Pre Reading

Reading Tests

© Phil Builder 2003

Even the best minds in Reading Education can never agree on how best to assess a person's reading ability. The table below gives a brief summary of a few. Reading Tests only give a score which tells the level of reading. This isn't diagnostic. It doesn't help to tell what to do to help the child improve. Miscue Analysis on the other hand gives a wealth of information about the child's reading but some versions are very time-consuming, complex, and too detailed for many teachers. The most useful and popular of these is the Running Records assessment created by Dame Marie Clay. The assessment described below (BRAT) is also a Miscue Analysis procedure, but very much simplified, and more useful for busy teachers, their assistants, and parents. Beginning readers can be assessed using Clay's CAP (Concepts About Print) Observational Procedure. CAP is part of Clay's Reading Recovery program, and is an essential inclusion in every beginning reading program. Elements of CAP are included in the Early Literacy Checklist. Checklists are easy for anyone to use and can include as much detail as needed. They show what is known and what needs to be done.

Here is a summary of the most common ways to assess reading, and what they do.

Assessment Method	What they test	Resulting information	Strengths	Weaknesses
Tests
Comprehension Tests	Reading speed, Accuracy, ability to understand different levels of questioning	Reading Age score for comparison rankings with other students	Fast way to survey a lot of children	Not diagnostic Doesn't tell you what to do to help the individual.
Cloze tests	Reading speed, ability to understand and replace words in gaps	Reading Age score for comparison rankings with other students	Fast way to survey a lot of children	Not diagnostic Doesn't tell you what to do to help the individual.
Sentence tests	Reading speed. Ability to understand a sentence	Reading Age score for comparison rankings with other students	Fast way to survey a lot of children	Not diagnostic Doesn't tell you what to do to help the individual
Word tests	Ability to recognise and pronounce words	Reading Age score for comparison rankings with other students	Fast way to survey a lot of children	Not diagnostic Doesn't tell you what to do to help the individual
Observational Methods (Oral Reading)
Miscue analysis	Reading Strategies	Recommendations about future action	Very detailed information about the reader	Time consuming May give too much information
Running Records	Accuracy, fluency, Self corrections, Dependence, and Strategies,	Scores, interpretation of results	Detailed and informative, child friendly.	Teacher needs to be well trained
Builder Reading Assessment Technique (BRAT)	Meaning based Reading Strategies	Recommendations about teaching individuals	Easy to monitor reading quality. Focuses on what children do, and what they need to do.	Adults needs to understand the process, and practice using it
Observational Methods (Activity)
Read and Retell	Understanding from silent reading	Assessing comprehension	Simple to use in the classroom	Can be overdone
Reading Log	Names and number of books read	Comparative	Follows good teaching methods	Need to monitor individuals
Reading Conference	Oral, understanding, attitudes	Setting personal goals	Top teaching strategy	Time consuming
Instructional Reading	Reading for meaning, following instructions	Assessing comprehension	Useful if part of relevant learning activities	May be over-used as a test of comprehension
Checklists
Early Literacy	Includes the features considered important for a child to develop as a reader and writer	Identifies what can/cannot be done, or what is/is not known	Easy to follow and use. No time limit. Completion is a significant achievement	Adults need to understand the features
Reading Strategies	Useful and Problem Reading Strategies	Identifies strategies that should be fostered	Shows what should/should not be happening	Only refers to strategies readers use
Observational Method: Early Reading Concepts
Concepts About Print (CAP)	For beginning readers. Tests their understandings about how text works	Identifies print concepts child needs to develop	Reveals what children know and can do