Where storytelling meets assessment – PAT Early Literacy launches

Building on of the Progressive Achievement approach that underpins the PAT suite, PAT Early Literacy enables teachers to measure students’ early literacy proficiency, identify strengths and areas for development, and monitor progress over time. 

Each of the three early literacy assessment domains – Phonics and Related Skills, Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension – can be completed with minimal supervision. Students progress through narrated stories guided by digital characters who provides instructions, encouragement and assessment content throughout the experience. You can view a video of the product in action here. 

‘Teachers don’t need to sit beside every child for the assessment. Students can move through each assessment at their own pace while teachers receive reliable information about their progress and where they may need help,’ said ACER’s Senior Assistant Director, Assessment Development, Sandra Knowles. 

This design helps reduce the hands-on administration time often associated with early years assessment, while still giving teachers the evidence they need to make informed decisions about support. The new design also assesses each early literacy domain separately, allowing teachers to provide tailored support to each student at any given time.  

‘If a teacher knows the child is tracking well in early phonics and related skills, they can choose to focus on what the child understands through the listening comprehension assessment,’ said Knowles. 

Adaptive testing tailors the listening comprehension and reading comprehension assessments to each student’s level of proficiency, providing more meaningful information about what they know and can do without increasing testing time. 

‘A student's performance on the first set of questions determines their next set of questions, rather than every student being asked the same blanket questions,’ Knowles added. 

The benefits of PAT Early Literacy include: 

• Earlier and more targeted support – identifies strengths and learning needs across Phonics and Related Skills, Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension.  
• Less time spent on administration– designed for small-group use, allowing students to complete assessments with minimal direct support from teachers. 
• Appropriately targeted assessment – adaptive testing helps ensure students are presented with questions at an appropriate level of difficulty. 
• Better visibility of progress – connects to the PAT suite, enabling schools to monitor literacy development over time.  

PAT Early Literacy has been developed by ACER's literacy, assessment and psychometric experts.

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