Reading measures

Our reading measures are based on the “Big Five” from the National Reading Panel.

Equal and progressive difficulty

Equal difficulty relates to test within a set. Each of the reading measures, in a given skill set (phoneme segmenting, letter names, letter sounds, word reading, passage reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension) are of equal difficulty. The numbering of the tests, within a set, is just to distinguish them from one another, It does not indicate one test being harder than another.

Progressive difficulty (stair-stepping) refers to reading skill sets and how they progress upwards in difficulty. The easiest skill sets are the letter names, phoneme segmenting, and letter sounds. Moving up in difficulty are word fluency, passage reading fluency, vocabulary, and the most difficult, reading comprehension.

Reading skill sets:

The measures of Alphabetic Principle (Phoneme Segmenting-PS, Letter Names-LN), Phonics (Letter Sounds-LS), Fluency (Word Reading Fluency-WRF), Passage Reading Fluency-PRF, Vocabulary-VOC, and Comprehension (Basic-BRdg and Proficient Reading-PR) comprise our reading skill sets.

Passage Reading Fluency (PRF). This is a measure of students’ oral reading fluency. It provides information about the student’s ability to read aloud narrative text with accuracy). The measure consists of a narrative passage that students read aloud for one minute, while an assessor follows along on their copy of the measure, marking any words read incorrectly or skipped. At the end of one minute, the final word read is marked, and then the # of errors is subtracted from the total words read to arrive at the final score: Words Read Correctly Per Minute.

Vocabulary (VOC). This is a measure of students’ ability to identify the meaning of words, phrases, and idiomatic expressions used in context. It provides information about the student’s ability to make sense of words and phrases used in context. The measure consists of a vocabulary item embedded within a sentence or short series of sentences. Students read the question stem and then select the answer choice that best provides the meaning of the specified vocabulary item.

Basic Reading Measures (BRdg). This is a measure of students’ literal comprehension with shorter passages and different text types than the Proficient Reading measures. It provides information about a students’ skill in literal comprehension of both informational and literary text. The measure consists of two short narrative passages (approximately 250 words), each followed by 5 literal comprehension questions; two short informational text passages, each followed by 5 literal comprehension questions; and one graphical display of information (e.g., table, image, map), followed by 5 literal comprehension questions. These measures are intended for use with students who are not yet reading at grade-level fluency, and whose instructional focus /interventions include literal comprehension. The Basic Reading measures are not included in the Benchmark Reports, though they are offer as a benchmark test. This is because they were developed to fill a need for easier-access reading comprehension measures for students still developing their Literal Comprehension skills.

Proficient Reading (PRdg). This is a measure of students’ ability to comprehend written text. It provides information about that student’s skill in literal, inferential, and evaluative comprehension. The measure consists of a grade-level appropriate reading passage (generally 1000 – 1500 words long at grades 3 and 4) followed by 20 multiple choice questions. 7 of the questions test students’ literal comprehension, 7 test their inferential comprehension, while the final 6 test their evaluative comprehension.

non fiction reading

With the addition of the Deluxe version of easyCBM, we added a whole array of nonfiction reading to our system. Deluxe and district users have access to these in the form of the Basic Reading as well as the Vocabulary measures.

The Proficient Reading comprehension measures all use fictional narrative text, but test students’ Literal, Inferential, and Evaluative Comprehension.

Basic vs Proficient Reading Comprehension

The Proficient Reading assessment is recommended for students performing closer to grade level expectations (e.g., 30th to 49th percentile — though this is wholly up to the teacher, school, district), and takes a bit longer to administer because the passages are longer and more complex. Depending on the grade, PRdg takes about 30-45 minutes to administer.

The Basic Reading (Deluxe only)

assessment is recommended for students performing further below grade level expectations (e.g., < 25th percentile), and takes relatively less time to administer — depending on the grade, Basic Reading should take about 15-20 minutes to administer.

