One type of assessment is a full formal evaluation and can indicate the presence of a  Specific Learning Disability (SLD), such as dyslexia, or another diagnosis. It involves formal testing ”to identify an individual’s learning strengths and weaknesses and likely source of academic problems—and to determine if the profile fits the definition of a learning disorder (diagnosis)” (IDA, n.d.). Although parents and teachers provide important and anecdotal information, the tests administered in a full formal evaluation are typically given by testing professionals, such as school psychologists, neuropsychologists, and speech-language pathologists. Teachers may conduct the academic portion of a school-based formal evaluation, particularly special education teachers or specialists; however, general education teachers don’t typically administer these tests (IDA, n.d.).

Why are formal evaluations important?

Screening for dyslexia occurs with a wide pool of students and attempts to identify any student who is at risk for developing reading difficulties and/or dyslexia.  Once a student is identified, and doesn’t respond to other tiers of support, a full formal evaluation may be necessary to determine the student’s set of strengths and weaknesses. If the formal evaluation determines the presence of a Specific Learning Disability (SLD), such as dyslexia, documentation for special education services may follow and an appropriate Individualized Education Program (IEP) may be devised to ensure the implementation of effective accommodations and/or modifications  (IDA, n.d.).  There are many assessments that can be administered to quantify a student’s abilities.

Intelligence

Why is it important to test intelligence? 

It is important to test intelligence because the results from intelligence tests and subtests can provide insight into why a student might struggle with an aspect of reading. For example, if a student scored low on the memory related subtests of an intelligence test, it could be concluded that those deficits are contributing to the students’ reading difficulties. 

Although much weight is put on the results of intelligence testing, it is not the final predictor of success for students as there are many factors that contribute to one’s ability to achieve their individual goals. It is also important to understand that intelligence tests contain bias and thus it is important to mitigate possible bias by using many types of assessments and data, not just a single test to measure intelligence/cognitive ability.

What is included in an intelligence test? 

Tests of intelligence typically include measures to show someone’s ability to use logic or reasoning to solve problems. They also test memory, comprehension, spatial reasoning, and the executive functions. 

Oral Language Skills

Why is it important to test oral language skills?

Although assessing oral language skills may seem counterintuitive to measuring reading skills, it is important to draw a comparison between a student’s oral language skills (such as listening comprehension) and reading comprehension skills because a discrepancy between the two can reveal some information about why a student might be struggling with reading comprehension. In regards to oral language skills, Lowell states that “Performance on these measures can give insight into vocabulary knowledge and verbal reasoning and does not require any reading.” (Lowell, 2014, p. 47).  More importantly, though, it is through oral language that often the first signs of language difficulty are apparent (Kilpatrick, p. 233). These skills are typically assessed in an evaluation administered by an SLP.

What is included in an oral language test?

Tests that measure oral language may include an assessment of students’:

• Vocabulary – a student’s word knowledge and use, both expressive and receptive
• Grammar/Syntax – a student’s ability to produce and understand oral sentences that follow language conventions, including use of correct word order
• Morphology – how a student understands or uses units of meaning to form words (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, base words, roots) 
• Higher-order thinking – abstract thinking about the meaning of language
  • Finding the main idea
  • Drawing inferences
  • Summarizing
  • Finding relationships between two concepts

Phonological Processing

Why is it important to test phonological processing?

Phonological processing skills may include phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonological memory. Research suggests that phonological processing deficits are at the root of most reading difficulties. Therefore, identifying deficits in phonological processing can explain many difficulties with reading (Lowell, 2014, p.40). 

What is included in a test of phonological processing?

Phonological processing is measured by asking students to rhyme, segment, isolate, and categorize sounds within words (Kilpatrick, 2015, p.155). An assessment of phonological processing will measure the following skills: 

Phonological Awareness:

• This is measured by tasks in which students are asked to isolate, blend, segment, and manipulate syllables and sounds in words.
• When the tasks specifically involve sounds (phonemes), as opposed to larger units like syllables, they are designated as phonemic awareness tasks.

