Reading Comprehension

Parents Forum
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<p>My middle school daughter had gotten her scores from the state wide testing. She had a 25% drop in her Reading score compared to last year. Her math score was perfect. Her English grades in school tests were all A+, not giving me any indication that she wasn't doing well in English. I have no clue how I can help her bring back to her previous level. The unfortunate thing is the year end state wide test score is used for placement in high school.
Please help me with any suggestions, recommended books for practice etc.</p>

<p>hypermom</p>

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<p>Talk to the school- her guidance counselor and teacher if possible. Find out where she had the trouble, what they think will help her "get up to speed" for the appropriate class she is capable of handling. Without knowing any specifics it is very hard to suggest materials. Of course, the more you read the better you become at it, so definitely have her reading a lot this summer and discuss what she got out of some of the books with you. Does your D have any idea of what happened on the test, where she had trouble? Her input and attitude are key.</p>

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<p>When is she going to enter H.S.? Sounds as if this is an unlucky fluke, and the placement won't be affected by one "odd" score out of strong indicators that she should be placed in more challenging courses & sections. Just call the guidance department to make sure.</p>

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Her English grades in school tests were all A+, not giving me any indication that she wasn't doing well in English.

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Talk to the school- her guidance counselor and teacher if possible.

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<p>Best of luck with getting a straight answer from her guidance counselor and teacher. This is a wake up call that is all too common; you just found out that grades in school are not always confirmed by standardized tests. Expect the school to give you a bunch of reasons and explanations ranging from bad testing designs to superiority of school curriculum. Of course, they'll never admit that the issue is due to poor teaching or a poorly designed curriculum.</p>

<p>An easy test: ask them to see an anonymous distribution of the students in the class and the correlation to the state test. Talk to your friends who have children in the same class and ask how they did on the test. Chances are that MANY students fared similarly. But speaking about chances, do not expect the school to honor your request without a fight. </p>

<p>My recommendation: if this issue is important to you, find a specialist who has zero affiliation with your school. Yes, ZERO affiliation, especially in the form of past or current teachers or admins.</p>

<p>PS Reading comprehension is one of the most difficult areas to teach and ... improve. The fact that "normal" schools and teachers fail students in this area is not an indictment of their dedication or competence. Reading comprehension is such an individual skill that a one-size fits all simply does not work. The causes of poor results are wide ranging, including physical limitations.</p>

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<p>It's possible that your daughter made an error in "bubbling in" the answers - wrong column, wrong section, etc.</p>

<p>Is it possible to look at her answers and the actual test?</p>

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<p>Thanks. Regarding her input, on the day of the test, she said it was easy.
Her weakness seemed to be in analysis of the passage. She is entering high school the following year. However, the placement is based on 7th grade year end scores, since the placement is done before the 8th grade year end statewide assessment scores are out.
My worry is that I would trust the scores given by the state assessment than the teacher's grading in school. So, I have to make sure she improves. Looking for means to that end.
- hypermom</p>

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<p>DeniseC,
No, looking at her answers is not an option, since the state reuses the same question papers year after year, they donot let the questions out.</p>

<p>Xiggi,
So, how does one improve reading comprehension?</p>

<p>-hypermom</p>

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<p>Frankly the best way IMO is to read. Every day.</p>

<p>That said, my younger son went down one year 25%, it didn't mean anything. The next year he was back where he'd always been in the '90s. He was in 3rd grade reading Redwall and The Lord of the Rings so I was pretty sure he could read okay. My theory at the time was that testing conditions were less than ideal that year as there were some pretty disruptive kids in that class.</p>

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<p>Rant, before I try to help your D with reading comprehension: Well, this is just another example of how stupidly these tests are used. She'll be placed based on her 7th grade scores, which represent her capability approximately in early Spring of 7th grade, 16 months before she begins high school. Obviously there's no point to anything she might learn or improve in the next 16 months.</p>

