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assessment report

Early Reading and the Early

Reading Diagnostic Assessment™,
Second Edition (ERDA™ Second
. .
Edition) . . . . . .

Dr. R. Rosalie Jordan

David J. Kirk
Kelly King

April 2005

Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved.
Pearson and the Pearson logo are trademarks of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s).
.
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. ASSESSMENT REPORT
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. Early Reading and ERDA Second Edition
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Early Reading and ERDA Second Edition

Components of Reading
For virtually all students, learning to read and write begins
Reading Components: long before kindergarten. It is a complex and dynamic
• Phonemic process. Together with writing, reading forms the
Awareness foundation for learning and serves as the gateway to
• Phonics
mathematics, science, and social science. Reading is
fundamental to success in school and in life.
• Fluency
• Vocabulary The key to developing successful readers can be found in
the strategic instruction and integration of five research-
• Comprehension based components of reading. These components are
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and
comprehension. Together, they create a road map to
developing strategic readers.

Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the individual
sounds of spoken words. “Research evidence, from a variety of disciplines,
provides unequivocal support for the critical role of phonological processes in
learning to read” (Kamil, Mosenthal, Pearson, and Barr, 2000, p. 483).

According to the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading (CIERA), children
who have phonemic awareness skills are likely to have an easier time learning to
read and spell than children who have few or none of these skills (National
Institute for Literacy, 2003). Phonemic awareness can be demonstrated in several
ways. Children can show that they recognize which words in a group of words
begin with the same sound. For example, the words “plum,” “parrot,” and
“people” all start with /p/. Children can identify and verbalize the first or last
sound in a word. For example, the beginning sound of “wig” is /w/, and the
ending sound of “hat” is /t/. Children can combine, or blend, the separate sounds
in a word to say the word, such as by combining /d/, /o/, /g/ to say “dog.” They
can also break, or segment, a word into its separate sounds, such as by breaking
“bat” into /b/, /a/, /t/.

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Phonemic awareness is a subgroup of phonological awareness, a broader set of

skills that includes larger parts of spoken language, such as rhymes, syllables, and
rimes, as well as comprehension and other qualities of sound, such as rhyming,
intonation, and alliteration. According to the National Institute for Literacy
(2003), children may demonstrate phonological awareness in several ways. One
such way is through a child’s ability to identify and make rhymes such as “the
boy has a toy.” A second way is through a child’s ability to identify the number
of syllables in a word. Another skill that demonstrates phonological awareness is
the ability to identify and manipulate onsets and rimes in spoken syllables or one-
syllable words, as well as the ability to identify and work with individual
phonemes in spoken words.

Phonics
Phonics refers to the connection between the letters of written language and the
individual sounds of spoken language. Through the use of phonics, children are
able to understand that there is a predictable connection between written letters
and spoken sounds. Once children understand this connection, they can recognize
familiar words quickly and accurately and can decode new words (National
Institute for Literacy, 2003).

To be most effective, phonics instruction should begin early in kindergarten and

continue through first grade. For most children, two years of phonics instruction is
adequate (National Institute for Literacy, 2003). A child is able to demonstrate an
understanding of phonics in several ways. One way is by matching the
corresponding letter sound to the letter that represents that sound, such as the
sound /d/ and the letter “d.” Children can also demonstrate their understanding of
phonics by combining letters and sounds to form larger units of written language.
For example, this skill is demonstrated when children blend the sounds of the
letters “l,” “e,” and “t” to form the word /let/.

Fluency

Fluency is the bridge between word recognition and reading comprehension.

More specifically, fluency is the ability to read text accurately with prosody.
Fluent readers are able to focus on the meaning of the text and do not have to
concentrate on decoding individual words. Fluency develops gradually over
considerable time and through substantial practice (National Institute for Literacy,
2003). “Increasing the amount of reading students do is important, because as
words are encountered repeatedly, there are a number of beneficial outcomes,
such as improvements in word recognition, speed, ease of reading, and
comprehension” (Farstrup & Samuels, 2002, p. 174).

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At the beginning stages of reading, children are still developing their decoding
skills, and their oral reading is slow and laborious. Even as their decoding skills
improve and more words are committed to their sight vocabulary, they may read
word by word, without inflection or expression. Full fluency is demonstrated by
good phrasing, the grouping or chunking of words into phrases and clauses,
inflection, intonation, and attending to punctuation, as well as reading quickly and
accurately. Fluency is also dependent upon a child’s knowledge of word meaning.

