Assessing Your Students

Assessment is an essential part of teaching. It is necessary to find a baseline for instruction and benchmark three times a year for Tier 1 students. Progress monitoring is also essential for students in Tiers 2 and 3 of RTI. This will help determine whether or not your interventions are working properly. We recommend using a normed fluency assessment to progress monitor such as Acadience Reading K-6 or DIBELS 8th Edition and IMSE’s Assessments that you covered in your training. Free benchmarking and progress monitoring resources for Acadience Reading K-6 can be found at Acadience Learning.

The Beginning Reading Skills Assessment (BRSA) and the Leveled Assessments are available on Interactive OG (IOG) or the Assessment Section of the Comprehensive Orton-Gillingham Plus Training Manual. IOG contains all assessments from Level 1 (initial, midterm, and final) through Level 2 (initial, midterm, and final). The following are recommendations on where to begin whole-class assessments**:

• Kindergarten: Phonological Awareness Skills Test (PAST)* and IMSE Beginning Reading Skills Assessment. Reassess at midterm. Give the Level 1 Initial at the end of Kindergarten. 
• 1st Grade: PAST and IMSE Level 1 Initial. This will give you a benchmark to see if students retained Kindergarten content. Whole class review concepts that more than 80% of the class missed. Begin teaching 1st grade content whole class. Work in small groups with struggling students. Level 1 Midterm is given at midterm. Level 1 Final is given at the end of the year. 
• 2nd Grade: PAST and IMSE Level 2 Initial***. This will give you a benchmark to see if students retained 1st grade content. Whole class review concepts that more than 80% of the class missed. Begin teaching 2nd grade content, whole class. Work in small groups with struggling students. Level 2 Midterm is given at midterm. Level 2 Final is given at the end of the year.
• 3rd Grade: IMSE Informal Spelling Analysis**. This is a good way to analyze spelling concepts for students in third grade who should have been taught the skills at this point. This is also a good time to begin transitioning into morphology.

*Phonological Awareness Skills Test (PAST) by Yvette Zgonc from Interventions for All: Phonological Awareness OR the Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST) by David Kilpatrick from Equipped for Reading Success is appropriate to use. 

**When assessing students in Tiers 2 or 3, begin with Level 1 Initial. Then go up or down an assessment until you find an appropriate starting point. By starting at Level 1 Initial you will find gaps in learning, teach unknown concepts, and reassess the missed skills to check for mastery. It’s important for Tier 1 students to learn grade-appropriate content