Early literacy is the cornerstone of a child’s educational journey. It’s the point where the magic of reading and comprehension begins. 

In the early stages, educators understand the significance of assessing a child’s reading skills. It helps them identify their strengths and areas that need improvement to become strong and confident readers.

However, what’s equally crucial is the opportunity to provide small group instruction in the classroom, driven by the results of these formative assessments.

It’s one thing to assess how a classroom is faring on the foundational reading skills– if they have been assessed, if they need explicit instruction, or if they need more practice.

It’s another thing to then have the means to provide differentiated instruction to all children in the classroom.  

This article will explore why small group instruction, along with early literacy assessments, are essential in early literacy. 

It will describe the advantages of this personalized approach to instruction and how it complements the formative assessment process, creating a more effective learning experience for budding readers.

Assessment: The Starting Point

Assessments play a vital role in early literacy education. 

Formative assessments help educators to diagnose specific foundational reading skills and monitor progress of every early learner in the classroom.

Furthermore, they enable educators to intervene early for students requiring additional help beyond core instruction, like those in tier 2 instruction, which provides targeted support to specific student groups.

Formative assessments provide valuable insights into a child’s reading abilities and challenges. 

But assessment is only part of the teaching process. 

It is also critical to use that assessment data to inform and  shape the reinforcement of instruction, increasing the intensity or specialization of instruction (may require the involvement of more than one role), further practice, and reassessment.

Some assessment solutions pride themselves in assessments alone, which is no doubt a necessary part of early literacy. 

Formative assessments are no doubt a critical tool for early literacy,  but in order to enhance student learning and optimize early literacy practices, tools need to include  functionalities that support teachers to act upon student assessment data.

Often this looks like the enablement of small group instruction.

The Power of Small Group Instruction

Once diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments are completed, small group instruction can immediately come into play. 

This personalized approach to learning involves working with a small group of students who have similar reading abilities and needs. 

Here’s why it’s so important:

Targeted Support

Small group instruction allows educators to address specific reading challenges. 

Whether it’s decoding, fluency, comprehension, or vocabulary, teachers can tailor their instruction to meet individual needs when working in smaller groups.

Differentiated Learning

The practice of differentiated instruction is a topic by itself, and one that is covered extensively by Sprig. 

Small group instruction is one of the most common ways to provide differentiated instruction to a classroom of students

All students are never at the same point in their reading fluency and comprehension, at the same time.

Small group instruction enables educators to differentiate their teaching. They can provide more support for struggling readers while offering enrichment for advanced readers. 

Individualized Feedback 

Educators are always passionate about teaching and prefer to dedicate their time to instruction rather than being overwhelmed with administrative tasks.

In smaller groups, educators can provide more personalized feedback for students. This helps children understand their learning strengths and areas for improvement, fostering a growth mindset. 

Increased Engagement

Many states and provinces across North America are implementing evidence-based reading instruction policies. There is enough proof to show that when such instruction is delivered in play-based settings, it helps early learners engage with the lessons and retain the taught concepts.

Smaller settings are less intimidating for some children, leading to increased participation and engagement. This supportive environment is conducive to building confidence.

Progress Monitoring

Educators can continuously monitor students’ progress in small groups. As students advance in their reading skills, instruction can be adjusted to align with their development.

In fact, educators can continuously monitor the progress of the whole classroom, that is, each individual student. 

However, by grouping students by knowledge and/or specific skill level, teachers can enhance progress monitoring more efficiently for that specific group of children. 

Peer Interaction

Students in small groups can benefit from collaborative learning experiences. They can interact, discuss ideas, and learn from their peers, which adds a social dimension to their education.

Small group instruction encourages peer interaction. Students can learn from each other, ask questions, and engage in discussions, which enhances their understanding and love for reading.

The Synergy of Assessment and Small Group Instruction

The marriage of assessments and small group instruction creates synergy in early literacy education. 

Using small group instruction is powerful by itself, but when combined with assessments, the two complement each other very well.

Here’s how:

Small Group Instruction Includes Flexible Grouping. 

New Assessment Data Can Inform Groupings.

Unlike fixed small groups, flexible grouping allows students to work with various peers based on their current and evolving learning strengths, needs and interests. 

Educators can create groups for specific activities or projects, based on the learning needs of the students. Grouping can be constantly updated based on incoming assessment data specific for each child.