Fluency should be formally and informally assessed regularly to ensure that a

student is making appropriate progress (National Institute for Literacy, 2003,
p. 30). Monitoring a student’s progress in reading fluency can provide valuable
guidance for planning instruction or intervention.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary refers to a student’s stock and understanding of words and meanings.

There are many types of vocabulary. Typically, vocabulary is broken down into
four areas: listening or receptive vocabulary, speaking or expressive vocabulary,
reading or recognition vocabulary, and writing vocabulary (Harris and Hodges,
1995). Vocabulary is critical to reading comprehension. Sight word vocabulary
affects fluency and comprehension. To interpret and learn information from more
advanced text, students must raise their vocabulary level. Most children learn
vocabulary indirectly through daily oral and written exposure to new words
(National Institute for Literacy, 2003). However, the direct and in-depth teaching
of vocabulary and the fostering of word consciousness are equally important for
raising a student’s vocabulary level.

In general, there are three levels of vocabulary understanding: unknown,

acquainted, and established. In the unknown category, the word is completely
foreign to the student; he or she has no understanding. An acquainted word has
been introduced to the student and he or she has a basic understanding of its
meaning. With established vocabulary, the student has complete understanding
and ownership of the word and can quickly identify and use the word properly.
These levels of vocabulary understanding can be assessed in a variety of ways.
One way of assessing vocabulary understanding is to speak a word to a child and
ask the child to identify a corresponding picture representing that word. Another
way is to provide the definition of a word and ask the child to respond by
identifying the appropriate word. One may also assess this understanding by
stating a word and asking the child to provide the word’s opposite, by stating a
word and asking the child to respond with another word that has the same
meaning as the stated word (a synonym), or by asking the child to define the word
without assistance.

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Comprehension

Reading is thinking. Getting meaning from text is the ultimate goal of reading
comprehension. Constructing meaning is an interactive process influenced by the
content and structure of the text, the purpose for reading, the reader’s prior
knowledge and experience, and the fluent processing of text. Vocabulary and
writing ability support and precede comprehension. “Comprehension is the reason
for reading. If readers can read the words but do not understand what they are
reading, they are not really reading” (National Institute for Literacy, 2003, p. 48).

When children monitor their own comprehension, they learn to recognize when
they understand and when they do not. Children who monitor their
comprehension are better able to develop strategies to address any lack of
understanding when they come across difficult material (National Institute for
Literacy, 2003). When children ask themselves why the information presented in
the text makes sense, the text becomes more memorable (Kamil et al., 2000).

Asking questions of children and having children generate their own questions is
another way to help children improve their comprehension. In addition to
providing children with a purpose for reading, questioning can help them focus
their attention on what they are reading. This technique can also assist children in
thinking actively while reading and can encourage them to monitor their own
comprehension. It also helps them to reflect on what they have read and to relate
it to their current knowledge (National Institute for Literacy, 2003).

Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment, Second Edition (ERDA SECOND

EDITION)
Diagnosing a child’s reading ability is essential to providing effective instruction.
By accurately determining a child’s reading strengths and weaknesses, a
classroom teacher can develop an instruction strategy that best serves the child’s
needs. ERDA SECOND EDITION provides a comprehensive diagnostic tool that
measures the five research-based building blocks of reading at kindergarten
through third grade.

ERDA SECOND EDITION diagnoses understanding of phonemic and

phonological awareness through a series of subtests that assess the child’s ability
to hear sound units in spoken language: phonemes, rhymes (kindergarten only),
rime, and syllables. A child’s understanding of phonemes occurs when the child
first identifies the missing phonemes in a series of given words and then omits
given phonemes from another series of words. The understanding of rimes is
assessed by a child being asked to say a word with a targeted sound (rime)
omitted—say “ball” without /all/. A child’s proficiency with syllables is assessed

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by instructing the child to say a word with a targeted syllable omitted—say

“playful” without /ful/.

Letter recognition and pseudoword decoding are subtests that assess

understanding and the use of the alphabetic principle. In kindergarten and grade
one, ERDA SECOND EDITION assesses letter recognition by showing children a
letter and then asking them to point to the letter or say the letter name. Syllable
assessment is administered for kindergarten through grade three and uses a format
similar to the one used in diagnosing phonemic awareness. Pseudoword decoding
is administered in grades one through three. The child is provided with a list of
pseudowords, which the child is asked to pronounce as quickly and as accurately
as possible.

