Data Sources in Grade 1
In a structured literacy approach, we rely on different types of assessments to answer different questions about student outcomes. Screeners help us quickly identify risk, diagnostic tools help us dig deep into specific skills, and progress monitoring allows us to track how well instruction is working over time. Each tool serves a unique purpose, but together, they provide a complete picture and guide our instructional decisions.
Screeners
Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)
Skills Assessed: A student’s ability to recognize individual letters and say their letter names.
Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) is a brief, direct measure of a student’s fluency in naming letters. The purpose of LNF is to measure students’ automaticity with letter naming. Letter Naming Fluency is not an essential skill, but an indicator of future reading risk.
During the LNF assessment, a student is presented with a sheet containing uppercase and/or lowercase letters arranged in a random order. The student is asked to name as many letters as they can within a specific time limit, often one minute. The assessment focuses on the automaticity and accuracy with which the student can identify and name each letter.
Knowledge of letter names in kindergarten is a strong and robust predictor of later reading performance (Adams, 1990), and has an enduring relationship with phonological awareness (Kaminski & Good, 1996; Scarborough, 1998; Stahl & Murray, 1994; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994), (Acadience Reading K-6 Assessment Manual, 2011).
Acadience Reading K-6
Length: 1 minute
When: Beginning of Year 2 Kindergarten to beginning of Grade 1
*Required*
easyCBM
When: Beginning of Year 2 Kindergarten to end of Grade 1
aimswebPlus
Length: 1 minute
When::Beginning of Year 2 Kindergarten to end of Year 2 Kindergarten
*Required*
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
Skills Assessed: Phonemic Awareness
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF) is a brief, direct measure of phonemic awareness. PSF assesses the student’s fluency in segmenting a spoken word into its component parts or sound segments.
During the PSF assessment, a student is presented with a series of words and asked to orally segment each word into its constituent phonemes. For example, if presented with the word “cat,” the student should correctly identify and say the individual sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/. The assessment is timed, and the number of correct phoneme segments within that time frame is recorded.
Phonemic awareness is highly predictive of success in learning to read (Gillon, 2004; Stahl & Murray, 2006). Additionally, effective instruction in phonemic awareness leads to significant differences in reading achievement (Ehri, 2004; National Reading Panel, 2000). Most reading researchers advocate that phonemic awareness be purposefully and explicitly taught as part of a comprehensive instructional program in reading and writing. (Acadience Reading K-6 Assessment Manual, 2011)
Acadience Reading K-6
Length: 1 minute
When: Middle of Year 2 Kindergarten to beginning of Grade 1
*Required*
easyCBM
When: Beginning of Year 2 Kindergarten to beginning of Grade 1
aimswebPlus
Length: 2-3 minutes
When: Middle of Year 2 Kindergarten to beginning of Grade 1
*Required*
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)
Skills Assessed: Alphabetic Principle and Phonics
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) is a brief, direct measure of the alphabetic principle and basic phonics. Nonsense word measures are considered to be a good indicator of the alphabetic principle because “pseudo-words have no lexical entry, [and thus] pseudo-word reading provides a relatively pure assessment of students’ ability to apply grapheme-phoneme knowledge in decoding” (Rathvon, 2004, p. 138).
During the NWF assessment, a student is presented with a list of nonsense words, which are made-up words that follow phonetic rules and are phonetically regular (e.g. “mip,” “vop”). The student is asked to read aloud as many nonsense words as they can within a specific time limit, usually one minute. The assessment focuses on the accuracy and automaticity with which the student can decode and read these pseudo words.
Development of the alphabetic principle and basic phonics is essential for decoding unknown words (Adams, 1990; Ehri, 2002) and for developing the sight-word vocabulary necessary for fluent reading (Share, 1995; Share & Stanovich, 1995). While nonsense word fluency provides a very quick way to assess a student’s decoding ability, it is not necessary to teach nonsense word decoding in your daily instruction. When screening data shows risk in this area, dig deeper and assess phonemic awareness and phonics to guide instruction (Acadience Reading K-6 Assessment Manual, 2011).