<p>You sound very sure that these tests will be used for your child's h.s. placement, so I'm sure you know. I'm sad about that. In New York State, the use of statewide English Language Achievement tests given in 4th and 8th grades is pointedly to hold schools accountable and may not be used for any grade placement of individual students, or to evaluate teachers. There are other systems in place, much closer to student experience and classroom curriculum, for those individual evaluations to place people.</p>

<p>For reading comprehension, it's usually a matter of learning to find the nuance or shaded meanings. Kids have lots of trouble distinguishing denotation (what it says) from connotation (what implied meaning the words hold for you).
For example, a cigarette package "denotes" with words that cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health. But to a teen, the connotation is "Cigarette smoking is cool because somebody is warning me against it!"
Within a paragraph passage on a test, she'd need to look for the little hints and clues clues that set up what is the connotation. Often the questions below ask, "From the viewpoint of X (the author, or the character in the passage, whoever...)" and the kid has to bubble according to someone else's viewpoint, not her own. That's hard, developmentally/emotionally, for many Middle School kids. It doesn't mean they didn't understand the passage or all the vocabulary words in it! </p>

<p>Speaking of vocabulary, you should also check how good she is at figuring out very big, unknown words by context when they're sandwiched into a paragraph of text. Ideally, it'd be great to improve her vocabulary, which robs points on those Comprehension questions. There are training materials for just vocabulary, online and in bookstores.</p>

<p>But even if she hits a 25-pound tricky vocab word on a test reading passage, she should become skilled at reading the sentence around it and just make a reasonable guess of what it could mean. Or it has "something to do with..." Or it's clearly a negative, or positive thought.... But she should learn not to run and hide from an unknown word encountered in a paragraph full of text.
I hope that helps begin your journey to help improve the Reading Comprehension scores. Perhaps there are study guides in the "test preparation" section of your bookstore.</p>

<p>Best wishes.</p>

<p>PS, If it were me, I'd also spend the coming year with a focus on English class. I'd pull out all the stops, including meeting with the Middle School principal and beg for the best English teacher on this particular area of learning. </p>

<p>Also see if there's a young adult Book Club in your community, or even an adult one with light novels, that the two of you can attend together! Reading the same book with her, and hearing others discuss it each month, is a great mother-daughter thing to do. If there's a book you don't approve of for her, just don't go that month. She'll hear how other people interpret the same characters, too.</p>

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<p>I just want to second the rant of paying3tuitions -- those school-wide tests are designed to get a statistical overview of how all the kids are doing, and are not really valid for individual evaluations of progress or ability. That is because the tests are structured in such a way that one or two wrong answers can make a huge difference in overall score -- I noticed that years ago when looking at percentile rankings vs. number of questions answered correctly per section. The theory is basically that one kid might miss one question for a variety of reasons, but if a lot of kids miss a lot of questions, that's an indication that they aren't being taught very well. (Think about it in the context of math: your kid might miss the answer to an algebra question due to simple error-- but if many kids miss the question, then that's probably because they can't do algebra).</p>

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<p>Paying3tuitions,</p>

<p>Thanks for your response. I did beg the principal for a better English teacher than the one we have currently. The answer I got is "I am looking at the big picture, just shuffling teachers around doesn't solve the problem". Unfortunately, I am not too good in english myself to help D out at home. </p>

<p>-hypermom</p>

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<p>^^No problem about your English skill level. You can still go to the bookstore together, have her pick out some PSAT test preparation books, see the chapters on "Critical Reading." Even if you can't teach her, you might sit with her to make a calendar of how SHE will self-study, and she can check off when she's done a certain group of pages, so you'll stay involved.</p>

<p>Those preparation books give students all the answers, but more important, the books discuss in detail what all the wrong choices were! By reading both right and wrong choices for every question, the student can become her own tutor. It's all there in the practice books.</p>

