Rosa Avendaño

ED 6310

Curriculum and Methodology Trends: Individual Project

March 2003

 

Tejas LEE

 

            The "El Inventario de Lectura en Español de Tejas", Tejas LEE, is an assessment instrument developed to measure student reading skills and comprehension development in Spanish for students in Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade.  It provides districts with an additional early Spanish reading instrument for selection and administration to fulfill the requirements of Texas Education Code Section 28.006.   My focus will be on the Kindergarten component of the Tejas LEE. 

            Tejas LEE addresses many skills in the Kindergarten Spanish Language Arts Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).  However, it doesn't correspond exactly to the Spanish Language Arts TEKS.  Some areas of the TEKS are difficult to adequately address using the format of an individually administered reading inventory.  The vocabulary section, for example, would be difficult to assess Kindergarten students accurately due to the sample of difficult words provided.  Word reading is addressed in the First Grade TEKS (1.8).  The Tejas LEE instrument includes only TEKS areas that give teachers information to assist in planning and delivering targeted reading instruction.  Table 1 lists the tasks included in the 2002-2003 version of the Kindergarten Tejas LEE.  Table 2 compares the Kindergarten Spanish Language Arts Reading TEKS to the Tejas LEE Kindergarten tasks.

Table1

Kindergarten

Concepts of Print

Alphabet Knowledge          Letter naming             Letter sound identification

Phonological Awareness     Syllable Manipulation         Sound Manipulation

Word Reading

Listening Comprehension

 

 

 

Table 2

Spanish Language Arts TEKS Areas for Kindergarten

Tejas LEE Tasks

Reading/Print Awareness (K.5)

Lectura/conocimiento de la letra impresa

Concepts of Print

Reading/Phonological Awareness (K.6)

Lectura/familiaridad fonológica

Phonological Awareness

Reading/Letter Sound Relationships (K.7)

Lectura/relación entre las letras y los sonidos

Letter Naming

Letter Sound Identification

Reading/Vocabulary Development (K.8)

Lectura/desarrollo de vocabulario

Not Addressed

Reading/Comprehension (K.9)

Lectura/comprensión

Listening Comprehension

Reading/Literary Response (K.10)

Lectura/respuesta literaria

Not Addressed

Reading/Text Structures/Literary Concepts (K.11)

Lectura/estructuras del texto/conceptos literarios

Not Addressed

Reading/Inquiry/Research (K.12)

Lectura/cuestionamiento/investigación

Not Addressed

Reading/Culture (K.13)

Lectura/cultura

TEKS objectives for culture are not specifically addressed.  However, Tejas LEE has been designed to incorporate language and cultural components that will be familiar to most students.

Reading/Word Identification (1.8)

Lectura/identificación de palabras

Word Reading

 

            The purpose of the Tejas LEE is to observe and record student performance in areas important to the development of Spanish reading.  Early reading difficulties or risk for reading difficulties in Spanish can be detected.  Its main purpose is to provide the teacher with a summary of reading skills and comprehension in order to plan individual and/or group reading instruction for early intervention and prevention of problems.  If data indicates that a student needs intensive, targeted instruction in a specific area, then placement in the school's accelerated reading instruction (ARI) funded program is required.  In Texas, by law, results of the assessment must be reported to the state education agency as well as the parents of the student.  Parents are promptly notified of their child's particular needs and the plans to meet those needs.

            In 1998, the Tejas LEE originated from scientific research on reading from the Office of Bilingual Education at the University of Texas and the Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (TCRLA), which was funded by the Texas Education Agency.  A team of bilingual education teachers wrote items for the original inventory.  Spanish literacy experts developed passages and comprehension questions.  The Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES) at the University of Houston is currently under contract with the TEA Office of Statewide initiatives to examine the reliability and validity of the Tejas LEE, as well as further develop and modify it.

            The Tejas LEE shares some similarities with the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI).  Both instruments focus on early reading skills and comprehension development.  There are similarities in format between the two instruments.  Both share some tasks in common.  And the two instruments follow the same administration schedule.  In Kindergarten, the Tejas LEE and the TPRI are administered at the middle and end of the school year.  These instruments are administered one-on-one by the teacher.  They both consist of a screening section and an inventory section.  The screening portion allows information to be gathered about the student's reading concepts.  The inventory portion deals with phonemic awareness and word reading tasks, as well as a comprehension story that gives the teacher more data to help match reading instruction with specific student needs.  The Tejas LEE is not a translation of the TPRI, but rather a somewhat comparable assessment to TPRI for Spanish speaking students.  These instruments both are currently being used in 98% of Texas schools.

            The Tejas Lee is not administered to all students who speak Spanish as a home language.  The administration of an early reading instrument for a student who is a second language learner depends on the type of program in which the student is enrolled, the reading instruction language provided, and the student's proficiency in English and in Spanish.  According to the Tejas LEE Guía De Administración, the Reading Instruments Guide for Texas Public Schools and School Districts include the following guidelines concerning the use of Spanish early reading instruments:  A student of limited English proficiency (LEP) enrolled in a Spanish/English bilingual education program and receiving instruction in Spanish, will be administered a Spanish language instrument; a student in a dual language/two-way bilingual program who is more proficient in Spanish than in English should be administered a Spanish instrument.  The Tejas Lee should be administered to students who are receiving their primary reading instruction in Spanish.

