CORE

Phonics
Surveys

SKILL ASSESSED
b W H A T The COREPhonics Survey and the CORESpanish
Phonics PhonicsSurveyassess the phonics and phonics-related skills that
have a high rate of application in beginningreading. Eachsurvey
presents a numberof lists of letters and wordsfor the student to
K-12 identify or decode. Pseudowords,or made-upwords, are included
since the student must use decodingskills to correctly pronounce
Language
these words and cannot have memorizedthem.
¯ English
The CORE Phonics Surveys can be used as screening measures,
¯ Spanish
and also as outcomemeasures, providing data about growth and
Grouping masteryat the end of an instructional period. As diagnostics, they
can indicate whetheror not a student needs instruction in select-
Individual
ed phonics concepts, or if further assessmentis needed. Theymay
Approximate
Testing Time also be usedto track progressfromearlier skills to gradelevel mas-
tery. The CORE PhonicsSurveys are not meantto replace screen-
10-15 Minutes
ing and progress monitoring tests such as those from AIMSweb or
Materials DIBELS,or other CBM tests that mayalready be in place but can
be used to augmentsuch tests.
¯ Pencil
¯ Lined Paper
¯ English RecordForm(pp.44-48) b WH Y A student’s ability to use knowledgeof sound/letter
¯ English StudentMaterial
correspondences(phonics) to decodewords determines, in large
(pp.49-52)
measure,his or her ability to read individual words.Adetailed
¯ SpanishRecordForm(pp. 53-58)
¯ Spanish assessmentof a student’s phonicsskills points to areas in whichthe
StudentMaterial
(pp.59-62) student is likely to benefit mostfromsystematic, explicit phonics
instruction. Also, knowingthe skills that the student does possess
Source
will help in selecting readingtasks that offer the mosteffective
Consortium OnReading reinforcementof those skills.
Excellence
(CORE)

CONTINUED

CORE PHONICS SURVEYS ~ 41

 I~ H O WInstructions for administering each part of the
survey are included on the RecordForm.Students read from the
Student Material on the pages that follow the RecordForm. To
focus the student’s attention on the part of the test beinggiven,
cover the other parrs with a piece of paper. TheRecordFormshows
the samematerial that appears on the Student Material, in a
reducedsize, so that youmayeasily record the student’s responses.
Followingadministration, score each of the test parts, and trans-
fer the results to the first pageof the RecordFormunderSkills
Summary.Retest parts not yet mastered according to schedules
found on the Types and Frequencyof Effective Assessment
Systemschart, page 7, or the AssessmentSequencefor Primary
Grade Students or AssessmentSequencefor UpperGrade Students
charts, pages 12 and 13, or your school or district assessment
plan. Beawareof the student’s behaviorduring testing. If the stu-
dent is tiring or makingmanyconsecutive errors, discontinue
testing at that time.

)’WHEN
Fall Winter Spring

Parts A & B

Parts C-E

Parts A-D If indicated

Part E

Parts F-K X X

Part L X

Grade2
Parts A-K If indicated

Part L X X

Grades 3 and up

Parts A-L If indicated

- 42 ~ CORE PHONICS SURVEYS

 b WHATIT MEANSThis test is a mastery test. Itis
expectedthat students will ultimately get all items correct. Score
each list completedby student as shownbelow.
CORE’sTeaching COREPhonics Survey--English, Mastery
ReadingSourcebook, (Letter Names/
Sounds) (15 Item) (24 Item)
SecondEdition
Benchmark 83(all) 14+ 21+

Strategic : 65-82 10-13 15-20

Intensive 0-64 0-9 O- 14

COREPhonics Survel--Spanish, Mastery

(Letter Names/
Sounds) (5 Item) (10 Item) (24 Item)

Benchmark 73(all) 4+ 9+ 21+

Strateg|/: 58-72 3 6-8 15-20

IntensiVe 0-57 0-2 0-5 0-14

b WH A T ’ S N E X T ? Students who score at Strategic

or Intensive levels will benefit fromtargeted and intensified
instruction and extensive practice in the phonics concepts
indicated. Ananalysis of individual errors can give morespecific
information about phonic elements that need instruction.
Additionally, the CORE PhonemeSegmentationTest or other tests
of phonemeawareness can be administered to isolate phoneme
awarenessas an underlying factor. Older struggling readers who
score at Intensive levels will needbasic phonicsinstruction,
possibly including instruction in phonemicawarenessand
sound/spelling correspondences.Students at all levels need
repeated opportunities to develop automaticity through practice
in reading wordsin isolation and in appropriately decodabletext.
Modellessons for explicit instruction in introducing and practic-
ing sound/spellings, blending, and reading and writing words can
be found in the TeachingReadingSourcebook.

