New ACER assessment aims to spot literacy difficulties before children fall behind

Developed for students in Foundation and Year 1, PAT Early Literacy combines research-based assessment with a story-led digital experience that enables young learners to complete assessments with minimal support while providing teachers with detailed insights into student achievement and progress.  

The assessment program measures three critical areas of early literacy development separately: phonics and related skills, listening comprehension and reading comprehension. 

The launch comes as schools face growing pressure to identify learning needs earlier and provide targeted support. Research shows that literacy challenges identified in the early years are easier to address than difficulties that persist into later schooling. 

PAT Early Literacy has been designed specifically for young learners and the practical realities of early years classrooms. Students progress through narrated stories guided by digital characters, with instructions, encouragement and practice embedded throughout the assessment experience. 

'One of the biggest challenges in early years assessment is balancing meaningful evidence with what is practical in the classroom,' said ACER’s Senior Assistant Director, Assessment Development, Sandra Knowles. 

'PAT Early Literacy has been designed so young learners can engage with minimal supervision, reducing the administration burden on teachers while giving them reliable information about how each student is developing and where support may be needed.' 

The Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension assessments are adaptive so rather than every student completing the same set of questions, a student’s responses to the first set of questions determine which set of questions they receive next. This helps ensure students are assessed at an appropriate level of challenge, improving measurement precision without increasing testing time. 

PAT Early Literacy also provides a more complete picture of literacy development by assessing decoding skills alongside both listening comprehension and reading comprehension.  

This enables teachers to distinguish between students who may be decoding words accurately but struggling with understanding, or vice versa, and those who require additional support with foundational reading comprehension skills.  

Instant reporting provides teachers with immediate access to detailed student results across these domains.  

'Reading is more than phonics alone,' Knowles added. 'By assessing phonics and related skills, listening comprehension and reading comprehension separately, teachers can better understand what is driving a student's literacy development and make more informed decisions about next steps.' 

As part of the PAT suite, PAT Early Literacy also allows schools to monitor literacy development over time. The Reading Comprehension assessment is reported on the existing PAT Reading achievement scale, helping schools build a continuous picture of student growth from the earliest years of schooling onwards.  

Key benefits of PAT Early Literacy 

• Earlier and more targeted support – identifies strengths and learning needs across Phonics and Related Skills, Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension.  

• Reduced administration burden – designed for small-group administration, allowing students to complete assessments with minimal direct support, while instant reporting makes student results data available immediately after assessment. 

• 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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About the Australian Council for Educational Research

For more than 95 years, ACER has been driven by a single purpose – to improve learning for all. ACER began as a small team of researchers determined to bring rigour and evidence to education and assessment and has grown into a globally recognised not-for-profit organisation. ACER combines world-class assessment and research to help learners, educators and systems in more than 150 countries understand what works in education, and why. 

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