| Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement: Revised 4th edition | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Area | English-Reading |
| Year level | 0-2 |
| NZ origin? | Yes , and used in educational systems worldwide. |
| Standardised? | Yes , in 2000 |
| Administration to individual or group? | Individual |
| What does it assess? | "Observation tasks" enable teachers to assess progress in beginning literacy: letter identification, word test, concepts about print, writing vocabulary, hearing and recording sounds in words and text reading level. |
| Purpose | To enable teachers to systematically observe children across a range of tasks in the first two years of schooling. The observation can provide evidence of learning , monitor progress and diagnose what a particular child controls and what operations and items he could be taught next. |
| Validity | Items have been tested for validity. |
| Reliability | A reliability measure has been established on each sub-test separately. |
| What measures does it give? | Raw scores are converted to stanines. |
| How long does it take to administer? | Approximately 45 minutes per student |
| How much training is needed? | A minimum of half a day, and requires practice. Schools should have at least one trained teacher, and it can be time consuming for them. |
| Scoring and data analysis | A summary report is completed by the teacher, analysing strengths and weaknesses of literacy processing. |
| Does it provide 'what next' strategies? | No , although an analysis of strengths and weaknesses gives indications of next teaching steps. |
| Is it available in te reo Maori? | Yes , as Mātai Mātātupu, developed in conjuction with experts in te reo Māori and Marie Clay, the author. |
| Cost? | Prices vary, around $30.00 from Heinemann at September 2017. Check with the supplier. |
| Author, date of publication and publisher | Marie M Clay, 2013 Heinemann |
| Availability | Available from Heinemann and from Teachers' resource centres. |
| Further Information | The text emphasises the systematic observation of young students, in order to provide them with the appropriate opportunities to learn. "The observation tasks in this survey do not simplify the learning challenge. They are designed to allow children to work with the complexities of written language. They do not measure the children's general abilities, and they do not look for the outcomes of a particular programme. They tell teachers something about how the learner searches for information in printed texts and how that learner works with that information." (p.13 of the text) Find out more in Assessment Online's Commonly used assessments: Observation survey page. |