Phonological Memory:

• This is measured by testing students’ ability to hold sounds in their head long enough to be able to read and is typically tested by having students repeat strings of numbers or unfamiliar nonsense words. 

 Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN)

What is rapid automatized naming?

Tests of rapid automatized naming, also called RAN, involve asking students to name a set of letters, digits, colors, or objects as quickly as possible. A RAN task includes a finite set of items repeating multiple times. For example, a task of rapid letter naming might include five or six different letters which are printed in several rows and which repeat in random order. A RAN score is calculated based on how fast the student is able to name all the items presented in the task.

Of note, younger children (e.g., age 5 or 6) may perform better on tasks of rapid naming of objects and colors as compared to letters and numbers. However, the pattern reverses once children are given more opportunities to work with and practice using letters and numbers. However, once students develop an understanding of letters and numbers, the letter and digit RAN tasks become more important indicators that a student is at-risk for reading difficulty (Norton and Wolf, 2012). For students with an understanding of letters and numbers, letter and digit RAN tasks are the only two that are necessary to test. While RAN is a powerful tool for predicting reading difficulties, it is important to remember that providing students with opportunities to practice rapidly naming letters, numbers, etc. is not an effective literacy instructional method. As Timothy Shanahan (2020) writes, “RAN is a great predictor of success, but it is not what you need to teach.”

Why is it important to test rapid automatized naming?

It is important to assess rapid automatized naming because the presence of RAN deficits is predictive of dyslexia (Wolf et al., 2023). In other words, students who score low on RAN assessments are at risk of reading difficulties.

Word Recognition

Why is it important to test word recognition?

Testing word recognition is essential in any battery of tests to measure literacy as the ability to recognize words is often an area of weakness for individuals with dyslexia (Lowell, 2014, p. 40). 

What is included in a word recognition test?

For the specific reading task of word recognition, assessments need to measure how accurately and fluently words can be read. Students will typically be asked to read lists of real words that correlate to their age or grade level, and then their performance is compared to what is expected for students of that age or grade level. Sight vocabulary, or any words that are recognized instantly, are also important to measure when assessing word recognition (Kilpatrick, 2015, p. 200). 

Decoding/Phonics  

Why is it important to test decoding and phonics?

Phonics allows students to associate speech sounds with letters, and decoding allows students to connect sound-symbol relationships to read words. These skills are important to assess because they are essential for reading; effective readers know the code of the letter system, and thus they can decode a word whether it is real or nonsense.

What is included in a decoding/phonics test:

Decoding and phonics tests typically ask students to read a list of nonsense words that have letter combinations that are permissible in English.

Spelling

Why is it important to test spelling? 

Spelling is an essential literacy skill that is closely tied to reading and writing. A spelling assessment provides insight into not only the words students struggle to spell but also the words they struggle to read. By analyzing error patterns in a spelling assessment and providing intervention accordingly, teachers can support students in strengthening their phonemic awareness, phonics, decoding, and spelling skills.

What is included in a spelling test?

Typically, spelling is assessed by, “asking students to spell a variety of types of words with varying phonics patterns, words containing the six syllable types in English, words illustrating common spelling rules and patterns, and words with irregular spelling patterns” (Lowell, 2014, p.40). 

Reading Fluency 

Why is it important to assess fluency? 

To complete a task fluently implies that the task was done accurately, efficiently, and without much effort. In terms of reading, fluency is the gateway to comprehension and without fluent automatic recognition of words and passages, students can experience negative consequences in reading comprehension (Kilpatrick, 2015, p. 199). 