CORE PHONICS SURVEYS ~ 43

 CORE
Phonics
Surve---Rec0rd
F0rr

Name Grade Date,

SKILLS SUMMARY

AlphabetSkills and Letter Sounds

~/26 A. Letter namesmuppercase

~/26 B. Letter namesmlowercase
~/21 C. Consonant sounds
~/5 D. Long vowel sounds
~/5 Short vowel sounds

Reading and DecodingSkills

/15 E. Short vowels in CVCwords

~!~ S F. Consonantblends with short vowels
~!~ s G. Short vowels, digraphs, and -tch trigraph
____/15 H. R-controlled vowels
____/15 I. Long vowel spellings
~_/1 s J. Variant vowels
~/15 K. Low frequency vowel and consonant spellings
~/24 L. Multisyllabic words

Skills to review:

Skills to teach:

COREPhonics Survey--Record Form, Page 1

44 Copyright © 1999, 2008 by CORE.

Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.
Alphabet
SkillsandLetterSounds
P A R T A Letternames--uppercase
Sayto the student: Canyou tell methe namesof these letters? If the student cannotnamethree or
moreconsecutiveletters, say: Lookat all of the letters andtell mewhichonesyou do know.

D A N S X Z J L H

T Y E C 0 M R P W

K U G B F Q V I

____/26

P A R T B Letter names--lowercase
Sayto the student: Canyou tell methe namesof these letters? If the student cannotnamethree or
moreconsecutiveletters, say: Lookat all of the letters andtell mewhichonesyou do know.

d a n s x z j I h

t y e c o rn r p w

k u g b f q v i

m/26

P A FI T C Consonantsounds
Sayto the student: Lookat these letters. Canyou tell methe soundeachletter makes?Besure to ask
if he or she knowsof anothersoundfor the letters g and c. If the soundgiven is correct, do not
markthe RecordForm.If it is incorrect, write the soundthe student gives aboveeach letter. If no
soundis given, circle the letter. If the student cannot say the soundfor three or moreconsecutive
letters, say: Lookat all of the letters andtell mewhichsoundsyou do know.

d I ,n s x z j
t y p c h rn r
k w g b f q v
___/21
CORE
PhonicsSurvey--RecordForm,Page 2

Copyright©1999,2008by CORE.
Permissiongrantedto reproducefor classroomuse. 45
PARTD Vowel sounds
Askthe student:Canyoutell methe soundsof eachletter? If the studentnamesthe letter, countit
as the long vowelsound.Thenask: Canyoutell meanothersoundfor the letter? Thestudent
should namethe short vowelsound.

e__ i.__ a__

I = longsound s = short
sound

Record"1" on the first line for the longsound(letter name) and"s" for the short soundon the second
line. If the studentmakes anerror, recordthe error overthe letter.

______/5 Longvowelsounds(count the numberof I’s above)

Short vowelsounds(count the numberof s’s above)

Reading
andDecoding
For Parts E throughK students mustread both real and pseudowords (made-upwords). For the
real wordlines, tell the student: I wantyou
to readeachline of wordsaloud.If the studentcannot
read twoor moreof the real wordsin eachline, do not administerthe line of pseudowords; go to
the next set of items. Beforeaskingthe student to read the line of pseudowords,
say: NowI want
youto readsomemade-upwords.Donot try to makethemsoundlike real words.When using this
assessment as a specific skills test or screening measure, do not discontinue testing if a student
does not do well on one of the items in Parts F through K. Instead, moveto the next item and
continue testing.

