What is the DRA anyway?
The Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) is an individually administered assessment of a child’s reading capabilities. It is a tool used by teachers to identify a students reading level, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
The DRA test is administered in the Fall and Spring at Providence. If a child is below benchmark in the Fall, another formal DRA will be adminstred in January. The test measures nine categories of reading behavior and six types of errors. The information gained from this assessment gives us a starting point for guided reading instruction groups, and helps us in guiding our students to find just right books to read on their own.
The DRA examines a child’s reading behaviors before, during and after reading. For our youngest readers, the assessment is focused heavily on phonemic awareness. This is a pre-cursor for reading. The test also examines fluency ( including accuracy, rate, and expression),as well as many levels of comprehension.
As teachers, we set goals for our readers. One of our goals involves tracking our DRA instructional groups on a monthly basis. By using a tracker we are able to measure growth in the crucial areas that are relevant to each reader.
It is important to remember that the DRA is just one of the many tools we are using to view your child as a reader.
Thank you for posting this helpful information about DRAs. This site is inviting and beautiful. I predict you will have many visitors over the years. Great work oh literate one!
I’d like to see DRA scores on report cards. Is it possible to process the data in time for the 2nd and 4th quarter report card cycles? Even if it is only hand written by the teacher, it’s good information for us (parents) to track.
Also, I noticed Scholastic designates capital letters to identify reading levels on many of the books they offer for sale through the send-home forms and on their website. We like to order books frequently to keep our home library growing and to help get free books for the classroom. What’s the letter designation all about and can our teacher tell us what letter range is the best fit for our child?
Thanks in advance for answering my questions.
Hi Mrs. Horton,
Thank you for posting and for your relevant questions. I plan to be available during parent conferences to give out information regarding the quarter by quarter literacy grade level goals. It is also my hope to have the documentation uploaded to this blog for parent information.
Scholastic Book Wizard is a wonderful tool for leveling books. Most books can be searched through DRA, Lexile, and Guided Reading Levels ( the letters).
I have uploaded an equivalency chart under PAGES for your reference. Thank you for supporting our literacy efforts ! Have a wonderful week!