Small Group Instruction Allows for Scaffolding. 

Assessment Data on The Foundational Skill Acquisition Trajectory Can Inform Groupings.

In this approach, students receive unique work based on their readiness and interests. 

All students cover the same essential skills or concepts but are adjusted in complexity or content.

Sometimes, students within a given time frame may exhibit varying learning paces. To prevent any child from falling behind, it’s crucial to provide explicit instruction to all groups albeit with various degrees of difficulty, rather than avoiding teaching one concept to all students at one time.  

In these situations, it’s beneficial to create distinct groups to ensure that all students stay on track with their learning.

Small Group Instruction Allows for Group Efficiency

Teachers Can Dictate Terms Using Incoming Assessment Data.

Of course, small group instruction is not the only means of differentiated instruction. 

For example, there is also the idea of a flipped classroom, or learning contracts, where students are expected to engage with the learning materials and be accountable for learning certain concepts respectively.

There is a major issue here. Which is, that in early literacy, time is of the essence! 

Teachers need to dictate terms, teach explicitly, cover all the foundational skills before a certain point. So small group instruction is one of the most efficient ways where teachers can devise a strategy to differentiate instruction for as many students as possible, while still maintaining the option of creating further smaller groups if needed.

The Wonders of Small Group Instruction

In conclusion, early literacy assessments are the first step in understanding a child’s reading abilities, but small group instruction is the bridge that helps them cross over from emergent readers to proficient readers.

It’s a blessing for struggling readers, and joyful for advanced readers.

Small group instruction is often preferred because it combines personalization, collaboration, efficiency, and adaptability to create a learning experience that can significantly benefit students.

When educators combine the power of assessments with the personalized support of small group instruction, they create a learning environment that nurtures confident, capable, and enthusiastic young readers.

In the first part of a two-part series on diagnostic assessments, Sprig Learning uncovered the essential qualities of diagnostic assessments, shedding light on their pivotal role in shaping evidence-based literacy instruction. 

Re-entering this exploration, Sprig delves deeper into the nuanced aspects that distinguish diagnostic assessments as indispensable tools in the early literacy landscape.

More Diagnostic Assessment Qualities For Evidence-based Literacy Instruction

Part 2 of this series unearths further intricacies of diagnostic assessments, focusing on five more attributes that play a vital role in informing evidence-based literacy instruction.

Together with part 1, this thorough exploration of diagnostic assessments aims to equip educators with a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted benefits these assessments have to offer. 

Each is explored below. See how they cater to the evolving needs of modern classrooms.

1. Offers Snapshot of Learning After Hiatus

Amid concerns over unmet learning milestones due to prolonged school closures from the pandemic, there was a significant opportunity to identify and address student learning gaps early in their educational journey. 

This is achievable through diagnostic assessments, providing a snapshot of current learning situations at the classroom or school level to guide necessary steps for student improvement.

Beyond the pandemic, there is also the concept of the summer slide, where students forget taught concepts from the previous school year. Here lies another opportunity to properly assess the students’ understanding using diagnostic assessments. 

Wherever there is a risk of early learning slides due to long interruptions or unforeseen circumstances, diagnostic assessments can always restore understanding to that particular situation. 

2. Allows The Setting & Monitoring of Goals

Given that literacy forms the foundation for numerous critical academic achievements, it is imperative to incorporate assessments of essential literacy skills when formulating preK-3 goals for school districts.

In the Bremerton School District, short-term objectives involved elevating the percentage of incoming kindergarteners proficient in recognizing the entire alphabet. 

Under the guidance of Superintendent Bette Hyde, there was a remarkable 62 percentage point surge over eight years in the number of kindergarteners entering with knowledge of all the letters.

While standardized testing may measure the outcome of learning, diagnostic assessments measure the progress of learning, which ultimately leads to that outcome. 

Thus by setting achievement indicators at each grade level, it is able to check if the progress monitoring measures are in fact producing the type of progress that is expected.

3. Provides Balance to Standardized Testing and Screening

In a meta-analytic review, it was revealed that only a quarter of the variance in academic skills on first and second-grade tests could be precisely predicted by preschool or kindergarten tests. 

While standardized testing and screenings have their role in the education system, more needs to be done at the early stages of learning. 

