The data makes it very difficult to pin down exactly where the thresholds for independent, instructional, and frustration are, as, depending on his focus that particular passage, his efforts would improve one side only to sacrifice the other. 

Much like the word list portion, Manolo tried to read the passages quickly and had to be asked to slow down. He followed the text with his finger as well as his eyes. As Manolo read, he would frequently substitute more common words for ones he did not know (random for radium, e-mail for enamel, etc.), which were significant mistakes. He did not make any more attempts at Spanish pronunciation, but did still use penultimate syllable stressing on unfamiliar words. 

After Manolo read the passages, the examiner asked him questions about the passages. The types of questions included topic, facts, inferences, evaluation, and vocabulary.  Again, the peculiar nature of the data and signs of frustration in the student make it very difficult to find the independent, instructional, and frustration levels for the reasons discussed above. During questioning, Manolo still refused to make eye contact with the examiner, focusing instead on his classmates straight ahead. He did not turn his head toward the examiner once while questions were being asked. He also resumed foot and hand tapping during this juncture. Manolo did not attempt to answer questions he did not know or was unsure of, simply stating “I don’t know” and moving on. Manolo did very well with questions involving topic, evaluation, and inferences, but generally stumbled with questions regarding vocabulary and facts, especially if the facts contained numerical figures. 

The final portion of the BRI was used to assess Manolo’s listening comprehension level to discover his independent, instructional, and frustration levels. The results of this assessment reveal Manolo’s potential for growth in reading achievement. For this portion, the examiner read a passage out loud to Manolo, and then asked him ten comprehension questions based on what he heard. The questions were in the same format as those used in the Oral Reading Comprehension portion of the assessment. The results were:

Based on the somewhat confusing results of the Oral Reading Comprehension portion of the assessment, the examiner began with an eighth grade passage.  Manolo had two incorrect answers, which established him at independent/ instructional level. The examiner had no other ninth grade passages to give, so skipped forward to the tenth grade passage. Here the examiner awarded Manolo some half-points for portions of a correct answer. On the tenth grade passage, Manolo was instructional/frustration level. The eleventh grade passage was squarely frustration level. Having found the frustration level (and assuming ninth grade would be instructional level), the examiner sought his Independent level using seventh and sixth grade passages. Manolo’s independent level was at sixth grade, with seventh and eighth grade both coming in at independent/instructional. 

Manolo’s response to listening comprehension questions was much better than his response to the oral comprehension. 