Early-grade literacy assessments have come under increased scrutiny, with mandated screeners now required across much of the U.S. and Canada, typically administered one to three times a year.

This introduces a level of accountability with mandated checkpoints on early literacy throughout the year. It also adds responsibility to take action for students who struggle based on results of the first screener, ensuring support between the first and second, and potentially second and third screeners.

By addressing key questions about the necessary information and potential actions, the right early literacy assessment strategy can be thoughtfully developed. 

A detailed list of such questions, along with possible actions informed by the answers, is provided in the article “What To Do With Early Literacy Assessments.”

One such question was, “In what components of literacy do students need additional support?”

It’s so important to know where help is needed for each student. 

Another related question was, “What supplemental instruction is required for students?”

It is equally important to know what that help may look like in the form of supplemental instruction which could be enhanced or personalized.

This article further examines these questions as it has to do with the topic of content coverage in early literacy assessments. 

It defines assessment content coverage and its properties, and the effect it can potentially have on early readers.

 

Definition of Assessment Content Coverage.

Assessment coverage refers to the content evaluated in early literacy assessments. When selecting assessments, it’s crucial they align with your existing curriculum or standards. 

Otherwise, there’s a risk of overlooking critical content areas, skills and competencies, leading to gaps in accountability and students potentially not meeting expectations.

If the curriculum or standards fall short of evidence-based early literacy practices, assessments can serve as an enhancing tool. They can prompt teachers to evaluate areas overlooked by the curriculum, offering a backup method of instruction. This ensures that essential skills, even if not covered in the original syllabus, are explicitly taught and assessed.

Thus, strong content coverage can both complement and enhance existing curriculum or standards.

 

What is Measured in Early Literacy Assessments? 

 

Early literacy assessments should measure developmentally appropriate knowledge domains necessary for successful reading by a certain age, typically by the end of Grade 3. 

This is the critical point when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. 

These domains encompass both breadth and depth, which are explored in the following section.

 

Number of Different Reading Domains (Breadth)

Breadth refers to the range of different domains covered by early literacy assessments. 

Each large domain encompasses several subdomains, which may further branch into more specific areas of focus. 

For example, reading comprehension is a large domain that can be divided into smaller domains of word reading and decoding. These domains can be further subdivided into skill sets like phonics, phonological awareness, etc.

Breadth ensures that assessments capture a comprehensive picture of a child’s literacy development, addressing all critical components required for reading proficiency.

 

Larger Concepts and Smaller Concepts in Each Domain (Depth)

Depth refers to the thoroughness with which each domain is explored in early literacy assessments. 

The most comprehensive domains are fewer in number, but each delves deeply into multiple topics of learning. 

These topics, in turn, branch out into various sub topics, ensuring a detailed and nuanced understanding of a child’s literacy development. 

Depth allows educators to assess not just surface-level skills but the underlying competencies essential for reading success.  

For example, if reading comprehension issues arise, word reading may be assessed. If word reading is adequate, phonological awareness can be assessed. If phonological awareness is also fine, the issue may lie in a specific skill, such as phoneme blending, which must also be assessed.

 

How Does it Affect  Early Readers?

The breadth and depth of the reading domains together constitute the content coverage of early literacy assessments. 

It is extremely important for early readers because every school must measure the right domains which actually lead to reading success and can be affected by effective reading instruction.

Thus, schools have to make sure that the content coverage is broad enough, at the very least that it covers the main foundational reading skill sets such as phonological awareness, reading comprehension and oral reading fluency. 

The Reading League’s Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines recommend that assessments address both word recognition and language comprehension.

Schools must also ensure that the content coverage is deep enough, meaning each of the foundational skill sets have enough skills underneath them so that the smallest unit of learning can be measured. 

This truly identifies any gaps that may be holding students back.

 

Content Coverage in Early Literacy Assessments. Especially Relevant for Progress Monitoring.

This article establishes the importance for content coverage in early literacy assessments. 

It is applicable for all types of assessments, be it benchmark screeners, diagnostic assessments, progress monitoring assessments or end-of-the-year outcome assessments.

It is especially applicable for progress monitoring assessments because compared to all other assessment types, its recommended application is most frequent. 

They are ideally conducted multiple times per week, if not daily.

