages describe Isabel's reading performance at the beginning
of third grade. Using these materials, write a response in which you apply your knowledge of reading
assessment and instruction to analyze this case study. Your response should include three parts:

1. identify three of Isabel's important reading strengths and/or needs at this point in the school year,
citing evidence from the documents to support your observations;

2. describe two specific instructional strategies and/or activities designed to foster Isabel's literacy
development for the remainder of the school year by addressing the needs and/or building on the
strengths you identified; and

3. explain how each strategy/activity you describe would promote Isabel's reading proficiency.

45 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
 RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

READING SURVEY

Printed below are Isabel's responses to a survey of reading habits prepared by her teacher.

Name: Isabel

My Reading

1. Do you enjoy reading?

no, almost never sometimes yes, most of the time

2. Do you read for fun outside school?

no, almost never sometimes, but not much yes, a lot

3. Do you think you are a good reader?

no sort of yes

4. Write the title of a book you like.

The Elmwood Kids and the Secret Club

5. What do you do when you want to find a good book to read?

I see if I can find a book about the Elmwood Kids.
Sometimes I ask my friends.

46 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
 RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

INFORMAL READING ASSESSMENT

Printed below is an excerpt used for an informal assessment of Isabel's reading performance. For this
assessment, Isabel read aloud the beginning of a selection from a third-grade reader. As Isabel read, the
teacher made the following notes about her performance.

It had been a long day on the trail, and Sarah was tired. The covered wagons

stood in a circle, lit by the glow of cooking fires. As Sarah climbed into her family's

wagon to lie down beside her little sister, she looked up at the darkening sky. Soon

the sky above the prairie would be filled with more stars than she could count. Back

in New York State, the sky had never seemed so big.

"Sarah!" Lizzy was still awake. "I can't sleep. Tell me a story."

Sarah lay down and pulled the quilt up to her chin. She thought for a minute, then

began. "Grandma made this quilt to keep us warm in our new home in Oregon," she

said. "In one square, she made a patch in the shape of a maple leaf. We used to have

picnics under a maple tree in her yard." Suddenly her eyes filled with tears. When

would she see that maple tree again?

Key:
deletion short pause repetition self-correction
insertion long pause cat substitution
cow

After Isabel's oral reading, she reread the passage silently, and then the teacher asked her some questions.
Printed below is a transcript of part of their conversation.

Teacher: Where is Sarah's family from, and where are they going?
Isabel: I think they are from New York State, and they're going to Oregon.
Teacher: What can you tell me about Sarah?
Isabel: Um . . . she's a girl. She has a little sister.
Teacher: Why do Sarah's eyes fill with tears?
Isabel: Because she's tired. My mom says she can tell when my brother's really tired because he
starts to cry at the littlest thing.

47 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
 RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

TEACHER NOTES

Printed below is an excerpt from the teacher's notes documenting informal observations related to Isabel's
reading activities.

9/28 During independent reading Isabel fidgeted, played with her hair,
yawned, looked around the room. Didn't distract others, but certainly
wasn't engaged in her own reading.

10/15 Assessed students' oral reading fluency using another passage

from the social studies textbook. Isabel's accuracy was 97% and rate was
70 wcpm * (less than 10 words below the fall 50th percentile benchmark
of 71 wcpm). She didn't make many errors, but she slowed down to
decode several high-frequency irregular words and a number of low-
frequency multisyllabic words.

10/23 Conference today with Isabel's parents; asked them about her
reading at home. They were a bit vague and apologetic: talked about
being so busy that they often don't ask whether she's done the 20 minutes
of daily at-home reading that all the children are supposed to do. Her
father pointed out that he always checks to see if she's done her written
homework, which he described as "the really important thing."

10/30 Most students chose their new independent reading books for the
Rain Forest unit. Isabel is still only 3/4 of the way through her book for
the Pioneer Life unit. Need to check in with her and help her work out a
plan for finishing the book by the end of the week.

*NOTE: wcpm = words correct per minute

48 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
 RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

WRITTEN RESPONSE TO A TEXT

Students in Isabel's class keep logs in which they write about the books they select for independent
reading. For each entry the teacher provides a general question or short assignment to focus students'
responses. Printed below is an excerpt from Isabel's reading log. The assignment was as follows: "Write
a short summary of the book you read. Identify the main character and tell three things about him or her."

My book was The Elmwood Kids and the best Yard Sale Ever. I have
read 6 other books about the Elmwood Kids. They are also on a T.V. show.
This story was on T.V. once. In this story there is a family that has a fire
at their house when they are away, and all their stuff burns up. So the
Elmwood Kids have this huge yard sale. They make lots of money for the
family. There are 6 main characters in the Elmwood Kids. They are also on
the show. They are Sally, Mei-Ling, Pedro, Jamal, Tim, and Vimla. I like Vimla
best. She is quiet, but she always has the best ideas. She has shiny black hair
and dark eyes.

Printed below is an excerpt from a dialogue between Isabel and her teacher about this reading log entry.

Teacher: How did you happen to choose this book?

Isabel: Well, I just like the Elmwood Kids. I always watch them on TV, every week. I also
have almost all of the collector figures of them. The only one I still have to get is
Jamal—oh, and Pedro's mom.
Teacher: If a friend asked you why you liked this book, what would you say?
Isabel: Well, it's really good because it's just like the TV show.
Teacher: Is there anything in the book that wasn't in the TV show?
Isabel: Oh . . . maybe some little parts, like when they get the rocking horse for the sale. But
mostly it's like the show, and the kids are just the same. Like I said, Vimla always has
good ideas. And Tim always is good with animals. It's nice because I always know what
the kids are going to be like, even if I don't know everything that's going to happen in the
story.

49 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004
 RICA® Written Examination Practice Test

INFORMAL SKILL ASSESSMENT

Printed below are Isabel's responses to a worksheet designed to measure students' understanding of
multiple-meaning words.

Name Isabel

Directions: Read each word. On the lines below, write sentences that show different
meanings of the word.
Example: kind
1. The boy was very kind to his sick neighbor.
2. What kind of game did you watch last night?

park
1. I went to the park.
2. My mom had to park the car.

rose
1. A rose is a flower.

2.

rock
1. I found a big rock.

2.

play
1. I like to play with Kara.

2.

3.

left
1. I left my book at school.

2. The car turned left.

beat
1. My team beat the other team.

2.

3.

50 CONTINUEÎ
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Evaluation Systems, Pearson, P.O. Box 226, Amherst, MA 01004