Reading Diagnostic Assessments

The most accurate and prescriptive reading assessments within an online platform

Granular and actionable assessment data for foundational reading skills

Let’s Go Learn’s DORA assessment series diagnostically evaluates each student’s reading abilities while providing the highest level of reliability and accuracy. By employing revolutionary adaptive logic and focusing on diagnostic test design, Let’s Go Learn’s assessments maximize the information obtained about each student while minimizing test-taking time and anxiety. The granular data captured by each assessment offers classroom teachers a comprehensive and actionable picture of each student.

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Click here to view DORA explained in 2 minutes by CEO/Co-Founder Richard Capone

Ensuring that reading assessments are as expansive as each child or student

Let’s Go Learn’s age-appropriate assessment interfaces engage readers and make testing more fun and relevant. The platform’s adaptive technology intelligently navigates across multiple areas within reading to provide a broad comprehensive look for each teacher to direct personalized instruction or for automated online intervention.

Rather than summarize developing readers into single scores, the DORA series expands reading into multiple sub-tests.  Reading ability doesn’t reduce to a single score, as many screening tools and benchmark tests assume. Rather, it is made up of many skills: comprehension strategies, vocabulary, sight-word recognition, phonics, spelling, phonemic awareness, and more.  Within each of these areas, a specific level can be found that identifies the ideal starting point for each student.  These points, also known as a student’s zone of proximal development, should never be defined by a student’s grade level.  They are determined by what each student actually can and cannot do based on a set of test items, not on single questions.  Single-question adaptive logic is the hallmark of screeners and summative tests’ analysis of students.  They make recommendations based on the data of the many, not the actual data of the one.  Let’s Go Learn will never make this mistake when assessing your students.

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DORA comprehension question on computer screen

Diagnostic reading assessments begin in decoding sub-tests, move into vocabulary, and finally finish with silent reading comprehension. In this example, a student with a customized avatar has shown he can decode words, and now he’s answering questions about a magnetism-related reading passage.

Instant accurate reports based on evidence, standards, and solid data

Let’s Go Learn’s web-based platform offers instant reporting for a teacher to share with an administrator, parent, or student.  Reports are comprehensible to all users, since they use easy-to-understand grade-level scores and simple narratives.

Other reports are designed for the special education teacher who needs to write student IEPs faster and with greater accuracy.  In addition, DORA can find present levels and determine weekly, monthly, or quarterly student language-art goals.  When used with formative assessments, progress monitoring becomes automatic.  All data rolls up into a unified, vertically scaled grade-level score dataset.

Reports can be created for small-group instruction for classroom teachers or for school-based reports to inform principals and department leaders.  Evidence-based teaching has never been easier with the dynamic range of reports for all stakeholders.

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Reading Diagnostic Assessments

DORA
The Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment is a K-12 web-based assessment that diagnostically evaluates students’ reading abilities.

Measures eight essential subskills of reading
Reveals a student’s unique reading profile across multiple areas
Aligned to Common Core, TEKS, and other state standards
Engaging interactive technology features a combination of audio, text, and multimedia images

DORA Dyslexia Screener
DORA DS provides a valid and reliable means to screen all students quickly online and accurately for dyslexia, as required by many states.

Measures five
essential skills 100% online – Product sheet
Checks for mouse or touch-screen dexterity bias when students are screened
Provides instant results for teachers and administrators
Integrated into the greater LGL platform for a total solution: screener to full diagnostics

DORA Phonemic Awareness
DORA PA provides a thorough assessment of oral phonemic awareness skills.

Measures nine essential phonemic awareness skills
View the specific phonemic awareness categories tested
Evaluates non-readers or struggling readers with audio and picture-only items
Automates oral one-on-one phonemic awareness diagnostics

DORA Spanish/EDELL
Evaluación Diagnostica Español de Lectura en Lí­nea is a diagnostic assessment of student Spanish reading abilities.

