Which standardised assessment does PLD recommend? Is there a list which can guide schools in their selection process?
When investigating the options to assess single word reading and spelling skills, there are many testing options available on the market. The list below provides some of the basic tools available to schools that are relatively easy to access, are cost effective and relatively time efficient to administer.
Different tests source different information. For any test you need to know what information you need & select the range available. Unfortunately, PLD does not provide this type of advice to schools.
None of these assessments can be purchased through PLD. It is recommended that schools contact ACER or the company providing these assessments directly. ACER has education consultants available to provide information on the specific tests. The consultants are available on the following email: sales@acer.org or on the toll free number: 1800 338 402
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Tests:
Heggerty Phonemic Awareness assessments features assessments tailored to Australian schools. These assessments contain a baseline, mid year and end of year assessment across all years and can be downloaded free of charge from the Heggerty website. The assessments reflect the typical progression of teaching through the Heggerty program, and provide a helpful overview of student phonemic awareness skills. Each assessment varies in length, between 35 to 45 questions in total.
Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) devised by David A. Kilpatrick PhD. This free assessment features syllable, onset & Rime plus phoneme deletion and substitution in the form of Basic Phoneme and Advanced Phoneme awareness. The marking criteria includes a correct score, and another score for automaticity. In total, there are 52 questions, but only students in Year two who are age appropriate will be expected to answer all 52.
Rainbow Assessment Tool - Revised (RAT-R), made by the West Coast Language Development Centre, is primarily used from Kindergarten to Year 1 to assess pre-literacy skills but can also be useful to identify underlying phonological and phonemic skills that may be missing for older or struggling students. All aspects of phonemic awareness are screened including sound identification, blending, segmenting, manipulation and some non-word reading and spelling. This assessment is free to download via The Western Australian Department of Education's 'Connect' once schools have completed the training and been added to the Connect page.
Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test (SPAT) written by Roslyn Neilson, takes 10 to 15 minutes to administer and can be used from the first to the fourth years of schooling. All aspects of phonemic awareness are screened including sound identification, blending, segmenting, manipulation and some non-word reading and spelling. This assessment is available for download from ACER at a cost of $154.00.
Yopp Singer assesses VC and CVC segmentation only. This assessment contains 22 questions and is a free download.
Single Word Reading Tests:
DIBELS (8th Ed) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. New as of April 2023 and adapted for the Australian region. Individual assessments according to year level, these can be downloaded free via the DIBELS website. These assessments cover Phonemic and Phonological Awareness, Single Word Reading Fluency and Comprehension. This assessment can also be used as an indicator for comprehension, see comprehension assessment section below.
Acadience Reading. Previously published as DIBELS Next. This assessment measures Phonemic Awareness, Alphabetic Principle and Basic Phonics, Advanced Phonics and Word Attack Skills, Accurate and Fluency Reading of Text, and Reading Comprehension. Acadience also provides a Data Management system, providing access to reports including school, classroom and individual students monitoring reports and graphs. This assessment can also be used as an indicator for comprehension, see comprehension assessment section below.
National Year 1 Phonics Check is a free, 7 mintue assessment located in the Literacy Hub. This assessment is for Year 1 and 2 students, plus struggling readers. It can be administered both online or on paper and is suitable for either Term 1 or Term 3. The assessment helps to identify students for phonic-based intervention and can track effectiveness of phonics instruction over time.
CUBED Dynamic Decoding Measures (DDM) is one test designed to be administered from Kindergarten to Year 3. This assessment is normed and assesses phonemic awareness, word identification and decoding.
Burt Word Reading Test (1981) Alison Gilmore, Cedric Croft and Neil Reid
The Burt Word Reading Test provides a measure of an aspect of a student’s word reading skills, i.e. word recognition. The test card consists of 110 words printed in decreasing size of type and graded in approximate order of difficulty. The quick test will enable teachers to form a broad estimate of a child's reading achievement to aid decisions about appropriate teaching and reading materials. (Cost: Approximately $30).
