Selecting the correct reading progress measure is essential in order to document student performance over time. In kindergarten and grade 1, children learn foundational reading skills necessary for future reading success. Therefore, careful attention to the progress measure used in kindergarten and grade 1 is particularly important.
Recommendations
The most important factor in selecting a reading progress measure is that it be aligned with the reading intervention skill or skills being taught. For example, if I am providing a phonemic awareness intervention, then a progress measure for phonemic awareness is needed. For some students, the intervention might include a combination of skills designed to meet the grade-level goals. When this is the case, a progress measure that reflects the most important grade-level reading skill can be used. In order to assist teachers in selecting the best progress measures for students in kindergarten and grade 1, FastBridge recommends the following practices:
- Grade-Level Skill Focus
- Specific Skill Focus
Grade-Level Skill Focus
In kindergarten and grade 1, students quickly learn the foundational skills that will help them become readers. For students who are participating in interventions that include a combination of skills designed to help them reach grade-level goals, the following FastBridge progress measures are recommended.
| Kindergarten | Grade 1 |
| Letter Sounds | CBMreading |
These measures were selected because they reflect the end-of-year primary skills goal for each grade. Specifically, kindergarten students are expected to learn the most frequent letter sounds (phonics) and first graders are expected to learn how to read simple sentences (fluency).
Specific Skill Focus
For students who are participating in more intensive reading interventions, a different progress measure might be needed. When the intervention focuses on one specific reading subskill, use a progress measure matched to that skill. In kindergarten and grade 1, the focus of instruction is phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency. Here is a summary of the recommended FastBridge reading progress measures aligned with each of these skills for students in kindergarten and grade 1.
| Reading Skill | Kindergarten | Grade 1 |
| Phonemic Awareness | Onset Sounds | Word Segmenting |
| Phonics | Letter Sounds | Nonsense Words |
| Fluency | Site Words - 50 | CBMreading |
There are different measures at each grade because students will develop more advanced skills in these areas across kindergarten and grade 1.