Arlington Reading Assessments K-5
Letter Identification (K-1)
In this task the child is asked to identify the upper and lower case letters by name. Students are also asked to name the type set versions of ‘a’ and ‘g’. Letter knowledge indicates that the child is familiar with some aspects of the visual details of print.
Score range 0 – 54
Letter/Sound (K-1)
In this assessment, students are asked to make the sound that a letter stands for, or to name a word that begins with that letter. Knowing the sounds that individual letters represent is highly correlated with future reading success.
Score range 0 – 26
Modified Concepts About Print (K) In this task the teacher reads a small book while working with the child. The teacher asks the child questions that require him to act on critical concepts about print, such as which way to go, where to start reading, and where to go next. It also assesses word-by-word matching in reading, book-handling skills, locating words in print, distinguishing between letters and words, and the meaning of punctuation.
Score range 0 - 11
Phonological Awareness Tasks (K and 1) These tasks measure the reader’s ability to control, attend to, and work with spoken sounds and words.
Task # 21K – Segmenting words into phonemes:
The child is asked to segment each sound heard in a spoken word. The “K” stands for the Kindergarten version of this assessment. This assessment involves CVC words with three sounds that contain only short vowels (ex. “cat”).
Task # 21 – Segmenting words into phonemes:
This task is similar to the one above, except that it involves words with up to four sounds and includes digraphs as well as short and long vowel sounds (ex. “chain” and “brush”)
Score range for both assessments: 0 – 8
Phonics Decoding Inventory (Gr. 2)
In this assessment, students are asked to read (decode) a list of 50 nonsense words. Each of the words contains at least one of the phonics concepts taught in Fundations lessons in grade 1 and grade 2. Students are expected to be able to read all 50 nonsense words by the end of grade 2. It is commonly accepted knowledge that students who can successfully read nonsense words comprised of legitimate word structures and patterns are more fluent readers. There are fall, winter, and spring versions of this assessment.
Score range 0 – 50
Developmental Reading Assessment - DRA2 (K – 5)
The DRA2 is a diagnostic tool that provides a method for assessing and documenting students’ reading development over time in the following areas: reading engagement, oral reading fluency, and comprehension.
The text levels range from A – 50. Arlington Benchmarks for Independent Reading Levels for grades K-5 by the end of the school year are the following:
Kindergarten B3
Grade 1 I16
Grade 2 M28
Grade 3 P38
Grade 4 40 Nonfiction with Independent Comprehension
Grade 5 50 Nonfiction with Independent Comprehension
Gates MacGinitie Reading Test -Optional:This test can be used when additional information is needed.
The Gates MacGinitie Reading Test is a norm-referenced test for measuring reading achievement. The grade 2 test is divided into three components: comprehension, word knowledge, and decoding. Grades 3 and above have two sections: vocabulary and comprehension. We record the scores as a “grade equivalent”. The first number stands for the year, and the second number stands for the month, so that 2.5 represents a child performing equivalent to a second grade student in their fifth year.
(The Following Assessments are Used in Grades 3-5 Only)
Wilson WADE: Wilson Assessment of Decoding and Encoding. This assessment is used as a pretest to place students in the Wilson Reading System, and as a posttest following an extended instructional period. The WADE can also be used for grouping students with similar needs. The WADE measures: sound production in isolation, decoding of phonetically regular words in isolation (real and nonsense words), and decoding of high frequency irregular sight words. There is a decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) component to the assessment. Students are asked to read and write lists of words that correspond to the 12 steps in the Wilson Reading System.
MCAS Reading and ELA Tests: The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) was implemented in response to the Education Reform Law of 1993, which required that MCAS be designed to measure performance based on the learning standards in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Students in grades 3 through 5 take a test designed to measure their ability to read and understand written passages. Students must answer multiple choice and open response (written) questions. In addition to this, students in grade 4 also write a multi-paragraph essay called the “Long Composition”. Fourth grade scores thus reflect a student’s ability to read and comprehend, as well as to compose an extended piece of writing on a given topic with proper application of standard writing conventions, style, and focus.
Scores are reported as Performance Levels: Warning (Failing) - W, Needs Improvement- NI, Proficient- P, and Advanced - A. It is our goal to get every child to Proficient or Advanced.