If you are considering choosing one passage over another, try reading a passage from each type of assessment. It may help to decide which assessment is more appropriate for a given student. These tests are offered as benchmark tests but their scores will not appear

Basic reading tests information

Basic Reading measures were are provided as an optional Benchmark assessment because they were developed to fill a need for easier-access reading comprehension measures for students still developing their literal comprehension skills.

They include brief literal comprehension questions related to short informational and literary text passages as well as “read to perform a task” graphics such as maps, charts, and tables. Because they were designed for students who are struggling readers, they are ideal for progress monitoring, but not as useful as benchmark screening assessments. Students who are near grade-level proficiency already will ’top out’ on these simpler reading measures. This is referred to as a ‘ceiling effect’. Scores from the Basic Reading measures are not included in the Benchmark Report/Risk Rating because of the ‘ceiling effect’ . If students are reading far below grade level the Proficient Reading will likely be too difficult for them and lead to frustration.

Unlike the Basic Reading measures, the more challenging Proficient Reading measures more accurately capture the reading comprehension of students who are at or above grade level in this construct. The Proficient Reading measures, with their focus on inferential and evaluative as well as literal comprehension, are much better suited for Benchmark Screening. Student performance on the Proficient Reading measures is included in the computation of “Risk Ratings” because these measures provide useful information about a wide range of students’ risk in the area of literacy.

While this score will not be displayed in the Parent or Benchmark Report, it is graphed in the student’s individual report. If you login to your account and go to the Reports tab and then click on the Individual’s tab, you will find a list of Students. If you locate a student name and double click on it, you will be directed to the Students Report which includes all of the student’s measures taken. At this site you can see the student’s graphed results.

The Basic Reading measures are comprehension assessments utilizing a variety of text (informational text, literary text, and read to perform a task). Each of the measures includes five short prompts with five corresponding questions; the total score is the number of items answered correctly out of a possible 25.

The Basic Reading measures use informational text as well as literary text. The measures themselves have 25 questions. Of these, the first 10 relate to short literary text, the second 10 relate to informational text, and the last five relate to read to perform a task activities in which students must interpret graphs, charts, and other graphics to answer the questions.

You can determine which of the test questions assess which type of text by reviewing the Groups report after students have taken the measure. Click on Groups tab and select the group(s) that took the measure in which you’re interested. Scroll down the page to the CBMs section and select Basic Reading. Continue scrolling down the page past the Summary section to Item Analysis. Here you’ll find the break-down of Read to Perform a Task, Informational Text, and Short Literary Text Items.

The Basic Reading measures/items are designed to address students’ skill reading literary and informational text, as well as their literacy in science and technical subjects.

The Literary Text sub-tests assess students’ ability to understand key ideas and details and identify elements related to craft and structure that contribute to their ability to discern the meaning of a wide range of text types varying in complexity. The texts include stories, short dramas, and poetry. The Informational Text and Read to Perform a Task sub-tests present students with a wide range of non-fiction text, varying in complexity, and require students to demonstrate their ability to understand key ideas and details and identify elements of the writing craft and structure that contribute to the meaning of the text. Texts for these sub-tests are drawn from a variety of content areas, and include biographies and autobiographies, history, social studies, science, and the arts; as well as technical texts, including directions, forms, and information displayed in graphs, charts, or maps on a range of topics.

Reading test details and alignment

The Basic Reading measures are not included in the Benchmark Reports because they were developed to fill a need for easier-access reading comprehension measures for students still developing their Literal Comprehension skills. They include brief literal comprehension questions related to short informational and literary text passages as well as “read to perform a task” graphics such as maps, charts, and tables. Because they were designed for students who are struggling readers, they are ideal for progress monitoring, but not as useful as benchmark screening assessments. Students who are near grade-level proficiency already will ’top out’ on these simpler reading measures. This is referred to as a ‘ceiling effect’.