The Castles and Coltheart Test 2 (CC2) assesses the functioning of the key processes in single word reading: sounding-out ability and whole word recognition ability. The full test consists of 40 regular words, 40 irregular words and 40 non words, which are presented one-at-a-time, in mixed order, and with gradually increasing difficulty. A stopping rule is applied separately for each item type, with presentation discontinuing after five consecutive items are read incorrectly. The test has been normed on over 1000 Australian children aged from 6 years 0 months to 11 years 6 months. The online version of the test calculates a separate accuracy score for each item type and converts this to a "z score" for the child's age based on the normative data. (Cost: free, upon registration).
TOWRE-2 Test of Word Reading Efficiency (2nd Ed.) The TOWRE-2 is a measure of a student's ability to pronounce printed words (Sight Word Efficiency) and phonemically regular non words (Phonemic Decoding Efficiency) accurately and fluently. Because it can be administered very quickly, the test provides an efficient means of monitoring the growth of two kinds of word reading skill that are critical in the development of overall reading ability. The National Reading Panel in 2000 indicated that frequent monitoring of growth in essential reading skills is important in the delivery of effective reading instruction for all students. Frequent assessment of critical reading skills is also a central aspect of the popular Response to Intervention model of service delivery. Although the TOWRE-2 has not been developed to provide weekly or monthly assessments, it certainly can be used to monitor progress in growth of word-level reading skills three or four times per year. The TOWRE-2 was normed on over 1,700 individuals ranging in age from 6 to 24 years and residing in 12 states and Washington, DC. The Complete Kit: Approximately $320
UK Phonics Screening Check: is designed for Term 3 Year 1 (reviewing the first 18 months of literacy instruction). The screen requires students to read/decode a series of real and pseudowords.
2016 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2017 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2018 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2019 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2022 Screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
Single Word Spelling Tests:
The South Australian Spelling Test - Form A and B contained within ‘Approaches to teaching and assessment’ (2nd Ed.) Peter Westwood (2005) Yes, the norms are getting old as the revised edition was republished in 2005. It is, however an inexpensive and accessible option for schools. For example: Form A - 2022. 2024 & 2026. Form B - 2023, 2025 & 2027.
PAT R Spelling Test Set up fee and charge per student. Organised through ACER PAT assessments will not provide a reading and spelling age, but rather a stanine. The PAT Spelling Test will not provide schools with a measure of 'growth' and skill development within the year. It purely ranks students. Many specilists question the design and relaibility of the PAT tests.
Test to Avoid:
The following assessments are not recommended: The Waddington Reading and Spelling Test, the Schonell reading and spelling tests, and all other 'whole language' or 'balanced literacy' assessments. For example; Running Records, PM Benchmarking, Marie Clay Observational Survey. etc.
Reading Comprehension Assessments:
YARC - a detailed analysis of reading skills: reading accuracy, reading rate and comprehension. https://www.gl-education.com/assessments/products/yarc/
PROBE (ACER)
Neale Analysis (3rd edition)
Reading comprehension assessments for junior primary students (or students operating at a low junior primary level) are challenging to locate. Students require a certain level of decoding and word reading ability in order to attempt a reading comprehension assessment. Listed below, are 3 options for assessing comprehension in the junior primary:
ORF (Oral Reading Fluency). ORF has a 90% correlative relatiuonship to comprehension and as such, can be used as a means to gauge comprehension in younger readers. Single word assessments already lists above that include ORF are DIBELS (8th Ed) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and Acadience Reading. Previously published as DIBELS Next.
For students with limited decoding, phonic and word attack strategies, an individualised and in-depth screen is presented.
An indication of future reading comprehension ability is typically reflected by performance with Blank Level Questioning. Hence the screens in the Comprehension Question Programs will present an indication of later comprehension ability, when students are able to read the text themselves.
PAT Assessments The PAT range of tests will not provide schools with a measure of 'growth' and skill development within the year. It purely ranks students. Many specilists question the design and relaibility of the PAT tests.
Please Note: PM Benchmarking and SSP are TOTALLY incompatible. There is no effective way to match PM Benchmarks with SSP or PLD. You can read more on this HERE. Keep in mind, although PM suggested that their assessments are also assessing reading, they are not supported by the evidence base.
Further Assistance:
ACER has consultants available to provide information on the specific tests. The consultants are available on the following email: sales@acer.org or on the toll free number: 1800 338 402
Book and individual ‘coaching’ session with Diana Rigg to review the school’s literacy plan and how the assessments cycles are operating within the literacy plan. mail@pld-literacy.org
Different tests source different information. For any test you need to know what information you need & select the range available. Unfortunately, PLD does not provide this type of advice to schools.
