This is a belated reply to the request for professional development ideas using the ARCS website. I am in the process of developing a study circle/training called "Using Informal Reading Assessments" for Minnesota ABE. My co-presenter and I shared handouts and informal assessments downloaded and printed from the ARCS website. We wanted to give participants a hands-on experience with informal reading assessments they could begin using immediately. It was received well and seemed to be "convincing" that other assessments besides those just measuring silent reading comprehension were worth their time and effort. 

This is our outline:

	1. Refer participants to the ARCS handout COMPONENTS? READING PROFILES? WHAT ARE THEY? 	2. Do a quick review of the components and other words or phrases that are used in the 	reading instruction world (alphabetics, decoding, word analysis, encoding, etc.) 
	3. Share word recognition and/or spelling assessments available from the ARCS website: 	Sylvia Greene's Informal Word Analysis Inventory and the Quick Adult Reading 	Inventory (QARI).
	4. Provide an opportunity for participants to pair up, administer, and score one of 	the above. 	We found from piloting this study circle that a "script" from a real 	assessment might work better because participants (ABE teachers) were struggling with 	mimicking adult reading difficulties.
	5. Share Read Naturally and pre-GED/GED passages for cold and hot fluency timings. 	Again, we found that an audio-tape of a real learner reading aloud would be a better 	simulated experience for measuring oral reading rate.
	6. Share the Word Meaning Test from the ARCS and provide an opportunity to administer 	one or two levels to determine a word meaning grade level.

I feel the ARCS has been a remarkable resource (as has this discussion list!) for my work in Minnesota ABE staff development. I use it extensively for the above and also in facilitating practitioner reading research (as developed by NCSALL). Thank You!

Margaret (Marn) Frank
LD Specialist
LDA of Minnesota

-----Original Message-----
From: specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:specialtopics-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of David Rosen
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 4:30 PM
To: specialtopics at nifl.gov
Subject: [SpecialTopics 42] Re: professional development using the
ARCSwebsite [bcc]


Thanks, Jane.  I wonder if anyone else in this discussion has used  
the ARCS Web site and/or a study circle model using the ARCS Web site  
or other ARCS materials.  If so, please tell us about your experience.

Also, if anyone has questions for Jane or Ros about the use of the  
ARCS Web site, please ask them now.

David J. Rosen
Special Topics List Moderator
djrosen at comcast.net

On May 25, 2006, at 2:06 PM, Jane Meyer wrote:


> David suggested that I tell a bit about how we used the ARCS  

> website for

> professional development in our ABE program in Canton, Ohio.  First I

> explored the website myself and then, at a staff meeting, I told the

> teachers about the site highlighting some  features that I thought  

> might

> be of particular interest to them.  I offered to pay them if they  

> wanted

> to explore the website for a professional development activity.  I  

> set a

> meeting date about a month away for those who had explored the website

> to discuss what they had found and how it could be useful to them as

> well as ask any questions.  The teachers loved using the website for

> professional development because it was so convenient and the format

> worked great for us because I had staff with various levels of  

> knowledge

> about reading.  The website allowed those who needed basic information

> to get it without holding those back who had more knowledge and were

> ready to go deeper.  It has been a while, but I remember the  

> discussion

> about the site being quite rich.

> Jane Meyer

> Canton City Schools

> Canton, Ohio

> meyer_j at ccsdistrict.org

> -------------------------------

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David Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net



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