earlyReading Overview

earlyReading English Subtests

Subtest	Skill it Measures
Concepts of Print	Page orientation, left to right word order, etc.
Onset Sounds	Phonemic Awareness
Letter Names	Alphabetic Principle (Phonics)
Letter Sounds	Alphabetic Principle (Phonics)
Word Rhyming	Phonemic Awareness
Word Blending	Phonemic Awareness
Word Segmenting	Phonemic Awareness
Sight Word Reading-50	Fluency
Sight Word Reading-150	Fluency
Decodable Words	Alphabetic Principle (Phonics)
Nonsense Words	Alphabetic Principle (Phonics)
Sentence Reading	Fluency
Oral Repetition	Phonemic Awareness

When used for screening in Grade 1, the FastBridge CBMreading assessment is also included in the earlyReading English Composite in the winter and spring.

Subtest Descriptions

Concepts of Print (COP)

The Concepts of Print subtest measures a student’s general understanding of how print is used, so other reading skills can emerge. During this subtest, the student points to identify letters, words, and sentences, as well as the left-to-right English print directionality. Concepts of Print is part of the Composite in the fall of Kindergarten.

Onset Sounds (OS)

The Onset Sounds subtest assesses a student's phonemic awareness, which is the ability to identify and manipulate the smallest units of sound in spoken language. During the Onset Sounds subtest, the teacher asks the student to identify the first sound in a pictured word. Onset Sounds is part of the Composite in the fall and winter of Kindergarten, and can also be used for progress monitoring.

Letter Names (LN)

The Letter Names subtest assesses a student’s accuracy and automaticity with naming uppercase and lowercase English letters in isolation. Letter Names is part of the Composite in the fall of Kindergarten, and can also be used for progress monitoring.

Letter Sounds (LS)

The Letter Sounds subtest is timed and assesses a student’s ability and automaticity through providing the sounds for lowercase letters in isolation. Letter Sounds is part of the Composite in the fall, winter, and spring of Kindergarten, and it can also be used for progress monitoring.

Word Rhyming (WR)

The Word Rhyming subtest assesses a student’s ability to recognize and generate rhyming words. It requires students to identify pictures that rhyme with a given word, or generate a rhyme for a pictured word. Word Rhyming is an optional screening assessment.

Word Blending (WB)

The Word Blending subtest assesses a student’s ability to form a word from individually-spoken sounds called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in spoken language. During the Word Blending subtest, examiners say each phoneme in a word, and the student is expected to say the complete word. Word Blending is an optional screening and progress monitoring assessment.

Word Segmenting (WS)

The Word Segmenting subtest assesses a student’s ability to separate a spoken word into individual sounds, called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sound in spoken language. During the Word Segmenting subtest, the examiner says a word and asks the student to say any sounds in the word. Word Segmenting is part of the Composite in the winter and spring of Kindergarten, and the fall, winter, and spring of Grade 1. It can also be used for progress monitoring.

Sight Word Reading-50 (SW-50)

The Sight Words 50 subtest assesses a student's ability to recognize up to 50 of the most high-frequency English words. The Sight Words 50 subtest is distinct from the Decodable Words subtest because many high-frequency words are not decodable, and students must recognize them with automaticity rather than by using decoding strategies. Sight Words 50 is part of the Composite in the spring of Kindergarten, and it can also be used for progress monitoring.

Sight Word Reading-150 (SW-150)

The Sight Words 150 subtest assesses a student's ability to recognize up to 150 of the most high-frequency English words. The Sight Words 150 subtest is distinct from the Decodable Words subtest because many high-frequency words are not decodable, and students must recognize them with automaticity rather than by using decoding strategies. Sight Words 150 is part of the Composite in the fall, winter, and spring of Grade 1, and it can also be used for progress monitoring.

Decodable Words (DW)

The Decodable Words subtest assesses a student’s ability to read phonetically regular words. Decodable Words can be substituted for Nonsense Words in the Composite assessment, and it can also be used for progress monitoring.

Nonsense Words (NW)

The Nonsense Words subtest is timed and assesses a student’s ability to read phonetically regular "words" (e.g., "vit"). It is called Nonsense Words because the "words" are not real, but can all be decoded using English phonics rules. Unlike the Decodable Words subtest, it controls for words that students might already know and be able to read without decoding. Nonsense Words is part of the Composite for the winter and spring of Kindergarten, and the fall, winter, and spring of Grade 1. It can also be used for progress monitoring.