Basic Reading measures are included for testing since benchmark tests are screeners and you are trying to determine if your student is performing on-grade or not. Unlike the Basic Reading measures, the more challenging Proficient Reading measures more accurately capture the reading comprehension of students who are at or above grade level in this construct. The Proficient Reading measures, with their focus on inferential and evaluative as well as literal comprehension, are much better suited for Benchmark Screening. Student performance on the Proficient Reading measures is included in the computation of “Risk Ratings” because these measures provide useful information about a wide range of students’ risk in the area of literacy.

The Basic Reading measures are recommended for Progress Monitoring rather than Benchmark Screening. They are provided as an optional Benchmark assessment, but scores from the Basic Reading measures are not included in the Benchmark Report / Risk Rating because of the ‘ceiling effect’ described above. If students are reading far below grade level the Proficient Reading will likely be too difficult for them and lead to frustration.

The Basic Reading measures/items are designed to address students’ skill reading literary and informational text, as well as their literacy in science and technical subjects.

You can access the state-by-state alignment study results at: https://www.brtprojects.org/publications/technical-reports/

Our reading measures are based on the “Big Five” from the National Reading Panel.

First, let's make the distinction between stair stepping of difficulty and equal difficulty as it pertains to reading measures. The measures are individual tests. Tests within a given skill set (reading comprehension, letter names, oral reading fluency, etc.) are of equal difficulty. The stair-stepping of difficulty comes in the progression of skill set administration. The easiest skill sets are the letter names, phoneme segmenting, and letter sounds. Moving up in difficulty are word fluency, passage reading fluency, vocabulary, and the most difficult, reading comprehension.

The Basic Reading measures/items are designed to address students’ skill reading literary and informational text, as well as their literacy in science and technical subjects.

You can access the state-by-state alignment study results at: https://www.brtprojects.org/publications/technical-reports/

Like all measures on easyCBM®, alternate forms of each reading test were designed to be of equivalent difficulty, so teachers can progress monitor students from the initial screening assessments, through their progress monitoring tests every month throughout the year, comparing progress to subsequent screening assessments (winter and spring).

Our reading measures are grouped by skill sets. Each skill set progresses in difficulty with Phoneme Segmenting, Letter Names, and Letter Sounds being the easiest, Word Reading Fluency, Passage Reading Fluency being more difficult, followed by Vocabulary, and Basic and Proficient Reading Comprehension being the hardest to complete.

If you have a student who is performing below their grade level, you can give them progress monitoring measures that are a lower grade. If a student lacks the skill to be able to perform well on the Proficient Reading assessment, then use an easier test type for progress monitoring (you would still use the grade-level Proficient Reading test for benchmark screening as a way to evaluate their progress toward meeting grade-level expectations). The idea is to find what grade and what skill set the student can do, build on them and then move up to a higher grade and skill set until the student (if possible) is able to be taking assessments at their assigned grade level. If a student’s IEP states they need accommodations for any of the testing, then by all means provide them.

All our measures are designed to be of “average difficulty” for the majority of students in the middle of the year at their particular grade level. Because of this, the measures may seem too difficult for students taking tests at the beginning of the school year. As the year progresses, that will level out for the students, and you should see progress in their knowledge and skill base.

Each measure in a given skill set (e.g., Letter Names, Phoneme Segmenting, Letter Sounds, Word Reading Fluency, Passage Reading Fluency, Vocabulary, Basic and Proficient Reading, and Basic and Proficient Math) are designed to be of equivalent difficulty, so if a student does poorly on one test, and then you provide targeted instruction to help him/her improve their skills, you can have them take a different form of the same test type and use that score to see if there has been improvement.

To determine which grade level a measure is designed to assess, look at the number assigned to the test form. The first number of a measure indicates the grade. The second number is an arbitrary number and indicates nothing more than a way to distinguish one measure from another and to help keep track of which test forms a student has taken. The numbering of the assessments does not represent their degree of difficulty; it’s just a way to keep track of the tests. So if a student took Passage Reading Fluency Measure 3_1, they will have taken the first form of this 3rd grade measure of oral reading fluency.