Phonological Awareness: Assessment

There is a direct correlation between reading success and phonemic proficiency among children (Kilpatrick, 2015). Teachers who teach preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1-2 should be incorporating phonological awareness daily. Ideally, students would have phonemic proficiency by the time they reach third grade. Realistically, this isn’t the case. Teachers may need to continue to teach this skill throughout the higher grades to struggling readers.  

Why is phonological awareness important: 

• Children must be able to hear and manipulate oral sound patterns before they can relate them to print. Phonics instruction builds on a child’s ability to segment and blend sounds she hears (Fitzpatrick, 1997).
• The English language is built on the alphabetic principle. That is, letters have names and sounds, and when these sounds are combined, they form words. Phonological awareness helps children understand the alphabetic principle and enhances their ability to decode (Zgonc, 2010).

Here are some tips: 

• First, assess students using a phonological awareness assessment such as the one located in Equipped for Reading Success by David Kilpatrick.  
  • If students were not assessed the year prior, start with the first subtest. Best practice indicates that you should give every subtest. However, use your judgment. If a child is exhibiting signs of stress or frustration, you may want to consider stopping. 
• Do daily quick (5-10 min) drills on the appropriate subcategory based on assessment results.