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How to Assess the Five Components of Reading

It is challenging to teach children to read and requires knowledge of effective practices. There are five components of reading: phonemic awareness, the knowledge and manipulation of sounds in spoken words; phonics, the relationship between written and spoken letters and sounds; fluency, the ability to read with accuracy, appropriate rate, expression and phrasing; vocabulary, knowledge of word definitions and their context; reading comprehension, understanding the meaning in text. Teachers who have a thorough understanding of these components are well prepared to teach children to read.

Instructions

- 1
  Select valid and reliable assessment tools. One example is the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) test, used in more than 15,000 schools in the U.S.
- 2
  Administer the test one on one. You will be recording the students scores and will not be able to work with more than one student at a time.
- 3
  Do not assume the child knows the letters and sounds of the alphabet regardless of grade or age. Some children are at risk for reading difficulty and need to be identified and tested more frequently.
- 4
  Monitor at-risk students' reading difficulty once or twice per month to ensure effectiveness of intervention and to allow timely instructional changes.
- 5
  Use assessments to screen, diagnose reading problems and monitor progress. DIBELS automatically generates reports tracking students' status. This allows teachers to stay on top of every student's needs and assisting them to read at level.

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