None of these assessments can be purchased through PLD. It is recommended that schools contact ACER or the company providing these assessments directly. ACER has education consultants available to provide information on the specific tests. The consultants are available on the following email: sales@acer.org or on the toll free number: 1800 338 402
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Tests:
Heggerty Phonemic Awareness assessments features assessments tailored to Australian schools. These assessments contain a baseline, mid year and end of year assessment across all years and can be downloaded free of charge from the Heggerty website. The assessments reflect the typical progression of teaching through the Heggerty program, and provide a helpful overview of student phonemic awareness skills. Each assessment varies in length, between 35 to 45 questions in total.
Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) devised by David A. Kilpatrick PhD. This free assessment features syllable, onset & Rime plus phoneme deletion and substitution in the form of Basic Phoneme and Advanced Phoneme awareness. The marking criteria includes a correct score, and another score for automaticity. In total, there are 52 questions, but only students in Year two who are age appropriate will be expected to answer all 52.
Rainbow Assessment Tool - Revised (RAT-R), made by the West Coast Language Development Centre, is primarily used from Kindergarten to Year 1 to assess pre-literacy skills but can also be useful to identify underlying phonological and phonemic skills that may be missing for older or struggling students. All aspects of phonemic awareness are screened including sound identification, blending, segmenting, manipulation and some non-word reading and spelling. This assessment is free to download via The Western Australian Department of Education's 'Connect' once schools have completed the training and been added to the Connect page.
Sutherland Phonological Awareness Test (SPAT) written by Roslyn Neilson, takes 10 to 15 minutes to administer and can be used from the first to the fourth years of schooling. All aspects of phonemic awareness are screened including sound identification, blending, segmenting, manipulation and some non-word reading and spelling. This assessment is available for download from ACER at a cost of $154.00.
Yopp Singer assesses VC and CVC segmentation only. This assessment contains 22 questions and is a free download.
Single Word Reading Tests:
DIBELS (8th Ed) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. New as of April 2023 and adapted for the Australian region. Individual assessments according to year level, these can be downloaded free via the DIBELS website. These assessments cover Phonemic and Phonological Awareness, Single Word Reading Fluency and Comprehension. This assessment can also be used as an indicator for comprehension, see comprehension assessment section below.
Acadience Reading. Previously published as DIBELS Next. This assessment measures Phonemic Awareness, Alphabetic Principle and Basic Phonics, Advanced Phonics and Word Attack Skills, Accurate and Fluency Reading of Text, and Reading Comprehension. Acadience also provides a Data Management system, providing access to reports including school, classroom and individual students monitoring reports and graphs. This assessment can also be used as an indicator for comprehension, see comprehension assessment section below.
National Year 1 Phonics Check is a free, 7 mintue assessment located in the Literacy Hub. This assessment is for Year 1 and 2 students, plus struggling readers. It can be administered both online or on paper and is suitable for either Term 1 or Term 3. The assessment helps to identify students for phonic-based intervention and can track effectiveness of phonics instruction over time.
CUBED Dynamic Decoding Measures (DDM) is one test designed to be administered from Kindergarten to Year 3. This assessment is normed and assesses phonemic awareness, word identification and decoding.
Burt Word Reading Test (1981) Alison Gilmore, Cedric Croft and Neil Reid
The Burt Word Reading Test provides a measure of an aspect of a student’s word reading skills, i.e. word recognition. The test card consists of 110 words printed in decreasing size of type and graded in approximate order of difficulty. The quick test will enable teachers to form a broad estimate of a child's reading achievement to aid decisions about appropriate teaching and reading materials. (Cost: Approximately $30).
The Castles and Coltheart Test 2 (CC2) assesses the functioning of the key processes in single word reading: sounding-out ability and whole word recognition ability. The full test consists of 40 regular words, 40 irregular words and 40 non words, which are presented one-at-a-time, in mixed order, and with gradually increasing difficulty. A stopping rule is applied separately for each item type, with presentation discontinuing after five consecutive items are read incorrectly. The test has been normed on over 1000 Australian children aged from 6 years 0 months to 11 years 6 months. The online version of the test calculates a separate accuracy score for each item type and converts this to a "z score" for the child's age based on the normative data. (Cost: free, upon registration).