Acadience Reading K-6
Length: 1 minute
When: Middle of Year 2 Kindergarten to beginning of Grade 2
*Required*
easyCBM
Not assessed
aimswebPlus
Length: 1 minute
When: Middle of Year 2 Kindergarten to end of Grade 1
Word Reading Fluency (WRF)
Skills Assessed: Alphabetic Principle and Phonics
Word Reading Fluency (WRF) measures a student’s ability to read isolated words accurately and quickly. This brief, direct measure offers a window into the foundational skills of alphabetic principle and accuracy and fluency with text.
During the assessment, students are typically presented with a list of words that increase in difficulty based on grade level. They are asked to read aloud as many words as they can within a specific time limit, usually one minute. A WRF provides educators with quick, standardized measures of a student’s word-level reading proficiency. Results help identify students who may need additional support in developing fluency and automaticity in word recognition, guiding instructional decisions to improve overall reading skills
Acadience Reading K-6
Not assessed
easyCBM
When: Middle of Year 2 Kindergarten to end of Grade 1
aimswebPlus
Length: 1 minute
When: End of Year 2 Kindergarten to end of Grade 1
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
Skills Assessed: Advanced Phonics and Word Attack Skills; Accurate and Fluent Reading of Connected Text; Reading Comprehension
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) is a measure of advanced phonics and word attack skills, accurate and fluent reading of connected text, and reading comprehension.
During the ORF assessment, a student is asked to read aloud a grade-level passage or a series of passages for a specific duration, usually one minute. The student reads as accurately and fluently as possible, with an emphasis on accuracy, and automaticity. The assessment may also include comprehension questions to gauge the student’s understanding of the text.
Oral reading fluency in connected text is more than the accurate reading of words in lists and is not speed-reading. Oral reading fluency can be described as the bridge between accurate, automatic, word-level decoding and reading comprehension. (Acadience Reading K-6 Assessment Manual, 2011)
While the passages may seem difficult, it’s important to remember that these are research-based tools that have been carefully created and researched. It is important to use them as they have been researched (using grade-level materials with the standardized directions provided). Research shows that these tools are more reliable and accurate than previously used tools like the Benchmark Assessment System or the DRA: we can trust these data more, and use them to make better decisions about students, schools, and boards.
Acadience Reading K-6
Length: 1 minute/text + 1 minute retell, x 3 texts
When: Middle of Grade 1 to end of Grade 6
*Required*
easyCBM
When: Middle of Grade 1 to end of Grade 8
aimswebPlus
Length: 1 minute/text x 2 texts
When: Middle of Grade 1 to end of Grade 8
Optional Assessments
Both easyCBM and aimswebPlus offer additional optional assessments that are not required for screening, but educators may be able to access them. Please check with your school or board for more information.
easyCBM
- Letter Sounds (Year 2 Kindergarten, Grade 1)
aimswebPlus
- Letter Word Sounds Fluency (Year 2 Kindergarten, Grade 1)
- Auditory Vocabulary (Year 2 Kindergarten, Grade 1)
- Listening Comprehension (Grade 1 – Grade 8)
- Spelling (Year 2 Kindergarten – Grade 8)
Diagnostics
Depending on the skills of your students and their results on your universal screener, further investigation into the depth of their skills may be required. Diagnostic assessments vary from school board to school board, but could include assessments in:
- oral language skills
- phonemic awareness
- phonics
- decoding
- spelling
- morphology
- fluency
- reading comprehension
- writing
Many school boards have a list of approved diagnostics. Connect with your school leadership team and/or board curriculum contact for more information.
Progress Monitoring
Progress monitoring allows educators to assess and track students’ growth over time, supporting quick decision-making about the effectiveness of instruction
Acadience Reading K-6, easyCBM, and aimswebPlus all have progress monitoring materials that can be used to monitor student’s response to intervention. Progress monitoring should focus on no more than two related skills at a time and should be primarily focused on the skill receiving the most intensive intervention.
Depending on your board’s screener choice, you may have access to a digital system that tracks student progress over time, or you may need to create a paper graph to visualize progress.
