For students who have received instruction in Small-Group Foundational Skills Sets 1–5:
Do not re-administer the placement assessment to students who are continuing with Being a Reader Small-Group Foundational Skills instruction; the data from the previous year are enough to place them in the program.
To correctly place the students who did not complete Sets 1–5 the previous year, do the following:
- Look up the last-passed Mastery Test from the previous school year to determine the Set and Week in which to begin instruction.
- Use the data collected in the Progress Tracking form (if available) to identify sounds and high-frequency words that the students have not yet mastered. Review those sounds and high-frequency words prior to starting instruction.
- Then identify the phonics, high-frequency words, and books associated with the previous weeks of instruction for that given set.
- For the first week of instruction, review the identified phonics and high-frequency words taught in the previous weeks and provide opportunities for the students to reread the associated books. This review will give the students time to remember the routines and prepare them for new content.
- After you begin instruction, you may notice that some students are struggling after the first Mastery Test. These students may not have had sufficient instruction or reading practice during the previous year. If you suspect this may be the case, then you may wish to administer the last-passed Mastery Test(s) to confirm whether the students have mastered previously taught material. You may also want to listen to students read the accompanying texts to verify placement as students who have mastered the content will make few errors.
For students who are new to Small-Group Foundational Skills Sets 1–5:
The placement assessment is designed to quickly and efficiently assess what your students know and to place them accurately in Small-Group Foundational Skills Sets 1–5. (Note that this assessment is not designed to be used as a pre- and post-test.) To administer the assessment, do the following:
- Read the placement assessment directions.
- Administer the placement assessment to individual students. We recommend you jot down notes, including specific errors. This information may be helpful as you group students for instruction.
- Group students for instruction based on the placement assessment data.