The CORE Phonological Segmentation Test
takes only 5-10 minutes. It has 4 parts, all of which might not be necessary for assessment. Follow the instructions given on pages 20-22 of the CORE Assessing Reading Multiple Measures book.
The CORE Phonics Surveys
takes 10-15 minutes. It guides your student through printed upper and lowercase letters, the consonant and vowel sounds and then all the different spelling skills like CVC words, digraphs, r-controlled vowels, multisyllabic words etc. The test is not given all at once. Use the chart on page 42 of the CORE Assessing Reading Multiple Measures book to determine at what time of year to give which portion of the test. The results will be explicit and will allow you as the teacher to know exactly what letters to teach.
The Qualitative Reading Inventory-7 (QRI)
takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Beginning with the Word Lists, have your student read through the list beginning about 2 years below grade level, noting if each word takes one second or less to read and if they read it incorrectly, note what the pronunciation they use is. Score this assessment as directed on p.42-43 of the QRI-7 Assessment book. Then find the Word List where 90% of the words were read correctly. This will give your student some confidence as they begin the passage reading portion of the assessment. Begin with the narrative text options at the appropriate grade level. Review the concept questions for each in order to decide which passage the student has background knowledge of. Chose the text they know the most about. If you’d like to assess listening comprehension, read the text to the student and follow with asking the questions, having them retell the passage, or both. If you like to assess their reading comprehension, set a timer, have the student read aloud the text and mark errors as listed on pages 49-50 of the QRI-7 Assessment book. Save the time for scoring the reading rate later. Then ask the comprehension questions that follow in order to determine the independent, instructional and frustration level they are at for reading. Having the student retell the selection will provide insight into their understanding of text structure. Analyze the results of the reading miscues and implicit and explicit question answers as explained on pages 51-69 of the QRI-7 Assessment book.
The MASI-R Oral Reading Fluency Measures
is a 15 minute test that involves a student reading 3 passages, one after another, each within one minute of time. Begin by preparing a timer to run 1 minute. Give the student the first grade level passage. Encourage them to read aloud carefully, not race the timer. Mark miscues as well as the point where they stop for the timer. Continue with the remaining passages. Count their words correct per minute for each and find their ORF score as specified on pages 79-80 of the CORE Assessing Reading Multiple Measures book.
The CORE Vocabulary Screening Test
is about 10-20 minutes long. Pass out a copy of the test to each student. Explain that they will be reading a word in a box and then looking at words in the row beside it and choosing one word that means the same as the word in the box. Follow the instructions given on pages 119-120 of the CORE Assessing Reading Multiple Measures book.
The CORE Reading Maze Comprehension Test
is a quick assessment to find out about what level a student is comprehending at. Give the student a copy of the test and a pencil. Read the instructions to them as explained on page 150 of the CORE Assessing Reading Multiple Measures book and then score the assessment as listed on page 151.