Rapid online assessment of reading and phonological awareness (ROAR-PA)

Abstract

Phonological awareness (PA) is at the foundation of reading development: PA is introduced before formal reading instruction, predicts reading development, is a target for early intervention, and is a core mechanism in dyslexia. Conventional approaches to assessing PA are time-consuming and resource intensive: assessments are individually administered and scoring verbal responses is challenging and subjective. Therefore, we introduce a rapid, automated, online measure of PA—The Rapid Online Assessment of Reading—Phonological Awareness—that can be implemented at scale without a test administrator. We explored whether this gamified, online task is an accurate and reliable measure of PA and predicts reading development. We found high correlations with standardized measures of PA (CTOPP-2, r =.80) for children from Pre-K through fourth grade and exceptional reliability (α =.96). Validation in 50 first and second grade classrooms showed reliable implementation in a public school setting with predictive value of future reading development.