DORA Online Reading Assessment

As an end of the school year activity, I had Sparkle take the DORA (Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment) test at the Let's Go Learn web site.

I got the test through homeschoolbuyers-coop, for $15 plus a $1 service fee. You can take the test within minutes of placing your order. The results are available immediately. The test took about an hour for Sparkle to complete. (I gave her the test during Glitter's naptime to reduce distractions.)

The DORA test is criterion-referenced, rather than norm-referenced. That means that a student's scores are reported as grade level equivalents, rather than percentages. Most states that require testing for homeschoolers require a nationally normed test, so this test wouldn't satisfy that requirement. Fortunately, I'm not required to test Sparkle; I just did it for us.

DORA is a computer adaptive test. It chooses which test questions to present based on how well the student does on previous questions. The test covers kindergarten through 12th grade. Thus, you can test out-of-grade level.

The test has several sub-tests. For high frequency words, word recognition, and word analysis (phonics) the computer says a word and presents four written choices. The child has to click the word that was said. For Phonemic awareness, the computer gives instructions, and then four talking heads say different answers, and the child has to click the head that said the correct answer. For oral vocabulary, the computer says a word and presents four pictures. The child clicks the picture that best represents the spoken word. The spelling section is the only part that isn't multiple choice - the computer says a word and the child has to spell it using an onscreen keyboard, or the actual keyboard. For reading comprehension, the child reads a passage and then answers multiple choice questions based on the passage.

Overall, I was pleased with the testing. Sparkle assumed it was a game, even though I told her it was important to do her best. The test results helped me because they put her asynchronous development into concrete terms.

I'll do a few things differently whenever I have Sparkle take the test again. (1) On the timed portion of the test, I'll make sure to tell Sparkle that it is more important to go fast than to click the bouncing fly in the exact middle. (2) I'll make sure that Sparkle has more practice using a computer mouse so that she won't have errors due to poor mouse skills. (3) If Sparkle gets tired again, I'll save the reading comprehension section for another day.