 

There are quite a few Internet web sites and materials to help prepare kindergarten students for task mastery of the Tejas LEE reading inventory.  The following is a brief descriptive list of resources beneficial to Kindergarten teachers and students.

§       http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Kg‑PrimaryTools/kg‑primarytools.html

Handbook of Kindergarten-Primary Assessment Tools by Chicago Public Schools
This handbook contains Spanish activities to assess students' growing ability to recognize and match sounds and letters, the phonemes in words, and the onset (beginning) and rime (vowel and ending) in syllables.

§       http://www.leapfrogschoolhouse.com

The Leapfrog web site contains product information on Spanish multi sensory learning tools that teach phonics, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and other skills in Spanish.  For example, the Spanish LeapDesk workstation teaches and assesses stud ents on key early literacy skills in Spanish.  It delivers explicit instruction in letter recognition, phonics, and concepts of words.  Spanish interactive books for the LeapPad platform are also available.  These interactive books engage students with touch-and-talk technology in all subject areas while teaching vocabulary.

§      

The Del Sol Books web site offers a book list, free catalog and order information on materials for bilingual and multicultural education.  For example the manual, Comprehensive Language Arts by Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy, has topics covering the role of literature in the classroom, developing phonemic awareness, language development in the first and second language, and engaging children in reading and writing activities.   Another Spanish-language manual entitled Musica amiga-pedagogua creadora a traves de la cancion by the same authors, explores a multitude of ways to use Spanish songs in the classroom. It includes information on helping students develop academically, through song, including phonemic awareness, enriched vocabularies, reading and writing skills, and literature appreciation. It also shows how to use songs to enhance classroom management and add cultural enrichment.

§       http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/sbeck/kid_pix_integration_ideas.htm#Great%20Integration%20Projects:

This web site gives teachers ideas and activities for using the Software program called Kid Pix to reinforce phonemic awareness skills in Spanish.

§       http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/eslhome.htm

This site is a classroom literacy web resource for teachers.  It contains easy access to a wide assortment of literacy ideas customized for use by students and teachers in the primary grades.  Early elementary students can visit web sites appropriate for their grade level, try a web quest, visit other K-2 classrooms around the world, see how other students are applying their early literacy skills in Spanish and learn more about their favorite books and authors.  Teachers can access online lesson plans, information in literacy standards, and ideas for integrating technology to enhance literacy learning in the classroom.

§       The U.S. Department of Education offers The Helping Your Child publication series to parents and educators in English and Spanish.  It provides parents with the tools and information necessary to help their children succeed in school.  Of particular interest is the book entitled Como Ayudar a su hijo ser un buen lector / Helping Your Child Become a Reader.  This booklet offers pointers on how to build the language skills of young children.  These publications can be ordered online at

§       The Guía de Actividades de Intervención provided in the Tejas LEE kit is a book that provides teachers with specific activities, word lists, songs, and book titles to develop all tasks in the Kindergarten inventory.

§       Scholastic Inc. has a Spanish Language Arts Program called Solares, which offers a multitude of materials to build Spanish language proficiency through books, songs, phonemic awareness activities, center ideas, and much more.  It also provides a software program called Wiggleworks Solares that helps students with reading, writing, and speaking in Spanish.

§       Scholastic Inc. publishes a teacher guide called Reconocimiento fonético con Chana y Tato that provides teachers with activities to help children recognize rhyme and alliteration, clap syllables in words, perform phonemic manipulation tasks, and more.

§       Estrellita is a supplemental, phonics based, accelerated beginning Spanish reading program published by a California company.  It emphasizes the awareness of the sound of syllables and the manipulation of phonemes and syllables through a multi-sensory approach that incorporates visual cues, songs, chants, kinesthetic activities and whole language strategies.  It also encourages parental involvement.

§       There are two wonderful music CD's that are beneficial for teaching students Spanish letters and sounds, rhyme, syllable manipulation, and story telling: Lirica Infantil con Jose Luis Orosco- Vol. 5 Letras, números y colores and Cantamos con Georgette bilingual songs and fingerplays from South America and Mexico.

§       The following books can be helpful in preparing students to master the objectives of the Tejas LEE: Phonics for Early Learners: Spanish by A.F. Ada; La enseñanza de la lectura en español para el estudiante bilingüe by A. Carrasquillo and P. Segan; and La enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura en español en el aula bilingüe by I.S. Freeman and D.E. Freeman.

§       Divertámonos con letras y sonidos by Leslie C. Stockham is a resource material that helps students learn beginning sounds, expand vocabularies, establish letter/sound association, and develop letter identification.  It contains activities to make word wheels, little wordbooks, and other Spanish alphabet aides.   It is published by Bilingual Language Materials of Newport Beach, California. 

§       Kingsly Publishing Co. makes many blackline teaching reproducibles in Spanish and English that are easily adaptable to learning centers, small group or large group instruction.  Some popular books are Spanish and English Vocabulary Development Blacklines; Flashcard Superbook; and Alphabet Spanish Flashcards.  These books will help students with word reading and alphabet knowledge tasks on the Tejas LEE both at home and at school.

 

 

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