Note: The information in this article is from Wrightslaw: All About Tests and Assessments, 2nd Edition and Chapter 10 and 11 in Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd edition published by Harbor House Law Press.

Learning What Tests Measure

There are two important realities in testing. First, tests do not always measure what they appear to measure. Second, all tests do not measure reading, writing, and math skills comprehensively.

Reading comprehension, for example, is a complex entity. Although we may think of reading comprehension as a single skill or a single subtest score, students with poor reading comprehension ofte struggle with a variety of deficits.

Some children may not understand as well when they read silently as when they read aloud. Some children may have difficulty understanding what they have read because they work too hard at word recognition. Other students may have gaps in their phonics skills and may not recognize words with accuracy.

If you don't have a clear understand of what a child’s exact weaknesses are, you cannot design an effective remedial program.

Learning About Reading Tests

No single reading test measures reading skills comprehensively. Different reading tests measure different types of reading skills. Some tests that measure different skills in reading are briefly described below.

Woodcock Reading Mastery Test - Revised (WRMT-R)

The Woodcock Reading Mastery Test – Revised (WRMT-R) is a commonly used educational achievement test. The WRMT-R has two forms and includes several subtests.

Letter Identification. Children are required to name a random selection of upper and lower case letters that are written in a variety of fonts.

Word Identification. Children are required to read words in a list format aloud. They have five seconds to identify each word before they are prompted to move on to the next word.

Nonsense Words. Children are required to read words that are not real. Nonsense words allow the evaluator to determine how the child recognizes words without using compensatory strategies (i.e., looking at pictures, guessing based upon context, or reading words by sight).

Children have five seconds to respond before they are prompted for a response, and then moved on to the next word.

Word Comprehension. This subtest has three sections: antonyms (word opposites), synonyms (words with the same meaning), and analogies (up is to down as slow is to fast).

Children have fifteen seconds before they are prompted for a response, and then moved on to the next item. Children who have weaknesses in word finding or word retrieval may have difficulty with this task.

Passage Comprehension. Children are required to read passages to themselves, then fill in the blanks to demonstrate their understanding.

This type of reading comprehension test can be challenging for children with expressive language disorders. The fill-in-the-blank format requires a precise understanding of sentence structure and grammar, and the ability to retrieve the exact word needed.

Children have approximately thirty seconds after reading the passage to respond.

Gray Oral Reading Test, Fifth Edition (GORT-5)

The Gray Oral Reading Test, Fifth Edition (GORT-5) measures reading fluency and comprehension. The child answers questions based on passages that he reads aloud. Information about rate and accuracy is important because children who read slowly take longer to complete assignments and understand and remember less of what they have read.

The GORT-5 measures oral reading rate, accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. It also provides an Oral Reading Index, a combined measure of fluency and comprehension.

The Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA-3) is another achievement battery that measures some, but not all, of the important skills in reading. The reading subtests include the following:

Letter & Word Recognition. Children are required to identify letters and words in list format. There is no time limit.

Nonsense Word Decoding. Children are required to identify nonsense words. There is no time limit.

Reading Comprehension. Children read passages aloud or silently, then answer multiple choice questions and open ended questions that they must read for themselves. Open ended questions are scored on the basis on content, not on form, sentence structure, or grammar. There are no time limits.

Decoding Fluency. Children are asked to read nonsense words while being timed.

Word Recognition Fluency. Children are asked to read real words while being timed.

You can see from these three tests that there is considerable variation from one reading test to another.

You need to know what skills different tests measure and how tests are administered. You also need to know that the testing has addressed all related concerns and weaknesses.