Reading Assessments in the Reading Playgrounds!
We are excited to announce several new assessment offerings within our Countdown, Blast, and HD Word Reading Playgrounds:
- Beginning of Program (BOP) Assessments to assess background knowledge before instruction
- Middle of Program (MOP) Assessments for progress monitoring
- End of Program (EOP) Summative Assessments to assess overall mastery
- Formative Assessments with additional instructional recommendations
- Progress Monitoring Assessments for more frequent progress monitoring check-ins
The purpose of the Beginning of Program (BOP) Baseline Assessments is to help you determine students' background knowledge in the phonological and phonemic awareness and phonics concepts taught in Countdown, Blast, or HD Word. It will also allow you to anticipate the amount of additional support, if any, your students may need to be successful in your lessons. It will take most students between 15 and 30 minutes to complete the assessment and can be done in one sitting or broken up into multiple shorter sessions. Learn more below, and download a description and directions on how to access the BOP assessments in the Reading Playgrounds.
What is tested? How do my students access it?
Learn which content is assessed by the game to give you insight into your students’ background knowledge at the start of your Countdown instruction. Get step-by-step instructions for accessing the assessment and the results and see how the skills assessed align with the Common Core State Standards.
What is tested? How do my students access it?
Learn which content is assessed by the game to give you insight into your students’ background knowledge at the start of your Blast instruction. Get step-by-step instructions for accessing the assessment and the results and see how the skills assessed align with the Common Core State Standards.
What is tested? How do my students access it?
Learn which content is assessed by the game to give you insight into your students’ background knowledge at the start of your HD Word instruction. Get step-by-step instructions for accessing the assessment and the results and see how the skills assessed align with the Common Core State Standards.
The first three Reading Playground games from each unit can be utilized as formative assessments. The games were chosen for their ability to showcase your students’ abilities as accurately as possible without face-to-face interaction. Each game assesses a unique skill taught within the current unit. Teachers can use the benchmark scores given in the Formative Assessment Overview documents below to determine which students are on their way to proficiency and which students would benefit from additional instruction and practice. A chart of possible methods for this instruction and practice is provided, as well as alignment of the skills assessed in these games to the Common Core State Standards.
After selected groups of units, teachers have the option to have students complete a progress monitoring assessment in the form of 1:1 oral decoding. Students will be asked to read 5-8 words containing the phonics concepts taught in the preceding units. These check-ins are a great way to quickly and frequently gauge student progress.
The purpose of the Middle of Program (MOP) Mid-Interval Assessments is to gauge how well your students are progressing in the phonological and phonemic awareness and phonics concepts taught in the first half of Countdown, Blast, or HD Word. The results can help you determine if any students need additional practice or reteaching with specific concepts. Learn more below and download a description and directions on how to access the MOP assessments in the Reading Playgrounds.
The End of Program (EOP) Summative Assessments, which are cumulative and controlled, can indicate how well students have retained the foundational literacy skills you have taught this year and whether they may need additional practice and reinforcement to reach mastery.
Learn more below and download a description and directions on how to access the EOP assessments in the Reading Playgrounds.
