Entering full inventory scores for Letter Name and Letter Sound
Walking the line of comprehensiveness without overassessing is a balancing act. At EarlyBird, we offset the burden of data collection with auto-scoring that saves teachers time while reducing bias in the grading process. But thanks to educator feedback, we’ve learned that most users already complete their own letter name/letter sound inventories and would prefer to reference those scores rather than spending additional instructional time having students complete the auto-scored version in EarlyBird.
In order to avoid overtesting while also improving data quality, we have removed the Letter Name and Letter Sounds subtests from the standard gameboards in 2024-2025 and provided optional printable versions in the Next Steps Resources. Beginning this fall, educators will be directed to input their student’s Letter Name and Letter Sound inventory scores manually into the EarlyBird dashboard.
This change means schools can now use their existing Letter Name/Letter Sound assessments without being forced to double test students. Once entered, normed percentile scores will appear in the dashboard and student profile views so that educators can use the full breadth of reading subskills in the EarlyBird dashboard to analyze and group their instructional support. Any dependent predictive Potential for Word Reading (PWR) score will also continue to be available with these manually entered scores. We will let you know soon when this dashboard scoring feature will be available!