Reading is made up of
many different components and skills.
Reading is the combination of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,
vocabulary, and comprehension all rolled together into one. If you think about it, reading is very
complex. There are many people who
struggle with one or more aspects of reading.
As a teacher, it can be frustrating not knowing why a student is
struggling and then not knowing how to help them become a better reader.
There are many tools out there for teachers to use that
can assist in diagnosing a student who may need further help with reading. There are several formal and informal
assessments that can be used to steer teachers in the right direction when it
comes to helping their students.
SIT
(Slossan Intelligence Test)
The first test
that I researched was called the SIT or the Slossan Intelligence Test. This test is used to test verbal and
cognitive ability in children or adults.
There are several great aspects of this test. The one I found most fascinating is that it
is available to all types of learners… even those with disabilities. It is also a test that can be given in under
20 minutes so that the teacher and student are not bogged down with a test that
takes hours to administer. The major
weakness I found that there is a lack of reliability and validity with the
research that has been done on this test.
Basically they are saying that it is outdated. In spite of that, it is still a widely used
test that can be used to test verbal and cognitive ability.
SORT
(Slossan Oral Reading Test)
The second test I researched was called the SORT or the
Slossan Oral Reading Test. This test is
used to evaluate word recognition, word calling, and reading level. This assessment is given in only 3-5 minutes
by a student reading lists of 20 words at time.
The student reads until he or she become frustrated and cannot read
anymore of the given words. This test
can be given to any person of any age.
Teachers are able to use this assessment to place students into reading
levels. The biggest downfall to this
test is that there is no evaluation of other reading skills like comprehension
or vocabulary. This test may need to be
combined with another test to be able to assess a student’s overall reading
ability.
BRI
(Basic Reading Inventory)
The next test I researched was the BRI or the Basic
Reading Inventory. This is a more time
consuming test than the previous tests but it also covers more aspects of
reading. This assessment can evaluate
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension all at the
same time, within the same test. It
begins with a student reading from a list of given words at a certain grade
level. After so many mistakes, the child
will become frustrated and then the teacher will know what grade level he or
she is on when it comes to word recognition.
The next step is to read a short story and answer comprehension and
vocabulary questions about it. The
teacher can also assess their fluency by seeing how many words per minute the
child can read. As you can see, this
test can take up to an hour to administer and that might be too long for some
children. I also found from my Practicum
student that I am tutoring that the reading level from the BRI is much higher than
what it is in the classroom. I’m not
sure if that is a curriculum issue or a BRI issue. One of the greatest strengths I found with
the BRI is that teachers can track progress with their students. Most of the other tests do not have this
option. The BRI has several different
word lists and several different stories for comprehension. From all the other assessments I researched,
I believe that the BRI is probably the most through test and the one that
covers the most material.
WADT
(Wepman’s Auditory Discrimination Test)
The WADT or the Wepman’s Auditory Discrimination Test is
an assessment that measures how well a person understands speech and the spoken
word. This test is appropriate for any
age group but is most effective when it is administered to younger
children. This test can be used to
determine if students will have a hard time with letter sounds or phonics. It can also discover if a student has
communication or speech problems. The
test can be given fairly quickly and it is inexpensive to purchase. Teachers can use the results from this test
to determine if a child might have a learning disability, might struggle with
reading, or might have a hearing impairment.
Slingerland
(Visual Discrimination Test)
The final test that I researched was called the Slingerland
Visual Discrimination Test. This
assessment tests specifically for dyslexia and language disabilities which are actually
visual processing disorders. In other
words, this test targets students who are believed to have symptoms of
dyslexia. In addition to basically
diagnosing dyslexia, it can also identify a student’s strengths and weakness in
their language development or visual discrimination. This test is available for everyone; however
there are more specific tests to specific ages.
For example, administers would not give a 1st grader the same
test as a high school student when trying to diagnose dyslexia so there are
several tests to choose from. The
biggest downfall for the Slingerland test is that it is expensive and teachers
have to pay to take a course on how to administer the test. This test would not be given to every student
but only to those who are suspected of having a learning disability.
After conducting all the previous research, I have come
to one conclusion. I now realize that
there is not just one test that can be used to assess a student’s reading
ability. Just like reading itself is
complex, so is the assessment of reading.
The SIT can assess a student’s verbal and cognitive abilities. The SORT can evaluate a student’s word
recognition and reading level. The BRI
can assess fluency and comprehension and the WADT can determine how well a
child can understand spoken words. Finally,
the Slingerland test can identify specific learning disabilities like dyslexia.
Teachers
need to be willing to use all the necessary means to help a child learn to
read. These tests all have strengths and
weaknesses but they can assess best when combined with one another. Using a combination of these assessments and
classroom tools, teachers can meet the needs of all learners.
|
|
Purpose
|
Strengths
|
Weaknesses
|
Appropriateness
|
|
SIT (Slosson Intelligence Test)
|
*measures
intelligence
*measures
verbal and cognitive ability
|
*suitable
for any type of learner
*can
help screen for a learning disability
*test
can be administered in 10-20 minutes
|
*can
be used for screening but not diagnosis disability
*research
shows there is not much validity or reliability
*outdated
|
*for
infants-adult
*appropriate
for those with special needs
|
|
SORT (Slosson Oral Reading Test)
|
*measures
the level of oral word recognition, word calling and reading level
|
*quick
screening to determine a student’s reading level
*test
only takes about 5 minutes
*can
determine if further diagnosis is needed
|
*doesn’t
assess all aspects of reading like comprehension
|
*for
ages preschool-adult
*appropriate
for all students to be placed in a reading level
|
|
BRI (Basic Reading Inventory)
|
*measures
a student’s ability in word recognition, fluency and comprehension
|
*affordable
*can
help teachers see where a student is struggling
*assesses
reading level
*can
track progress
*tests
all aspects of reading
|
*may
not meet the same reading level as all curriculums
*can
be time consuming
|
*for
all ages and ability levels
|
|
WADT (Wepman’s Auditory Discrimination
Test)
|
*measures
how well a person understands speech and the spoken word
|
*fast
and inexpensive
*can
assess for communication problems, phonics problems and speech issues
|
*cannot
track progress
|
*for
ages preschool-adult
*most
effective the earlier a problem is detected
|
|
Slingerland (Visual Discrimination
Test)
|
*tests
specifically for dyslexia and language disability which is a visual
processing disorder
|
*can
a diagnose dyslexia
*identifies
strengths and weaknesses in language learners
|
*only
targets a specific disability
*expensive
*educators
must take a course in order to administer the test
|
*for
all ages
*there
are different tests for different age/ability groups
|
References
Alic, M. (2014). Auditory Discrimination Test. Retrieved
on March 15, 2014 from
Johns, J. (2012). Basic Reading Inventory (11th
ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing
Company.
McKechnie, J., &
Bradley, E. (2001). Test Review: Slosson
Intelligence Test Revised (SIT-R).
Slingerland Institute
for Literacy. (2014). Retrieved on March 15, 2014 from
Slosson Oral Reading
Test. (2013). Retrieved on March 15, 2014 from
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