To understand a student’s issues with fluency, there needs to be an understanding of where the reading breakdown exists, as sometimes poor fluency can be masked by other skills.  For example, a student may read accurately and quickly but their voice may lack phrasing and intonation. Other times, students may read accurately and at an appropriate rate, but are unable to comprehend what they read. Kilpatrick (2015) elaborates, “Compensating students can sometimes mimic fluent reading but at the cost of compromising their reading comprehension.  Without displaying the great effort involved, they can combine their limited sight vocabulary with phonic decoding and typically strong set for variability to produce what sounds like a fairly normal level of fluency” (p. 217). Whatever the core issue is, educators and families must follow up and examine and understand the reasons for poor fluency scores on an assessment. 

What is included in a test of automaticity or fluency?

Students will typically read passages that are leveled according to grade-level expectations.   

Reading Comprehension

Why test reading comprehension?

It is widely noted that reading comprehension is the end game of reading and is the goal of all reading instruction and remediation (Lowell, 2014, p.45). To make progress in academics, to move from learning to read to reading to learn, students need to be able to understand what they read. Comprehension of text is complex and layered, and it requires the activation of many different reading skills. It is important to note that comprehension tests themselves cannot pinpoint where a student might be struggling with reading; however, the results can give an indication that there is a breakdown. Additionally, when assessing student performance on a reading comprehension measure, it is important to understand what has influenced the tests and what the test is designed to measure (Kilpatrick, 2015, p. 244). For example, Kilpatrick (2015) cautions about the use of comprehension questions in an assessment that can be answered correctly by relying on background knowledge, rather than reading and understanding the passage (p. 240).  

What is included in a test of reading comprehension?

When students’ reading comprehension is assessed, their ability to understand what they read is measured.  Students’ understanding of text should be tested at the sentence level, paragraph level, and beyond. Also, students can be assessed on their silent or oral reading. Oftentimes,  students are asked to answer in multiple-choice format or orally. Older students are often asked to write answers which combine the suite of literacy skills: writing, spelling, and reading. Kilpatrick (2015) states in regard to reading comprehension assessment, “Best practice reading comprehension tests will involve multiple subtests and the assessment of key skills that underlie reading comprehension and general language comprehension” (p. 229).  

References: 

How do we select an effective screening tool? (2019, March 6). National Center on Improving Literacy. https://improvingliteracy.org/ask-an-expert/how-do-we-select-effective-screening-tool 

Intelligent intelligence testing. (n.d.). Https://Www.Apa.Org. Retrieved November 3, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligent 

Kern, A. M., & Hosp, M. K. (2018). The status of decoding tests in instructional decision-making. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 44(1), 32–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508417749874

Kilpatrick, D. A. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading difficulties. Wiley.

Lowell, S. C., Felton, R. H., & Hook, P. (2014). Basic facts about assessment of dyslexia: Testing for teaching. The International Dyslexia Association, Inc.

Lyon, G. R., Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2003). Defining dyslexia, comorbidity, teachers’ knowledge of language and reading: A definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 53: 1-14.

Petscher, Y., Fien, H., Stanley, C., Gearin, B., Gaab, N., Fletcher, J.M., & Johnson, E. (2019). Screening for dyslexia. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Special Education Programs, National Center on Improving Literacy. Retrieved from improvingliteracy.org.

Science of reading: The podcast. (n.d.). Amplify. https://amplify.com/science-of-reading-the-podcast/ 

Shanahan, T. (2020, April 18). How can I teach ran to improve my students’ reading? Shanahan on Literacy. https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/how-can-i-teach-ran-to-improve-my-students-reading

Testing and evaluation. (n.d.). International Dyslexia Association.https://dyslexiaida.org/testing-and-evaluation/ 

Universal screening: K–2 reading. (n.d.). International Dyslexia Association. https://dyslexiaida.org/universal-screening-k-2-reading-2/

Understanding screening: Classification accuracy. (2019, December 13). National Center on Improving Literacy. https://improvingliteracy.org/brief/understanding-screening-classification-accuracy

Wolf, M., Gotlieb, R.J.M., Kim, S.A., Pedroza, V., Rhinehart, L.V., Tempini, M.L.G. & Sears, S. (2024). Towards a dynamic, comprehensive conceptualization of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 74, 303-324.