PART E Shortvowelsin CVCwords

/5 sip mat let bun hog (real)
___/5 rut fit bat hot set (real)
_____/5 nop sut dit pem fap (pseudo)

PART Consonant
blendswith shortvowels
~/5 stop trap quit spell plan (real)
~/5 silk fast sank lump held (real)
__/5 nask dilt qued cang dran (pseudo)

COREPhonics Survey--Record Form, Page 3

46 Copyright ©1999,2008by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

PART Shortvowels,
digraphs,
and-tchtrigraph
_____/5 when chop thin shut wick (real)
___~/5 dodge rash ring then match (real)
/5 chid shorn dath phid futch (pseudo)

PART R-controlled
vowels
/5 harm dirt form fern surf (real)
/5 worn pert bark turn bird (real)
/5 nerm sirt gorf murd carn (pseudo)

PART Long
vowelspellings
/5 tape key toe paid feet (real)
15 leap boat tie ray blow (real)
/5 Ioe hine beap faim soat (pseudo)
/15

PART Variantvowels
~__/5 few down moon hawk coin (real)
/5 cue loud cook haunt toy (real)
______/5 voot few fout zoy bawk (pseudo)

PART K Lowfrequency
vowelandconsonant
spellings
/5 kneel cent type ghost wrist (real)
15 giant sweat gnat bomb sigh (real)
/5 bice knod dimb tigh wrep (pseudo)
~./15

COREPhonics Survey--Record Form, Page 4

Copyright ©1999,2008 by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use. " 47

PA R T L Multisyllabicwords
To administer, say to the student: I want you to read aloud downthe)qrst columnof words. Eachof
the real wordsin this columnhas two syllables. Point to the first column.If the studentcan read at
least five out of eight of the wordsin this column,point to ~the second,column and say: NowI
wantyouto read aloud the next columnofwords.If the student can read at least five of the words
in the second column, point to the third columnand say: NowI wantyouto read somemade-up
words.Donot try to makethemsoundlike real words.

_~__/3 Closed-closed unless consent timbut

~/3 Closed-silent e competes admire rompete

._._._/3 Open/closed-other depend radishes podated*

~__/3 Openor closed zero menu gromu*

____.J3 Silent e locate inhaled pentate

_~_.__/3 Consonant-le stable dimple morkle

~_.__/3 r-Controlled further bordered darber

~/3 Vowel team railways roaring fauntoon

~/24

* Thefirst syllable of these wordscan be either openor a closed (long or short vowelsound,
respectively); the secondsyllable of podatedcan be either a closed (short vowelsound)or a silent
-e (long vowelsound)syllable, due to the rules for adding-ed.)

COREPhonics Survey--Record Form, Page 5

Copyright© 1999, 2008by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

 CORE
PhonicsSurvey~Student
Material
Alphabet
andLetterSounds

PART A
D A N S X Z J L H

T Y E C 0 M R P W

K U G B F Q V I

PART B
d a n s x z j I h

t y e c 0 m P W

k u g b f q v

PART C
d I n s x z j

t y p h m

k w g b f q v

PART D
e i a o u

COREPhonics SurveymStudentMaterial, Page 1

Copyright ©1999,2008 by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use. 49

 CORE
PhonicsSurveyStudentMaterial
Reading
andDecoding

PART
sip mat let bun hog

rut fit bat hot set

nop sut dit pem fap

PART
stop trap quit spell plan

silk fast sank lump held

nask dilt qued cang dran

PART
when chop thin shut wick

dodge rash ring then match

chid shom dath phid futch

CORE
Phonics Survey--Student Material, Page 2

Copyright ©1999,2008 by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use..

PART H
harm dirt form fern surf

worn pert bark turn bird

nerm sirt gorf murd carn

PA RT I
tape key toe paid feet

leap boat tie ray blow

Ioe hine beap faim soat

PART J
few down moon hawk coin

cue loud cook haunt toy

voot rew fout zoy bawk

PART K
kneel cent type ghost wrist

giant sweat gnat bomb sigh

bice knod dimb tigh wrep

CORE
Phonics Survey--Student Material, Page 3

Copyright ©1999,2008 by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.

PART

unless consent timbut

competes admire rompete

depend radishes podated

zero menu gromu

locate inhaled pentate

stable dimple morkle

further bordered darber

railways roaring fauntoon

COREPhonics Survey~Student Material, Page 4

Copyright ©1999, 2008by CORE.Permission granted to reproduce for classroom use.