RICA Literacy Assessment and Diagnosis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A teacher wants to assess a student's phonemic awareness skills. Which task would be MOST appropriate?
- Asking the student to read a list of decodable words
- Asking the student to segment the word 'cat' into its individual sounds (/k/-/æ/-/t/) (Correct answer)
- Asking the student to identify rhyming words in a picture book
- Asking the student to spell five words from memory
Correct answer: Asking the student to segment the word 'cat' into its individual sounds (/k/-/æ/-/t/)
Phoneme segmentation is a core phonemic awareness skill assessed orally, without print, that directly reveals a student's ability to manipulate sounds.
Question 2: Which assessment data would BEST help a teacher determine if a student's poor comprehension is primarily a decoding problem or a language comprehension problem?
- Comparing the student's oral reading fluency score with their listening comprehension score (Correct answer)
- Reviewing the student's writing portfolio
- Administering a spelling assessment
- Observing the student during independent reading time
Correct answer: Comparing the student's oral reading fluency score with their listening comprehension score
If a student comprehends text read aloud (listening comprehension) but struggles with the same text read independently, the barrier is likely decoding, not language comprehension.
Question 3: A student reads 65 words per minute with 92% accuracy in a grade 2 passage. Based on typical fluency benchmarks, this student likely:
- Exceeds grade-level expectations for reading fluency
- Falls below grade-level expectations and may need additional fluency support (Correct answer)
- Is exactly at grade level for second grade
- Should be tested for a learning disability immediately
Correct answer: Falls below grade-level expectations and may need additional fluency support
Grade 2 fluency benchmarks typically expect around 90–100+ words per minute with at least 95% accuracy; 65 wpm with 92% accuracy falls below these benchmarks.
Question 4: What is a 'cloze procedure' and what does it assess?
- A fluency measure where students read aloud while being timed
- A reading assessment where words are deleted from a text and students supply the missing words, assessing comprehension and contextual language skills (Correct answer)
- A phonics test using nonsense words to measure decoding
- A writing prompt used to assess narrative composition
Correct answer: A reading assessment where words are deleted from a text and students supply the missing words, assessing comprehension and contextual language skills
A cloze procedure removes words at regular intervals from a text; students' ability to supply appropriate words reveals their comprehension and use of context clues.
Question 5: According to RICA assessment principles, what is the difference between 'reliability' and 'validity' in reading assessments?
- Reliability means the test is easy to administer; validity means it covers all grade standards
- Reliability means the test produces consistent results; validity means it measures what it claims to measure (Correct answer)
- Reliability means the test is norm-referenced; validity means it is criterion-referenced
- Reliability and validity are interchangeable terms in assessment
Correct answer: Reliability means the test produces consistent results; validity means it measures what it claims to measure
Reliability refers to consistency of results across administrations, while validity refers to whether the assessment accurately measures the intended skill.
Question 6: A teacher uses portfolio assessment to document a student's literacy growth. What is the PRIMARY advantage of this approach?
- It provides a single standardized score for reporting
- It captures a rich, longitudinal picture of growth through collected work samples over time (Correct answer)
- It is faster to administer than standardized tests
- It eliminates the need for any other type of assessment
Correct answer: It captures a rich, longitudinal picture of growth through collected work samples over time
Portfolios document authentic literacy development over time, showing patterns and progress that a single snapshot assessment cannot capture.
RICA Literacy Assessment and Diagnosis 2
A teacher wants to assess a student's phonemic awareness skills.
Which task would be MOST appropriate?