PALS Mid-Year window reminders

Keeping records accurate

    • Remember to add any new students to Class Lists in the PALS Online System when the Mid-Year window opens.
    • Special education coordinators should alert teachers and reading specialists to any IEP updates that might require changes to students’ accommodations and/or disability status in the PALS Online System.
      • Please check each student’s disability status before entering scores! Once scores are entered for the current window, disability status cannot be changed without deleting the scores first. If changes do need to be made, you can record the scores already entered (e.g. print or take a screen shot), delete the scores from the Student List page, update the disability status, and then re-enter the scores.

Tasks to administer at mid-year

  • PALS Mid-Year is a more flexible tool than the fall and spring assessments, in that not all tasks have to be administered.  The PALS Online System will accept score entry for any tasks that you enter, even if assessment is not “complete.”
  • If teachers administering PALS Plus would like to see an IORL (instructional oral reading level) diagnosis and/or use the Grouping Function using mid-year data, they should administer all tasks with the word RECOMMENDED next to them. Those tasks constitute the same administration sequence that was required in the fall, including spelling features, which gives the system enough data to calculate the IORL and enable the Grouping Functions.
    • Remember that to diagnose a student’s IORL, the system looks for a score for the reading passage that is equivalent to the highest level word list on which the student correctly and automatically identified 15 or more words in the Word Recognition in Isolation task.
  • The PALS-K Mid-Year Concept of Word rhyme is “Rain Rain Go Away.” Begin reciting it with your students any time (as early as the first day of school!).
  • The PALS Plus Mid-Year Concept of Word rhyme is “Hey Diddle Diddle.”  This is usually only administered to students who were required to take it in the fall.
  • For PALS Plus: There is no requirement for Level B or C tasks, but PALS recommends administering the same tasks that were used in the fall so that you can monitor progress with these crucial foundational skills. These tasks are also recommended if the child’s reading level is Preprimer or lower, in order to help determine which foundational literacy skills are missing or need strengthening.