During this critical period, there’s too much at stake to inadvertently restrict a child’s potential by assessing them against a lower standard based on a standardized test conducted in a brief moment in time.

Excessive time on remediation can deprive a child of grade-level learning opportunities. While interventions are crucial for those requiring additional support, ongoing assessment on key diagnostic measures, especially foundational reading skills, is essential for overall reading proficiency. 

This approach, known as learning acceleration, ensures that students address learning deficiencies while staying on track with the curriculum, avoiding prolonged gaps in their educational progress.

4. Enhances Differentiated Instruction

Frequently, assessment and differentiated instruction are seen as a sequential process: conduct assessments first, then adapt instruction accordingly.  But did you know that diagnostic assessments itself can be itself differentiated to gauge learning of students?

Differentiated instruction comprises four key components: curricular content, teaching methods, learning environment, and assessments. These elements can be dynamically adjusted, aligning with grade-level standards while delivering personalized learning experiences for diverse student groups.

Thus changing assessments also count as an instance of differentiated instruction, and teachers have the freedom to change diagnostic assessments using their discernment, as long as certain principles are followed.

For instance, in an article highlighting the benefits of differentiated learning in early literacy, it emphasizes how teachers can allow student do-overs during assessments. There are situations where young learners comprehend a concept but, due to various reasons, may struggle to demonstrate that understanding. 

In such cases, providing additional opportunities for them to showcase their learning before making any adjustments is a strategy worth considering

Other methods of differentiating diagnostic assessments may include scenarios in which educators offer tiered assignments, adjust the number of tasks required for an assessment, and grant additional time for specific students to complete those tasks.

5. Conducive for Transformation With Technology While Retaining Teacher Control

In the past, teachers dedicated significant time to manually collect and organize student files, diverting their focus from actual teaching activities. However, with the advent of technology, essential diagnostic tools like observatory notes, performance evaluations, and assessments can now be efficiently stored electronically, streamlining teacher tasks and enhancing overall efficiency.

While diagnostic assessments can be used to assess students on foundational reading skills, it is not limited to just collecting that data. It can also be used as holistic assessments as well, where the viewpoint of educators and other professionals are also considered. Thus, it enables teachers to systematically track a broader range of data fields, ensuring a well-organized system.

While technology-supported self-paced learning provides an ideal platform for differentiation, it’s crucial for adults to supervise such activities in early learning. A reliable diagnosis necessitates trust. Ensuring sufficient teacher involvement in the process means that teachers acquaint the child with the concept of assessment and personally conduct the evaluation, fostering trust.

Also, despite the benefits of gamification, an offscreen learning approach is still preferred by many teachers, with teachers utilizing technology to monitor and track the progress of young learners.

Understand Diagnostic Assessments To Drive Evidence-based Literacy Instruction

Sprig hopes that this two-part series has amply showcased the profound impact of diagnostic assessments on evidence-based early literacy instruction.

Many case studies of high-performing schools involve using the right frequency of assessments. 

Diagnostic assessments, along with progress monitoring assessments, form the core of a school’s assessment strategy, due to their high frequency.

Together, they are the pulse of early literacy performance, and thus have to be understood properly via their qualities.

By exploring the qualities mentioned in this article and part 1, educators can harness the full potential of diagnostic assessments to drive evidence-based literacy instruction.

Sprig Learning covers all the intricacies of early literacy assessments in its blog, providing valuable insights for educators. 

Previous articles demystify the distinctions between formal and informal assessments, offering a valuable resource for teachers seeking a balanced approach in their classrooms. 

They venture into the future of assessments, embracing a holistic perspective that considers various facets of a child’s learning experience. 

They further delve into the nuanced parameters involved in assessment design.

Sprig is passionate about assessments and their profound impact on a young learner’s educational journey. With the same dedication, this article explores the indispensable role of diagnostic assessments in shaping evidence-based literacy instruction.

This is part of a two-part series on the qualities of diagnostic assessments. 

Diagnostic assessments are typically administered at the outset of a school year, term, semester, or teaching unit. Serving as essential tools for teachers, these assessments play a crucial role in planning instruction and establishing precise learning goals. 

They offer valuable insights, empowering both teachers and students to assess existing knowledge and skills related to overall and specific expectations.

Diagnostic assessments embody five powerful qualities that make them powerful drivers of evidence-based early literacy instruction, meeting the pressing needs of teachers in today’s educational landscape.

