How do ELA Pre-Tests work?

When your students first log in to Freckle ELA, they will be prompted to choose between Word Study, Skills Practice, or Library. There are two Pre-Tests: one for our ELA articles that focus on reading comprehension and writing standards, and another for Word Study.

Article Pre-Test

The ELA articles Pre-Test consists of short snippets of informational text, each with a couple of corresponding comprehension questions. Students' ability to read and comprehend the text and respond to the questions helps the Pre-Test adjust as students move through it. The goal of the Pre-Test to determine the approximate starting grade level in reading for each student. This information will help the program decide which level of an article to recommend for each student to read as he or she uses the program. When students select ELA Articles, they will be taken to the following screen that displays a message introducing the pre-test to students.

Once students select Yes Please!, they will be taken through a series of short readings, each with 2 corresponding questions. The Pre-Test is used to measure students' reading comprehension abilities. As students get questions correct, the passages and the questions become more difficult. The program will work to isolate the perfect starting reading level for a student, based on what passages he or she can read and correctly answer questions on. Students should use the scroll bar to scroll up and down the passages and questions, selecting Submit when they are ready to move on to the next passage.

Once the program has determined an approximate reading level for a particular student, it will end the Pre-Test and show the student a message like the one below.

After students select Continue, it will return them to the ELA practice screen.

Some other things to note about the Pre-Test:

• Kindergarten students do not take the Pre-Test. They begin at an Early Reader level and Freckle will adapt from there.
• There is no pre-test for Decodables and Sight Words; all students start at level 1.
• The length of the pre-test varies based on student capability. Some students will finish in 5 minutes, others may take as long as 30 minutes. It must be completed in one sitting.
• If the student quits before finishing, the pre-test won't count, and the student will have to start over.
• The results for the pre-test go into the home page immediately. To see them, log in to your Teacher Home and select ELA Levels Report. From here, you can reset student levels in reading and Word Study as desired.

Word Study Pre-Test

Word Study focuses on students' growing knowledge of spelling patterns rather than their ability to memorize words. It provides students with opportunities to practice with spelling patterns that in turn help them learn to spell, read, and write words. The Word Study pre-test consists of audio clips that students listen to and subsequently spell. This helps Freckle identify their existing knowledge of spelling patterns. When students select Word Study, they will be taken to the following screen that displays a message asking them to start the pre-test.

Once students select Start, they will be taken to the following screen that displays a message introducing the pre-test to students.

Once the program has determined an approximate reading level for a particular student, it will end the Pre-Test and let the student know. The student then will be re-directed back to the Student Dashboard, where they can decide what to practice next.

Some other things to note about the Pre-Test:

• The length of the pre-test varies based on student capability. Some students will finish in 5 minutes, others may take as long as 30 minutes. It must be completed in one sitting.
• If the student quits before finishing, the pre-test won't count, and the student will have to start over.
• The results for the pre-test go into the home page immediately. To see them, log in to your Teacher Home and select ELA Levels Report. From here, you can reset student levels in reading and Word Study as desired.

Setting ELA Levels to Reassign or Skip the Pre-Test

Teachers can set the ELA levels if they do not want their students to take the ELA pre-tests. To set/reset ELA levels:

1. In the sidebar of the Home page, select Reports.
   
   
2. Select ELA.
3. Under Individual Student Reports, select ELA Levels.
4. Select the appropriate class from the Class drop-down list.
   
5. Select either the Reading Levels tab or Word Study Levels tab.
6. In the table of students, find the student who needs their pre-test levels updated and select Edit Level at the end of their row.
7. In the pop-up window, select Clear Level and Reassign Pre-test at the top to reassign the pretest. If you feel confident you know the student's current level, you can select that level instead.
   
   
8. Select Update Level. If the pre-test data was cleared, the student will be prompted to complete a new one. If you selected a different level for the student, the student will start at that level.