In this task the child is asked to identify the upper and lower case letters by name. Students are also asked to name the type set versions of ‘a’ and ‘g’. Letter knowledge indicates that the child is familiar with some aspects of the visual details of print.
Score range 0 – 54
Letter/Sound (K-1)
In this assessment, students are asked to make the sound that a letter stands for, or to name a word that begins with that letter. Knowing the sounds that individual letters represent is highly correlated with future reading success.
Score range 0 – 26
Modified Concepts About Print (K) In this task the teacher reads a small book while working with the child. The teacher asks the child questions that require him to act on critical concepts about print, such as which way to go, where to start reading, and where to go next. It also assesses word-by-word matching in reading, book-handling skills, locating words in print, distinguishing between letters and words, and the meaning of punctuation.
Score range 0 - 11
Phonological Awareness Tasks (K and 1) These tasks measure the reader’s ability to control, attend to, and work with spoken sounds and words.
Task # 21K – Segmenting words into phonemes:
The child is asked to segment each sound heard in a spoken word. The “K” stands for the Kindergarten version of this assessment. This assessment involves CVC words with three sounds that contain only short vowels (ex. “cat”).
Task # 21 – Segmenting words into phonemes:
This task is similar to the one above, except that it involves words with up to four sounds and includes digraphs as well as short and long vowel sounds (ex. “chain” and “brush”)
Score range for both assessments: 0 – 8
Phonics Decoding Inventory (Gr. 2)
In this assessment, students are asked to read (decode) a list of 50 nonsense words. Each of the words contains at least one of the phonics concepts taught in Fundations lessons in grade 1 and grade 2. Students are expected to be able to read all 50 nonsense words by the end of grade 2. It is commonly accepted knowledge that students who can successfully read nonsense words comprised of legitimate word structures and patterns are more fluent readers. There are fall, winter, and spring versions of this assessment.
Score range 0 – 50
Developmental Reading Assessment - DRA2 (K – 5)
The DRA2 is a diagnostic tool that provides a method for assessing and documenting students’ reading development over time in the following areas: reading engagement, oral reading fluency, and comprehension.
The text levels range from A – 50. Arlington Benchmarks for Independent Reading Levels for grades K-5 by the end of the school year are the following:
Kindergarten B3
Grade 1 I16
Grade 2 M28
Grade 3 P38
Grade 4 40 Nonfiction with Independent Comprehension
Grade 5 50 Nonfiction with Independent Comprehension
Gates MacGinitie Reading Test -Optional:This test can be used when additional information is needed.
The Gates MacGinitie Reading Test is a norm-referenced test for measuring reading achievement. The grade 2 test is divided into three components: comprehension, word knowledge, and decoding. Grades 3 and above have two sections: vocabulary and comprehension. We record the scores as a “grade equivalent”. The first number stands for the year, and the second number stands for the month, so that 2.5 represents a child performing equivalent to a second grade student in their fifth year.
(The Following Assessments are Used in Grades 3-5 Only)
Wilson WADE: Wilson Assessment of Decoding and Encoding. This assessment is used as a pretest to place students in the Wilson Reading System, and as a posttest following an extended instructional period. The WADE can also be used for grouping students with similar needs. The WADE measures: sound production in isolation, decoding of phonetically regular words in isolation (real and nonsense words), and decoding of high frequency irregular sight words. There is a decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) component to the assessment. Students are asked to read and write lists of words that correspond to the 12 steps in the Wilson Reading System.
MCAS Reading and ELA Tests: The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) was implemented in response to the Education Reform Law of 1993, which required that MCAS be designed to measure performance based on the learning standards in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Students in grades 3 through 5 take a test designed to measure their ability to read and understand written passages. Students must answer multiple choice and open response (written) questions. In addition to this, students in grade 4 also write a multi-paragraph essay called the “Long Composition”. Fourth grade scores thus reflect a student’s ability to read and comprehend, as well as to compose an extended piece of writing on a given topic with proper application of standard writing conventions, style, and focus.
Scores are reported as Performance Levels: Warning (Failing) - W, Needs Improvement- NI, Proficient- P, and Advanced - A. It is our goal to get every child to Proficient or Advanced.
