July 2013
MultiLit is pleased to announce the release of our latest product: The Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (WARP). The WARP is a test of oral reading fluency. It is designed to track the reading performance of students reading at a Years 2 to 5 level and to ensure that no low-progress reader falls through the cracks. It is the first in a series of MultiLit reading tests.
As oral reading fluency is a powerful predictor of overall reading progress, the WARP can be used to both identify at-risk readers and then monitor ongoing progress towards the goal of functional literacy.
The WARP comprises a set of Initial Assessment Passages for student screening or one off assessment as well as a set of Progress Monitoring Passages for tracking the reading progress of low-progress readers on a weekly basis over a whole term.
The WARP has a number of advantages over other tests:
- It is quick and easy to administer.
- It measures real reading in its natural context of connected text.
- Its multiple passages have been specifically designed to be of similar difficulty level which allows for frequent use in order to monitor reading progress over terms or even years
- It can be used to track reading progress regardless of the method of instruction employed.
The WARP requires a child to read for just one minute from a specially written 200-word passage. The number of words read correctly in this one-minute period is the measure of the student’s current level of reading performance.
The authors of the test write:
“There is a clear need for a good, reliable measure of how well children can read so that those struggling to learn to read can be quickly and easily identified, given extra assistance, and their progress monitored on a regular basis. Reading is such a complex business, however, that most reading tests are usually both time consuming and complicated to administer. But what if a simple, quick method could be established that could be shown to be just as reliable and valid as conventional reading tests? What if, in fact, a measure were to be developed that took only one minute per student, that could be administered frequently, and that required only very simple materials such as short passages of text and a watch with a second hand? This, in effect, is what the Wheldall Assessment of Reading Passages (or WARP) aims to provide.”
For more information on WARP and to purchase the product, click here.