This year, during the month of May, every Vermont second grader will have an individual reading assessment conference with his or her classroom teacher. This assessment is part of Vermont's statewide, comprehensive assessment system, and provides

one way for us to look at the progress students are making toward standards.

To make sure the assessment is the same in all schools, teachers have had to calibrate to see if their scoring of student’s reading accuracy and comprehension matches that of other’s administering the assessments. This assessment is not very different from the frequent monitoring that is done by teachers throughout the school year.

The classroom teacher introduces appropriate-level books to the child. Then the child silently reads the book(s) and retells the story to the teacher. The child also reads part or the entire book aloud to the teacher. Meanwhile, the teacher takes careful notes about how

well the child understands the story and how well he or she reads aloud.

You have already been helping when you read to your

child every day and when s/he is reading to you, by talking about the story together.

The results of this assessment will be shared with you before the end of the school. As always, please feel free to contact your child’s teacher with any questions about the DRA or reading, in general.

Sincerely,

Roberta Barone

Principal