Word reading and passage fluency subtests at all grades, and RAN (Rapid
Automatized Naming)-letters, RAN-words, and RAN-digits at grades two and
three, assess automaticity and fluent reading. Word reading is assessed by
presenting the child with a list of words that are read aloud. Passage fluency is
assessed by listening to the student read aloud a series of brief, grade-appropriate
narrative and informational passages. The passages are in ascending order of
difficulty and scored for time and accuracy. Scores are also converted to one of
the following reading levels: independent, instructional, or frustration. The RAN
subtest predict a student’s response to reading instruction.

Seven different subtests are used to assess vocabulary. For example, receptive
vocabulary is assessed by showing a student a set of pictures, saying a word, and
asking the student to point to the picture that represents the word. Other indicators
of the student’s vocabulary are also provided by an assessment of synonyms,
word opposites, word definitions, and multiple meanings of words.

ERDA SECOND EDITION employs three types of reading comprehension to

accurately diagnose a student’s comprehension skills: word items, sentence items
with target words in context, and passage items. Word items at the kindergarten
and first-grade level assess comprehension by having the student read one or two
words and then point to a picture that correctly reflects what the word or words
are describing. Sentence items with target words in context require the student to
read aloud a sentence composed of high-frequency words and, in some instances,
respond to a comprehension question. ERDA SECOND EDITION assesses
reading comprehension by having the student read aloud functional, narrative, and
informational passages and then answer different types of comprehension
questions about the passage. ERDA SECOND EDITION also assesses listening
comprehension. Table 1 summarizes the assessments used at each grade level for
each component of reading measured by ERDA SECOND EDITION.

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Table 1. ERDA SECOND EDITION Reading Subtests by Component for Each Grade Level.

Reading Grade K Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3

Component

Concept of Observation Observation

Checklist Checklist
Print

Phonological Phonemes Phonemes Phonemes Phonemes

and Phonemic Rhyming Rimes Rimes Rimes
Awareness
Syllables Syllables Syllables Syllables

Phonics Letter Letter

Recognition Recognition

Pseudoword Pseudoword Pseudoword

Decoding Decoding Decoding

Fluency Passage Fluency Passage Fluency Passage Fluency Passage Fluency

Narrative Narrative
Informational Informational

Target Words in Target Words in Target Words in Target Words in

Context Context Context Context

Word Reading Word Reading Word Reading

RAN-Digits, RAN-Digits,
Letters, Words, Letters, Words,
and Words and and Words and
Digits Digits

Vocabulary Receptive/ Receptive/ Receptive/ Receptive/

Expressive Expressive Expressive Expressive

Word Opposites Word Opposites Multiple

Meanings

Synonyms Synonyms

Word Word
Definitions Definitions

Comprehension Story Retelling Listening Listening Listening

Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension

Reading Reading Reading Reading

Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension Comprehension

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Conclusion
The ability to read and comprehend language is fundamental to all academic
learning. By teaching clearly the five components of reading, teachers provide
students with the tools necessary to build a solid foundation for learning. ERDA
SECOND EDITION was developed using evidence-based research and best
practices to help teachers diagnose reading problems early and in sufficient detail
to improve and focus instruction. ERDA SECOND EDITION helps teachers
develop students’ reading abilities by accurately diagnosing their strengths and
weaknesses. This information provides teachers with a strategy for planning
effective instruction. By using ERDA SECOND EDITION to guide the
instruction of the elements of reading, teachers and administrators will be able to
provide their students with a solid foundation for life-long learning.

References
Farstrup, A. & Samuels, S. J. (Eds.). (2002). What research has to say about
reading instruction. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Harris, T. L., & Hodges, R. E. (Eds.). (1995). The literacy dictionary: The
vocabulary of reading and writing. Newark, DE: International Reading
Association.
Kamil, M. L., Mosenthal, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.). (2000).
Handbook of reading research: Volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the
National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read. Washington, DC: Author.
National Institute for Literacy. (2003). Put reading first: The research building
blocks for teaching children to read. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved
from http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/PFRbooklet.pdf
on April 1, 2005.
The Psychological Corporation. (2003). Early Reading Diagnostic Assessment,
second edition: Technical manual. San Antonio, TX: Author.
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