They Are As Follows: 

1. Greatly Supplements Screeners

Timely screening and early diagnosis are recognized as pivotal factors in shaping early literacy outcomes, standing out among the six key strategies for making a difference in early literacy. Screening tools play a crucial role in swiftly identifying students requiring additional support. However, the effectiveness of tier 1 instruction raises a compelling question: do these students, after exposure to robust classroom teaching, still require the same level of assistance? 

Or what about those students that the screener did not identify as needing support but who are bound to fall through the cracks due to lack of engagement in the classroom or an inability to absorb the required learning concepts.

This is where diagnostic assessments step in, offering invaluable insights to determine the ongoing needs of students and ensuring that intervention aligns precisely with their evolving requirements.

2. Reduces Dependence on Others

Teachers frequently turn to literacy coaches and other specialists for assessment guidance. Diagnostic assessments streamline this process as they are designed to be specific in evaluating targeted skills, aligning closely with the curriculum in use. 

While collaboration among teachers and early literacy specialists remains essential, the beauty of diagnostic assessments lies in their ability to empower teachers to assess their students without unnecessary barriers.

In fact, insights 15 to 20 from 40 Science of Reading Insights deal with leadership practices that significantly raise the percentage of students’ reading at-grade level by Grade 2. What stands out in particular is “empowering teachers to own and lead interventions” and “sharing granular data with students”.

By fostering a culture of diagnostic assessments, teachers undergo training to consistently diagnose their students on highly specific skills, such as the foundational reading skills. This empowers them to be deliberate in their teaching practices, encompassing instruction, assessment, and intervention with precision.

3. Measures The Right Things

Diagnostic assessments adopt the right perspective on academic return on investment. Like any investment, the return should ideally enhance student learning and teacher effectiveness.

These assessments diagnose specific units of learning, validated by extensive research to contribute significantly to reading proficiency. This proficiency can be viewed as a substantial output or return for any school system aiming to address the learning needs of its students!

4. Helps Classroom to Be Assessment Centric

Barring progress monitoring assessments, diagnostic assessments are the most frequently employed in classrooms. This emphasis on assessment-centric classrooms aligns with one of the four ideal classroom characteristics identified by The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Literacy Network, based on meta-research supporting early literacy best practices that lead to enhanced student achievement.

Indeed, this quality of being assessment-centric plays a pivotal role in reinforcing all other essential classroom characteristics—student-centricity, knowledge-centricity, and reflection-centricity. 

Especially when it comes to knowledge-centricity, it entails grasping the significance of reading and establishing connections between acquired knowledge and its application in reading. 

Diagnostic assessments, along with subsequent progress monitoring assessments, facilitate this by offering ongoing tracking of all the subskills measured at specific intervals.

5. Offers Design Flexibility

Designing effective assessments in early childhood education involves careful consideration of both content and structure. The content of assessments focuses on what is being measured, while the structure deals with how that content is assessed and the manner in which information is stored. 

In the context of diagnostic assessments, teachers can gather information by assigning tasks to students, maintaining individual portfolios that document developmental progress, and utilizing rubrics to assess and evaluate students’ comprehension of taught concepts. 

This flexibility and teacher autonomy afforded by diagnostic assessments empower educators to tailor the educational experience to best suit the needs of their students.

Use Diagnostic Assessments to Drive Evidence-based Instruction

The regular assessment of learning is listed as one of the major uses of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund . It’s concerning that about 70% of U.S. educators lack access to high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum. 

It underscores the importance of ensuring curricula align with state academic standards and incorporate embedded assessments for monitoring progress. 

This dual need emphasizes the requirement for both top-notch instructional materials and a systematic assessment process to measure and monitor student learning.

Navigating the assessment landscape involves various considerations, including the formality of assessments, the exploration of holistic formative assessments, and efforts to reduce bias. Each of these topics is covered in separate articles written by Sprig, linked above.

However, in the current era, marked by a focus on evidence-based literacy mandates and the adoption of strategies for effective implementation, assessments must align with the measurement of explicitly and systematically taught foundational reading skills. 

Sprig aims for the drivers outlined in this article to serve as compelling reasons for including diagnostic assessments in your assessment toolbox.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article, which will uncover more intriguing insights about diagnostic assessments.