Story Elements Probes Editable

About this resource

Everything inside: 25 pages · 6 original silent-reading passages with 24 questions · 6 equivalent probe forms · a shared answer-key and scoring page for all six forms · a data log and scaled trend graph · a caseload summary · a ready-to-send family update · a classroom teacher check-in (a second setting) · a 17-starter phrase bank · a binder cover and 4-section binder map · a worked, invented example.

The store had probes for a stated cause and effect, a stated problem and its solution, the order events happen in, and a character's inferred trait — but nothing that measures the whole story shape at once. This file hands the student six original, invented passages, each about 70–110 words, about an everyday school-life situation (a missing library book, mixed-up garden rows, a forgotten permission slip, a torn science-fair poster, missing sneakers before practice, a spilled jar of paint) with nothing but the passage and four write-in questions on the page the student sees: the setting, the characters, the problem (the plot), and the resolution. Every element is stated in plain language somewhere in the passage — never an inferred leap — so a scorer can check any accepted answer against the text itself. Scoring, the rubric and the answer key live on separate adult-only pages, never in the student's hands.

WHAT IS INCLUDED — 25 pages, 491 type-in fields

Prepare To Give The Probes

• Binder Cover and Section Map — a spine/cover card, a 4-box section reference (not a cutting page), and an 8-row "where to find things" index
• How This Pack Works — how the six forms share one rubric and one key page, plus a 3-row table comparing what each of the file's three tools measures
• Story Elements Goal, Rubric and Directions — a sample IEP-style goal (invented, every bracket editable), a baseline table (median of the first three probes), a rubric defining correct/incorrect, and a 2-row benchmark table

Take The Data

• Six Probe Forms (A–F) — each a clean, student-facing page: a "My name" line, one kid-worded instruction with a book icon, the passage, and four numbered questions with a real four-line answer box each (the setting, the characters, the problem, the resolution) — nothing scored, no goal text, no marks on this page
• Answer Keys and Scoring — one shared adult-only page with all six forms' accepted setting, characters, problem and resolution answers (a close paraphrase of the passage's own words counts) and a Score /4 field per form

Track, Report And Share

• Story Elements Accuracy Data Log — 12 dated rows, one form per row
• Story Elements Accuracy Trend Graph — a scaled 0–100% grid plus a 12-row log table
• Caseload Summary — 12 students by 8 probes, baseline and criterion percent, trend and decision columns
• Family Update — Reading at Home — a ready-to-send communication page: what was read, how it went in plain words, a practice idea, and a 7-day practiced table
• Classroom Story Elements Check-In — two half-page notes per sheet, cut apart: a checkbox, one sentence, no codes, for the general education teacher or paraprofessional during regular class reading (a different setting from the six probe forms)
• Progress Note Phrase Bank — 17 observable-language starters across 5 groups (setting/characters accuracy, problem/resolution accuracy, pattern across probes, next steps, the quarterly-report sentence), every one ending in a blank pulled from a data sheet in the file
• A Filled-In Probe Set and Log — a worked, invented example (Maya T., third grade) with a 4-row weekly log and a 2-row answer-key excerpt, every number cross-checked against the arithmetic behind it

Plus a Start Here quick-start, a 3-section contents page with real page thumbnails, 3 section dividers, and a "what's next" back page.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF. Open it in a PDF reader, click a field, type, save. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT a Google Sheets file, a Google Doc, or an Excel workbook, and it does not calculate a percent for you. The six probe forms print cleanly for the student to write directly on.

It is not a norm-referenced or standardized reading test, and it is not a Lexile or grade-level placement tool. It does not set a passing criterion or sort a student into any category — that is a blank line for your team. It is not Problem and Solution Probes or Sequencing Story Events Probes, each of which measures one slice of a story (a stated problem and fix, or event order); this file is the whole shape — where and when, who, what problem, and how it ends — from one passage. It is not Character Traits and Motivation Reading Comprehension Probes, which asks the student to infer a quality the text never states outright; every answer in this file is a stated fact checked directly against the passage.

No age, eligibility or IDEA-timeline claim anywhere; no health data is pre-filled, and the example student (Maya) is invented and named as such on page 24.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers, reading interventionists and case managers who need the whole story shape — setting, characters, problem and resolution — measured together, with the student's own written answers as the evidence, scored from an answer key in under a minute a form.

If You Want More

Problem and Solution Probes and Sequencing Story Events Probes are the sibling comprehension-passage probes that each measure one slice of a story. Character Traits and Motivation Reading Comprehension Probes and Making Inferences Using Text Evidence Probes are the two comprehension skills in the family that ask the student to go beyond what the passage states outright, checked against quoted clue sentences.