TOWRE-2 Test of Word Reading Efficiency (2nd Ed.) The TOWRE-2 is a measure of a student's ability to pronounce printed words (Sight Word Efficiency) and phonemically regular non words (Phonemic Decoding Efficiency) accurately and fluently. Because it can be administered very quickly, the test provides an efficient means of monitoring the growth of two kinds of word reading skill that are critical in the development of overall reading ability. The National Reading Panel in 2000 indicated that frequent monitoring of growth in essential reading skills is important in the delivery of effective reading instruction for all students. Frequent assessment of critical reading skills is also a central aspect of the popular Response to Intervention model of service delivery. Although the TOWRE-2 has not been developed to provide weekly or monthly assessments, it certainly can be used to monitor progress in growth of word-level reading skills three or four times per year. The TOWRE-2 was normed on over 1,700 individuals ranging in age from 6 to 24 years and residing in 12 states and Washington, DC. The Complete Kit: Approximately $320
UK Phonics Screening Check: is designed for Term 3 Year 1 (reviewing the first 18 months of literacy instruction). The screen requires students to read/decode a series of real and pseudowords.
2016 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2017 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2018 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2019 screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
2022 Screen: (The threshold mark is 32 in the UK and 28 in Australia)
Single Word Spelling Tests:
The South Australian Spelling Test - Form A and B contained within ‘Approaches to teaching and assessment’ (2nd Ed.) Peter Westwood (2005) Yes, the norms are getting old as the revised edition was republished in 2005. It is, however an inexpensive and accessible option for schools. For example: Form A - 2022. 2024 & 2026. Form B - 2023, 2025 & 2027.
PAT R Spelling Test Set up fee and charge per student. Organised through ACER PAT assessments will not provide a reading and spelling age, but rather a stanine. The PAT Spelling Test will not provide schools with a measure of 'growth' and skill development within the year. It purely ranks students. Many specilists question the design and relaibility of the PAT tests.
Test to Avoid:
The following assessments are not recommended: The Waddington Reading and Spelling Test, the Schonell reading and spelling tests, and all other 'whole language' or 'balanced literacy' assessments. For example; Running Records, PM Benchmarking, Marie Clay Observational Survey. etc.
Reading Comprehension Assessments:
YARC - a detailed analysis of reading skills: reading accuracy, reading rate and comprehension. https://www.gl-education.com/assessments/products/yarc/
PROBE (ACER)
Neale Analysis (3rd edition)
Reading comprehension assessments for junior primary students (or students operating at a low junior primary level) are challenging to locate. Students require a certain level of decoding and word reading ability in order to attempt a reading comprehension assessment. Listed below, are 3 options for assessing comprehension in the junior primary:
ORF (Oral Reading Fluency). ORF has a 90% correlative relatiuonship to comprehension and as such, can be used as a means to gauge comprehension in younger readers. Single word assessments already lists above that include ORF are DIBELS (8th Ed) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and Acadience Reading. Previously published as DIBELS Next.
For students with limited decoding, phonic and word attack strategies, an individualised and in-depth screen is presented.
An indication of future reading comprehension ability is typically reflected by performance with Blank Level Questioning. Hence the screens in the Comprehension Question Programs will present an indication of later comprehension ability, when students are able to read the text themselves.
PAT Assessments The PAT range of tests will not provide schools with a measure of 'growth' and skill development within the year. It purely ranks students. Many specilists question the design and relaibility of the PAT tests.
Please Note: PM Benchmarking and SSP are TOTALLY incompatible. There is no effective way to match PM Benchmarks with SSP or PLD. You can read more on this HERE. Keep in mind, although PM suggested that their assessments are also assessing reading, they are not supported by the evidence base.
Further Assistance:
ACER has consultants available to provide information on the specific tests. The consultants are available on the following email: sales@acer.org or on the toll free number: 1800 338 402
Book and individual ‘coaching’ session with Diana Rigg to review the school’s literacy plan and how the assessments cycles are operating within the literacy plan. mail@pld-literacy.org
Updated on: 13/11/2023
Thank you!