<p>By saying, "not good in English" do you mean it's a foreign language for you, or you're just unsure on your own language skill? If English is your second language, can your D read or understand your native language? If so, it's still helpful to her critical thinking if you read and discuss newspaper articles in your native language, providing she can understand any of it. The skills will cross over into English. </p>

<p>If you're not confident in your own English, you can still support her by getting her good materials to study by herself, praise her, give her cookies for each section finished, etc. I'm horrible at Math, so that's what I do there. I'm useless for the subject matter, but I can encourage. </p>

<p>Is there a tutor for your D? Do you think the h.s. principal or guidance office might recommend a junior, senior or recent graduate who got very high SAT scores in English ("Critical Reading" and "Writing" are the two sections of the Verbal SAT's.) to meet and tutor your kid through these preparation books?<br>
Should be at the very least, a score from the tutor of 650+ but I'd rather see 700+ to tutor English, student-to-student. </p>

<p>There are also many ENglish teachers who do summertime tutoring for extra money. If you live in a town that has Craigslist.com, look under "Services Provided" then "Lessons" for advertisements from independent tutors. Or even place your own advertisement on Craigslist.</p>

<p>Good luck. If none of this works, she still might simply improve, all by herself through her 8th grade English studies. I'm just full of suggestions today. Trust your own instincts. I don't mean to be pushy here.</p>

<p>P.S. Until you mentioned your English, I had no idea you had any English difficulties at all!! So that's pretty good writing! Maybe you are too modest ;)</p>

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<p>Thank you so much for all the time you spent on giving me valuable suggestions. I shall try to follow some of them. When I read the comprehension passages, I myself get stumbled on what the right choice would be (confused between the two close answers). I think, looking at the analysis of the answers in the practice test books might help. </p>

<p>-hypermom</p>

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<p>Hypermom, without knowledge of your state's mandated testing, it's going to be difficult for any of us to advise you. State guidelines for the No Child Left Behind federal mandates vary greatly.</p>

<p>In general, you should begin at your child's school to find out exactly where she tested and what exactly that means for future placement. You said she dropped 25% from her previous reading score. What does that mean exactly as to whether or not she is considered proficient in reading by your state's standards? For example, in the state I'm most familiar with, a child who scores 5/5 in reading one year then drops to 3/5 (a 40% drop) is still proficient. If your daughter is not considered proficient, what programs are in place in your school district to raise students' reading proficiency levels? Is she in a targeted population for NCLB purposes, possibly limited English proficiency? If so, you can make sure she is receiving the benefit of classroom practices aimed at assisting ESL/ESOL students. </p>

<p>Does your child's school have a reading or literacy coach? If so, guidance or any administrator can refer you to that person, who should be able to interpret the reading comprehension score for you and assist with suggestions for placement or remediation if needed. There are plenty of materials and programs available for improving either reading comprehension in general or individual student performance on specific state assessments. The reading experts in your district should be able to guide you and your child in the right direction.</p>

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<p>She is in the Proficient level. She was always at Advanced Proficient level all these years. Her biggest weakness seems to be Analyzing passages.
-hypermom</p>

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<p>hypermom:</p>

<p>Some years ago, my son helped another student who had trouble with biology. The student brought in a text he was supposed to study from. The text was short. After going through the passage together, my son realized that, the student did not have trouble with biology as such but with analyzing what he was reading. While the student understood every word, he was not able to make out what the gist of the passage was, what was important and should be memorized and what was not. He could not figure out what point the passage was trying to make, and without that understanding, he could not learn biology properly. My point is that sometimes student understand every sentence and every word without being able to make the connections between one sentence and the next and understand the big picture in a paragraph. That may be the problem with your daughter if her weakness is analyzing passages, as you report. If that is the case, your daughter should work for a while with a tutor to learn reading strategies. The school may have one, or you may look for a high school or college student to help your child. Writing reports that summarize parts of a book is a good exercise.</p>