Thus, due to its repetitive nature, it can quickly reveal insights on students and groups of students that are not revealed in other types of assessments.  

But these insights are only as good as what is being measured, hence adequate content coverage of early literacy assessments proves to be so important.

Strong content coverage in early literacy assessments goes beyond adequacy, significantly enhancing the effectiveness of progress monitoring!

According to ONlit, a resource hub provided by the Ontario Ministry of Education, progress toward research-backed goals can vary in meaning, from mastering multiple sub-skills to meeting curriculum-based reading outcomes throughout the year. 

Strong content coverage covers all these dimensions of progress monitoring goals! 

It gives the early literacy team a chance to measure the rate of improvement towards these goals and take appropriate actions if the progress is not deemed sufficient.

By providing a comprehensive view of each student’s progress, it enables educators to measure the impact of instructional strategies that are prescribed for these  foundational literacy skills.

Thus, both interventions and differentiated instruction are covered!

Many research studies and state education departments recommend such a process for effectively using progress monitoring, which actually stands on having solid content coverage in early literacy assessments!

Looking for a progress monitoring tool that helps teachers assess all the research-backed foundational skill sets? Visit Sprig Reading. 

Reading assessments are a big part of evidence-based literacy instruction. While foundational reading skills like phonics and phonological awareness often dominate discussions, the assessment of these skills do not get as much airtime.

Especially in the early years, assessing students’ reading development does not automatically equip educators to translate those results into effective instructional decisions.

As a matter of fact, schools often find it difficult to effectively use assessment and accurately interpret their results to enhance reading outcomes. 

Even with high-quality instruction, the absence of robust assessment planning can deepen inequities in access to effective reading instruction for students who need them most.

School-wide reading assessments are now more prevalent and a required component of multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS). It’s high time that early literacy teams receive clear guidance about their usage.

This article guides early literacy teams in selecting the right assessments to meet learning goals and maximizing the impact of their assessments. 

In order to do this, it proposes the framework: Information. Action. Deliberation. 

Information.

What Questions Are Early Literacy Teams Trying to Answer?

Interpreting assessment results without understanding their purpose can lead to misguided actions for students. 

Therefore, it’s crucial for literacy teams to first identify the key questions they need answered. 

To effectively use current tools or consider adopting new tools, teams must analyze the information needs thoroughly. 

Research on various assessment tools touch on the following information needs.

 

Information Needs

• How many students at each grade are proficient in reading?

 

• Which students need additional support to meet end-of-year expectations?

 

• What specific reading skills do students need additional instruction in?

 

• What specific supplemental instruction is required for students?

 

• Are students making progress toward meeting research-based expectations?

 

• Are students receiving appropriate interventions at the various tiers, making progress towards their learning goals?

 

Action

What Decisions will Answering These Questions Allow Early Literacy Teams To Take? 

If an information needs analysis proves challenging, then the literacy team can think about the decisions that they are looking to make with the information. 

In other words, if formulating questions proves difficult, focus on how the answers to those questions benefit the early literacy team and their students.

This approach strengthens the information needs analysis, helping to choose the right assessment tools for specific purposes.

To demonstrate, the previous question examples have now been paired with their corresponding actions:

 

How many students at each grade are proficient in reading?

Answer helps to: Understand progress towards strategic objectives, evaluate current curriculum and classroom resources.

 

Which students need additional support to meet end-of-year expectations?

Answer helps to: Allocate resources and time for those students currently performing below standard.

 

What specific reading skills do students need additional instruction in?

Answer helps to: Identify targeted tier 2 and tier 3 classroom instruction, to ensure children are receiving the support they need, when they need it.  

 

What specific supplemental instruction is required for students?

Answer helps to: Provide teachers with evidence-based instructional practices that help provide personalized instruction for every student.  

 

Are students making progress toward meeting research-based expectations?

Answer helps to: Ensure students are on track with learning the foundational reading skills and support teachers to continue or intensify their existing instructional practices. 

 

Are students receiving appropriate interventions at the various tiers, making progress towards their learning goals?

Answer helps to: Identify the need to continue, intensify, fade or modify their existing intervention approach. 

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Note how certain answers help to decide binary actions, that is whether to do something or not, while others help to get clarity over making individual or group decisions for students. 

This is expected.

