STR Literacy Assessment and Intervention 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which assessment metric indicates how a student's performance compares to a predetermined level of expected skill?
- Norm-referenced score
- Criterion-referenced score (Correct answer)
- Age-equivalent score
- Standard deviation
Correct answer: Criterion-referenced score
Criterion-referenced scores compare a student's performance to a fixed standard of expected skill, not to other students.
Question 2: A student is in Tier 2 intervention. Progress monitoring shows no growth after 8 weeks. The BEST next step is to:
- Continue the same intervention for 8 more weeks
- Refer immediately for special education evaluation without changes
- Intensify intervention and consider diagnostic evaluation (Correct answer)
- Move student back to Tier 1 only
Correct answer: Intensify intervention and consider diagnostic evaluation
Lack of response after 8 weeks indicates a need to intensify or change the intervention and potentially pursue diagnostic evaluation.
Question 3: Which informal assessment allows teachers to observe a student's reading behaviors, errors, and self-corrections in real time?
- Standardized reading test
- Running record (Correct answer)
- Maze probe
- End-of-unit test
Correct answer: Running record
Running records capture a student's oral reading behaviors — including errors, substitutions, and self-corrections — during live reading.
Question 4: In the context of assessment, what does 'benchmarking' refer to?
- Testing only the lowest-performing students
- Measuring all students against grade-level expectations at set points in the year (Correct answer)
- Identifying gifted students
- Assessing only phonological awareness
Correct answer: Measuring all students against grade-level expectations at set points in the year
Benchmarking involves assessing all students against established grade-level expectations, typically three times per year (fall, winter, spring).
Question 5: Which of the following is a hallmark of a structured literacy intervention program?
- Implicit phonics instruction embedded in reading
- Explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction with multisensory techniques (Correct answer)
- Whole-language emphasis on meaning
- Student-led learning without scope and sequence
Correct answer: Explicit, systematic, and cumulative instruction with multisensory techniques
Structured literacy interventions are explicit, systematic, and cumulative, often incorporating multisensory techniques (Orton-Gillingham approach).
Question 6: Dynamic assessment differs from static assessment in that it:
- Uses only standardized norms
- Includes mediated learning to assess a student's response to instruction (Correct answer)
- Measures only fluency rates
- Is given only once a year
Correct answer: Includes mediated learning to assess a student's response to instruction
Dynamic assessment includes a test-teach-retest cycle to see how a student responds to targeted instruction, revealing learning potential.
STR Literacy Assessment and Intervention 2
Which assessment metric indicates how a student's performance compares to a predetermined level of expected skill?