I’m a reading specialist. That means that I give the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) to literally hundreds of elementary school children each year - kindergarten through fifth grade. Last year, I even gave it to my then 4-year old granddaughter. She was taking “Hooked on Phonics” at her preschool, and I was curious to see how HOP skills transferred to reading other texts. Since I had purchased my own DRA kit a couple years ago to use with children I tutored at home, I had everything I needed. I gave Sweet Stuff the Level A and the Level 1 tests. She did well, I gave the results to my daughter and I promptly forgot about it . . . until today.

Today I got an email from the reading specialist at Sweet Stuff’s school. She said that Sweet Stuff’s teacher had come to her with a problem. It seems that when the teacher started to administer the DRA to Sweet Stuff, Sweet Stuff quickly informed her that Grandma Carol had already read “those books” with her. The teacher didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t give the assessment with those texts because the results wouldn’t be valid. I was BUSTED!

The reading specialist explained in her email to me that she understood how kindergarteners are and that she took what Sweet Stuff said with a grain of salt. She obviously doesn’t know Sweet Stuff very well. The girl tells the truth at all times. No grain of salt needed. If she said Grandma Carol read those books with her, then that’s what happened.

Not to worry. I quickly emailed the teacher and reading specialist that yes, I had given Sweet Stuff the DRA, but that it shouldn’t be a problem since the teacher could use the DRA Alternative Text set with Sweet Stuff for the first couple levels (which, as her loyal grandma, I can affirm she is beyond anyway). Then they can go back to the standard kit starting with Level 2. I apologized for not letting them know before that I had already given the DRA to Sweet Stuff, and I thanked them profusely for the wonderful job they’re doing with Sweet Stuff since she adores school and adores her teacher.

Since I administer the DRA so frequently, I’m accustomed to using the Alternative Text Set quite often. However, I imagine a kindergarten teacher would rarely have a need for it. So I can understand the teacher being concerned about what to do.

I forwarded all the emails to my daughter, and we had a big chuckle over Sweet Stuff busting Grandma Carol. I can just hear that little voice telling Mrs. K, “My Grandma Carol has already read THOSE BOOKS with me.”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 9th, 2006 at 4:59 pm and is filed under Family, Sweet Stuff & Sunshine, Teaching/Education, That's My Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.