Sentence Reading (SR)

The Sentence Reading subtest assesses a student’s ability to read individual sentences from a story that is accompanied by pictures. As a precursor to CBMreading English, Sentence Reading is distinct in two important ways. First, students read from a text that is simple in structure. Second, the paragraphs are short, separated by page, and accompanied by pictures. Sentence Reading is part of the Composite for the fall of Grade 1.

Oral Repetition (OR)

The Oral Repetition task is a measure of a student’s receptive oral language, particularly students' knowledge of syntax (i.e., sentence structure). During the Oral Repetition subtest, the examiner reads 20 sentences of increasing length out loud, one at a time, and asks the student to repeat each sentence verbally, word for word. The Oral Repetition subtest is scored using values of 0, 1, or 2, depending on how much detail the student recalls from each sentence, for a possible score of 40 points. Oral Repetition is an optional screening subtest that can be used with students having difficulties with oral language development.

Screening with earlyReading English

earlyReading English is recommended for universal screening in Kindergarten and Grade 1. When used for universal screening, earlyReading includes four specific subtests at each screening period (e.g., fall, winter, spring). The combined scores from the four subtests are weighted to create a Composite score. The following table displays the subtests included in the Composite at each screening period.

Composite Subtests

GRADE	FALL	WINTER	SPRING
PK	Concepts of Prints	Concepts of Print	Letter Sounds
	Onset Sounds	Onset Sounds	Onset Sounds
	Letter Names*	Letter Names*	Letter Names*
K	Letter Sounds	Letter Sounds	Letter Sounds
	Onset Sounds	Onset Sounds	Nonsense Words*
	Concepts of Print	Nonsense Words*	Word Segmenting
	Letter Names	Word Segmenting	Sight Words-50
1	Sight Words-150	Sight Words-150	Sight Words-150
	Word Segmenting	Word Segmenting	Word Segmenting
	Nonsense Words*	Nonsense Words*	Nonsense Words*
	Sentence Reading	CBMreading	CBMreading

*Nonsense Words is the default decoding measure; Decodable Words can be substituted for Nonsense Words.

The Composite subtest scores are weighted in order to account for the proportional contribution of each subtest to the student’s overall emerging reading skills. Review the Development of earlyReading and earlyMath Composite Score resource to learn more.

Progress Monitoring with earlyReading English

When earlyReading English is used for progress monitoring, one subtest is selected. The following eight of the earlyReading English subtests are available for progress monitoring.

earlyReading English Subtests Available for Progress Monitoring

• Onset Sounds
• Word Blending
• Word Segmenting
• Letter Names
• Letter Sounds
• Decodable Words
• Nonsense Words
• Sight Words-50
• Sight Words-150

Those earlyReading English subtests available for progress monitoring have 20 different equivalent forms that are used at regular intervals. Equivalent forms are ones that maintain the task difficulty level while varying the sounds, letters, and words on each form to prevent practice effects. FastBridge recommends the following subtests for progress monitoring students in Kindergarten and Grade 1:

• Kindergarten: Letter Sounds
• Grade 1: CBMreading

These assessments are recommended because they measure the key skills typically taught during those grades. Nonetheless, not all students will be ready to use the above assessments for progress monitoring. Specifically, if a student is participating in an intervention to learn precursor skills such as blending and segmenting words, or decoding words, other earlyReading English progress measures might be appropriate. It is important to match the progress measure with the specific reading skills being taught.

There is also a Spanish version of earlyReading.

Subtest Schedule

Below outlines which subtests appear for each season, as well as the order they appear in.

Kindergarten

Fall	Winter	Spring
1. Letter Sounds	1. Letter Sounds	1. Letter Sounds
2. Onset Sounds	2. Onset Sounds	2. Nonsense Words
3. Concepts of Print	3. Nonsense Words	3. Word Segmenting
4. Letter Names	4. Word Segmenting	4. Sight Words - 50

Grade 1

Fall	Winter	Spring
1. Sight Words -150	1. Sight Words -150	1. Sight Words -150
2. Word Segmenting	2. Word Segmenting	2. Word Segmenting
3. Nonsense Words	3. Nonsense Words	3. Nonsense Words
4. Sentence Reading	4. CBMreading English	4. CBMreading English