Measures seven essential subskills of Spanish reading
Reveals a student’s unique reading profile automatically
Instant diagnostic and prescriptive individual student reporting
Ideal for K-12 English Language Learners and adult ESL programs

Common Questions

How does the DORA work to identify gaps caused by learning loss or unfinished learning?

Yes! DORA treats students separate from their grade level. This means that if a 6th grade student takes DORA, the diagnostic range will not be limited to 5th to 6th grade, as in many benchmark tests and screeners. DORA will find each student's gaps across a K-12 grade range and provide automated intervention if desired via LGL ELA Edge.

How does the DORA series work to measure student progress?

With the formative assessment option, the full DORA assessment, which is made up of seven sub-tests, can be broken down and administered in parts. Individual sub-tests such as phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and comprehension can be administered. Alternatively, a teacher can administer even smaller formative quizzes in specific areas such as short vowels, beginning sounds, or 5th-grade comprehension.

Is DORA appropriate for students with IEPs?

Yes, DORA is actually the assessment of choice for many special education departments, which are no longer willing to depend on general education assessments adopted at the district level. DORA is able to identify a student's present levels very precisely--a key tool in writing accurate IEPs and setting appropriate goals for students in their individual educational plans.

Are specific areas such as letters or single-syllable words tested in DORA?

DORA breaks its testing into teachable skills and concepts. So yes, there are quizzes that test uppercase and lowercase letter recognition. Additionally, in the phonics scope and sequence, there is a beginning letter sounds section. When testing phonics, DORA will try to find the student's instructional point in the phonics linear sequence of skills, starting with beginning sounds and ending with multi-syllabic words. "Single-syllable words" is not a quiz in DORA, because technically, this is the outcome of having mastered all the necessary skills for many different types of single-syllable words. DORA tests skills needed to succeed in understanding all single-syllable words, such as short vowel, long vowel, grade 1 sight words, etc.

How does DORA approach the assessment of decoding skills?

DORA breaks decoding out into multiple sub-tests. Students successful in decoding need to be able to use skills in sight words or high-frequency words, phonics, phonemic awareness, and even spelling. All of these areas are tested to give teachers the most insight into a student's diverse set of skills and strategies when encountering unknown words.

How does DORA separate out phonics abilities in students who have very strong word knowledge already?

This is a great question. Especially with older students, word recognition skills may be very high. DORA assesses each phonics principle or skill in a sequential scope and sequence in a set of 10 questions. Within each set, half of the target words are nonsense words. By using this strategy, DORA can determine whether students actually understand each phonics principle. A breakout of types of errors is also provided. As you would guess, for older students with phonics weaknesses, it is often the case that 100% of their errors are with the non-words.

How does DORA compare to other types of assessments, such as iReady, STAR, or MAP-ELA?

This is a very broad question. DORA is essentially a multiple-measure diagnostic assessment, designed to explain why a student is struggling or doing well, rather than simply to measure summative assessment outcomes. So if DORA says a student is at grade level 1.17 in phonics, you also know that the student is working on short vowels. Scores are tied to specific skills and concepts, unlike in other assessments that focus on providing data for school administrators, who mainly want data for accountability purposes. The best way to evaluate and compare is to look at sample reports from each of these assessments. One other item that separates DORA from other assessments is that DORA is a series of tests.

Does DORA assess phonological awareness?

Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes manipulating and identifying oral language – parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. One measure within DORA and DORA Spanish is a phonological awareness screener. We also have a stand-alone diagnostic that tests both phonemic awareness and phonological awareness; it is called DORA Phonemic Awareness. In addition, the DORA Dyslexia Screener includes a phonological awareness screener.

Is DORA aligned to the Science of Reading?

DORA is aligned to the Science of Reading; it assesses the Science of Reading key components: phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies. Our AI system creates unique instructional paths for each student using their performance on DORA. The end result is optimal learning accelerated by our innovative design — decreasing cognitive load while profoundly increasing engagement and motivation.

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