There are many available screeners for reading and other education or social-emotional outcomes. This brief outlines important things to consider when choosing and using a screener.

Fluency is the ability to read words, phrases, sentences, and stories accurately, with enough speed, and expression. It is important to remember that fluency is not an end in itself but a critical gateway to comprehension.

When evaluating the quality of any screening tool, it is important to determine whether or not the assessment is biased against different groups of students. We want to ensure that students do not receive higher or lower scores on an assessment for reasons other than the primary skill or trait that is being tested.

Classification accuracy is a key characteristic of screening tools. A goal in classification accuracy is to correctly identify issues that result in a later problem and situations in which the scores identify issues that do not result in a later problem.

Sample representativeness is an important piece to consider when evaluating the quality of a screening assessment. If you are trying to determine whether or not the screening tool accurately measures children's skills, you want to ensure that the sample that is used to validate the tool is representative of your population of interest.

Reliability is the consistency of a set of scores that are designed to measure the same thing. Reliability is a statistical property of scores that must be demonstrated rather than assumed.

Assessment is a process of collecting information. Screening is an assessment process that helps teachers identify students who are at risk for not meeting grade-level learning goals.

Validity is broadly defined as how well something measures what it's supposed to measure. The reliability and validity of scores from assessments are two concepts that are closely knit together and feed into each other.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), emphasizes the use of evidence-based activities, strategies, and interventions. Section 8101(21)(A) of the ESEA defines an evidence-based project component as being supported by four possible levels of evidence: (1) strong evidence; (2) moderate…

An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. Learning to identify the sounds in words through instruction happens best when the sounds are explicitly connected to the…

The alphabetic principle is a critical skill that involves connecting letters with their sounds to read and write. Learning and applying the alphabetic principle takes time and is difficult for most children. Explicit phonics instruction and extensive practice are important when teaching children to learn the alphabetic principle.

You and the school share responsibility for your child's language and literacy learning. Collaborate with your school to make decisions about your child's literacy education right from the start. Your child benefits when you and the school work together to support her literacy development. Working together promotes faster development and catches…

A literacy advocate supports or speaks out for someone else's educational needs or rights in reading, writing, and language. As a family member, you know your child best. You have seen your child's literacy skills progress over time. You can embrace your role as an advocate and learn how to work together with your child's school toward common…

Reading skills provide the foundation for academic success. From the beginning of school, students should be taught different ways of using language to help them learn and communicate about academic content. This brief discusses two areas of literacy development that students must learn so that they can do well in school: "foundational…

Taking part in literacy experiences at home can develop your child's reading ability, comprehension, and language skills. Activities that you can engage in at home include: joint reading, drawing, singing, storytelling, reciting, game playing, and rhyming. You can tailor activities to your child's age and ability level, and can incorporate…