One of the most accepted methods for assessing reading in preschoolers is through standardized testing. These tests are formal and controlled, allowing for comparisons among test-takers. They are considered efficient (in time and cost) and objective. However, there is concern about whether standardized tests are culturally biased or sensitive enough and whether they are effective in use with young children. Thus, standardized tests are typically not taken as the sole picture of a child's abilities or knowledge, but informal observations or repeated test outcomes will be observed.
Another means for evaluating or assessing reading in preschools is through informal assessments. These assessments occur in natural settings, not in formal or forced manners. Informal assessments require the educational tester or observer to be well-trained in the area of reading assessments. Also, informal assessments can be more time consuming and more expensive than standardized testing. Students will be observed in terms of mastering reading goals, not as in being able to provide proper guesses or skilled in rote learning.
The portfolio method for reading assessments relies on a collaboration between student, teacher and parent in collecting and displaying examples of student work. A successful portfolio will not merely showcase a child's best work if it is to be used as an assessment tool. Rather, it should reveal a child's efforts and his progress to provide a picture of functioning and mastery of reading skills over time.
Any good reading assessment of preschoolers will include certain core elements. These include: knowledge of letters (such as matching letter symbols with their associated sounds); phonemic awareness (being able to manipulate and hear sounds in words); decoding skills used in reading new and unfamiliar words (by sounding those words out); and fluency. Fluency is typically assessed by allowing students to read aloud from a passage for one minute. Skipped or incorrectly pronounced words are skipped and the correct words are tallied to give the oral reading fluency rate.