Useful Reading Assessment Guide: Some Tips for using Assessment with ReadingWise
Decoding
ReadingWise Decoding lesson plans are allocated by a school's independent Reading Age value for the learner. Assessments that correlate most closely to the decoding skills in the Decoding module are single word reading tests.
Comprehension and Zip
Learners do not need to be benchmarked to get started on ReadingWise Comprehension or Zip; however, if you wish to measure progress and impact, school benchmarking should be used.
Assessments Overview
There are a wide variety of reading assessments and although we don’t recommend any in particular, the chart below outlines some of the reading assessments commonly used by the ReadingWise school community. Let us know if you have others you would add to this chart.
EEF Links
In July 2021 the Education Endownment Foundation (EEF) published an incredibly useful study of assessments - the 'Attainment Measures Database'. To help you explore further should you wish, we've linked to the EEF's attainment measures database for each assessment in the table below.
| Assessment | Application | Reading-age range | Comments | EEF link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GL Single Word Reading Test | Word reading ability–used for ReadingWise Decoding and Zip | 5 - 16 | This one is a purchase but is photocopiable. Wide range of reading ages in fitting with the ReadingWise Decoding intervention. Recently standardised. | GL SWRT |
| Burt Single Word Reading Test | Word reading ability–used for ReadingWise Decoding and Zip | 5:3 - 14:3 | Free to download. Devised/updated 1974. Lowest reading age higher than lowest ReadingWise age. | N/A |
| Schonell Single Word Reading Test | Word reading ability–used for ReadingWise Decoding and Zip | 6 - 12:3+ | Free to download. Devised/updated 1971. Lowest reading age higher than lowest ReadingWise intervention. | N/A |
| GL NGRT Digital | Adaptive comprehension assessment. Online - whole group assessed in approx. 40 minutes. Reporting ability. Further details here | N/A | ||
| PiRA | Accuracy, comprehension and speed – used for ReadingWise Comprehension | Paper or online. | PiRA | |
| New Salford Reading Test | Accuracy and comprehension–used for ReadingWise Decoding and Comprehension | Paper based. | New Salford Reading Test | |
| The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA) | Accuracy, comprehension and speed –used for ReadingWise Comprehension | 6 - 12:10 | Paper based – approx. 30 minutes per pupil. | N/A |
| Star Reader | Comprehension assessment–used for ReadingWise Comprehension | 6 - 16 | Online. | Star Reader |