Actions vary, some target school-wide strategies, while others focus on specific classroom and/or student-level interventions.

These distinctions must be considered when deciding how to use early literacy assessments.

 

Deliberation.

Provide Assessment Types for The Decision To Be Made. 

Performing steps one and two, that is, determining the right questions to gather information and the actions based on those answers are crucial for selecting the appropriate assessment tool.

This is because these questions and answers are internal, directly addressing the school’s specific needs and goals.

Every  assessment tool in the market has its own purpose. They are external, unless developed organically by the school. 

By understanding what is required first, an early literacy team can easily pick the assessment tool/s that best suits their purpose.

Deliberation is the final step.

The right early literacy assessment strategy and tools must be carefully deliberated on, so they provide the precise information needed to drive effective actions.

 

How Can You Do This?

 

• Understand What the Different Categories of Assessments Are. 

How many types of assessments do you need to meet all your objectives? Is one sufficient, or do you need multiple? Sprig Learning explores this topic in another blog. 

Recapping the major assessment categories’ description from 11 Key Questions for Selecting The Right Early Literacy Assessment(s) for Your School.

Universal Screening Assessments- Identifies students at risk. Helps to evaluate core instruction.

Diagnostic Assessments- Identifies strengths and areas of need. Helps to plan and implement instruction and intervention.

Progress Monitoring Assessments- Identifies if students are responding. Evaluates the extent to which students are on track to meet research-based targets.

 

• Understand Which Data From Selected Assessment/s Will Provide Most Value.

Vendors provide multiple scores in their assessment solutions, so it’s important to pick the right one that will be suited to the purpose.

For measuring growth, scaled scores should be used instead of grade-level scores. 

The grade-level metrics only reflect differences in text complexity, not the actual growth in students’ reading abilities. They are helpful for making classroom assessments.

For individual students, schools should focus on interpreting the scaled score specific to each assessment.

 

• Understand How to Set Decision Rules

For setting decision rules, there are two major components of determining if an intervention is required or if the current intervention is working. It can be at any tier of MTSS. 

1. Set a predetermined goal.
2. Establish criteria for evaluating whether the student/group/class is on track to meet the goal.

Decision rules must be set for every type of assessment. 

Let’s take progress monitoring as an example, as its high frequency of data collection provides a faster data-based decision cycle.

The Oregon Department of Education recommends the four point decision rule and the slope analysis. 

The former takes the four most recent data points to a pre-set research-backed goal line. If they are all below the goal line, the intervention is adjusted due to insufficient growth. If they are all above the goal line, the intervention is faded or a new line is set. If they are both above and below the line, the current intervention is continued.

There is also a slope-analysis where a linear trend is fit into existing data points to characterize the trend in their overall actual growth. The steepness of the student’s growth trend is compared to the slope of the goal line.

When setting decision rules, consider what’s needed to close a gap and realistically evaluate how much progress an intervention can achieve within a set timeframe. Goals for progress monitoring should account for both these factors.

 

• Understand The Needs of the End User.

Administrators use screening scores for scheduling and resource decisions, like identifying students needing extra support. These scores offer a general view of reading development but lack the detailed information teachers need for lesson planning.

Since a single assessment suite generates various scores, it’s important to determine which scores are most useful for each group. 

Aligning on these needs can enhance collaboration and support better student literacy outcomes.

 

Information. Action. Deliberation.

Apply It Today To Perfect Early Literacy Assessments Across All Tiers

The Reading League comments, if 85% of students are not proficient in foundational skills with a Tier 1 curriculum, the issue likely lies with the program or its implementation, not the students. 

But this is overwhelmingly the case for almost every school across the continent!

This is why many leading literacy organizations recommend in their curriculum evaluation guidelines that assessment data be used to differentiate instruction across a Multi-Tiered System of Supports based on student progress.

Core instruction and its assessment is just as important as any supplementary measures taken in any of the other tiers in MTSS.

So when deciding what to do with early literacy assessments, the framework outlined in this article of information, action and deliberation helps to gain an overall understanding of the needs of every student, and every end-user.

It resolves tension between the type of reading assessment scores that administrators and teachers find useful in their roles. 

It helps to methodologically think about all objectives that are in stake, and the information areas that are needed in order to meet them.