Screeners / Benchmarks

These are quick checks - delivered to all students in a class. These assessments provide information to see if the children are where they should be at a given time in the school year. Perfect for the beginning of the school year or end of the school year.

Resources

At the foundation of aimsweb is general outcome measurement, a form of curriculum-based measurement (CBM), used for universal screening and progress monitoring. This form of brief assessment measures overall performance of key foundational skills at each grade level and draws upon over thirty years of scientific research that demonstrates both its versatility to provide accurate prediction of reading and math achievement as well as its sensitivity to growth.

ALL

Assessment of Literacy and Language

Identify children at risk for reading difficulties due to an underlying language disorder.

The different subtests in the ALL are broken down into different levels of investigation. There are indicator assessments (used as a screen for all children), diagnostic assessments (for students who did not perform well on the indicator assessment), and criterion-referenced assessments (for further investigation into the cause of the difficulties).

by Marie Clay

The assessment tasks designed for systematic observation of young children as they learn to read and write.

This book is broken into two parts — the first part instructs teachers on how to observe and make sense of the reading behavior of children as they read aloud. The second part is a collection of assessment tools that measure more specific skills in the emergent reader.With multiple tests, developmental progress can be monitored. This book, further, offers suggestions to various reading problems.

Assessment Information

adapted by Linda Farrell

Bracken School Readiness Assessment – Third Edition

Quickly screen concept knowledge of young children

DST

Decoding Skills Test

The Decoding Skills Test (DST) helps you diagnose and treat specific reading disabilities, including dyslexia. It gives you a clear picture of the processes involved in reading and shows you the particular area in which an individual needs help.

Designed for children and adults who are reading at first- through fifth-grade levels, the DST provides a diagnostic profile of the decoding skills that are essential to reading comprehension.

While the DST can be used for screening, it is primarily diagnostic and prescriptive. The test is especially useful with students already known to have reading difficulties, including dyslexia. Because it detects specific aspects of the reading problem, the DST provides clear treatment guidelines. It helps you form reading groups, make program decisions, and determine appropriate remediation.

easyCBM is an enhanced district assessment system as an integral part of an RTI (Response to Intervention) model. It provides school districts, administrators, and teachers with a full suite of assessment and reporting options, offering a complete solution at every tier of the RTI process.

Early Primary Reading Assessment & District Assessment of Reading Team

The EPRA and DART are performance-based reading assessments, designed in British Columbia by Faye Brownlie and British Columbia educators.

The EPRA was designed for K-2 students and the DART is a grade 3-9 assessment tool.

Evaluate student reading and comprehension ability with reliable and robust universal screening that is aligned to Leveled Literacy Intervention, and determine each child's instructional level for guided reading according to the Fountas & Pinnell A-Z Text Level Gradient™ for guided reading.

KRT

Kindergarten Readiness Test

At the pre-kindergarten stage, students vary considerably in terms of the development of underlying competencies, which are essential for such early school learning. The fundamental purpose of the KRT is to determine the extent to which each of the underlying competencies has been developed, so that instruction can be modified to meet the needs of each student.

Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening

The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) provides a comprehensive assessment of young children’s knowledge of the important literacy fundamentals that are predictive of future reading success.

PALS consists of three instruments, PALS-PreK (for preschool students), PALS-K (for kindergartners), and PALS 1-3 (for students in Grades 1-3).

PAT

Phonological Abilities Test

This test assesses all the pre-reading skills that are early indicators of reading success.  Use it to identify children who lack explicit phonological knowledge and have difficulty acquiring sound/symbol correspondences in words.

  • rhyme detection task
  • syllable identification & phoneme identification
  • phoneme deletion task

adapted by Linda Farrell

Sample of a tool designed by the Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta to help classroom teachers identify the learning needs of students who may be at risk of reading difficulties.

To see the sample file, click on Example of Reading Readiness Screening Tool

For additional information, contact the Right to Read Program here

SRT

School Readiness Test

The SRT is administered by a classroom teacher at the end of kindergarten or before the third full week of first grade. Each student will be evaluated by seven subtests, with an optional handwriting assessment. It allows a teacher to learn as much as possible about every entering student’s abilities—and about any factors that might interfere with his or her learning.

Suitable for kindergarten & first grade children. Research is reported that supports its use in early identification of at risk children. This is a quick, inexpensive test of phonemic segmentation ability