Digital Reading and Spelling Screening
Digital Reading and Spelling Screening is a web-based assessment service for identifying students that require for additional support in reading and writing. The assessment tasks with their content can be easily adjusted to suit a multitude of different language and population requirements. Research-based screening tasks are combined with a user-friendly design, to help teachers and educators identify students’ needs efficiently and reliably.
How does it work?
- Digital Reading and Spelling Screening can be used at all education levels from primary school to adulthood. The screening tasks are designed to suit each age group, and norms are provided for each grade level in basic education.
- The computerized group assessments take between 45 to 60 minutes and the tasks are fully automated. The tasks are also scored automatically, and results are immediately available for the teacher. Results can be examined at the national, municipal, group, individual or task level.
- The manual and introductory videos provide a comprehensive guide to the use of the instrument, its contents, as well as interpretation of results.
- Customers purchase a quota of digital licenses, which can be distributed to teachers and further to individual students.
Which skills are assessed?
Assessment tasks are designed to align with the developmental level of each age group. In Finnish, for Grades 1-2 the tasks assess reading fluency, spelling and basic arithmetic fluency. For Grades 3-6 a reading comprehension task is also included.
For Grades 7-8, upper secondary education and adults the screening includes tasks assessing reading fluency, spelling and reading comprehension. In addition, a study-related questionnaire is included to provide additional information on the student’s individual challenges and strengths in reading and writing.
Why to select Digital Reading and Spelling Screening?
- Screen reading difficulties efficiently and with scientific precision
- Harmonize the screening of reading difficulties up to national level
- Monitor the development of reading skills in your school, region or nation
- Save professionals’ time for helping children instead of scoring their responses
- Benefit from full R&D support with Niilo Mäki Institute
The science behind the Digital Reading and Spelling Screening
Digital Reading and Spelling Screening is an evidence-based tool. The assessment tasks, their content and the normative data for each Grade are always established in a three-step research project:
1) Localization includes production of tasks and assessment material for target language and grade.
2) Piloting stage includes collecting data(s) sufficient to discard poorly functioning items via item response analysis and to validate the tasks against traditional assessment tools.
3) Normative study includes collecting larger and representatively sampled dataset with Digital Reading and Spelling Screening from target population. The research results are available in user manuals and in scientific articles.
The technology
The service runs from our own servers on our own and self-developed software platform. This server-based technology with numerous pre-existing task types can be flexibly applied to assess also other skills such as math. We are constantly developing the system and its analytics.
Niilo Mäki Institute
Niilo Mäki Institute (NMI; en.nmi.fi) is a center of research and developmental work on learning difficulties in Finland. It is operated by the non-profit Niilo Mäki Foundation, honoring the work of Finland’s first professor in special education, Niilo Mäki. Our work on learning and learning difficulties is based on a dialogue between research, development, and practical teaching. We develop new research-based learning and rehabilitation materials and operating models.
Interested to develop Digital Reading and Spelling Screening into your language?
We are actively seeking international research and business partners.
Contact Jarkko Hautala, Head of Research, Niilo Mäki Institute, jarkko.hautala@nmi.fi +358408053487