Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS)

The Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) is a tool that focuses on fundamental literacy skills. The assessment offers instruments for PreK-3, with a Spanish version available as well. PALS is the state-provided screening assessment for Virginia's Early Intervention Reading Initiative (EIRI). PALS Plus can be used for grades 4-8. 

Content

Sub-Category
Domains
Reading,
Speaking & Listening,
Language
Subdomain

Oral Reading; Comprehension; Fluency; Phonemic Awareness

Grades
Pre-Kindergarten,
Kindergarten,
1st Grade,
2nd Grade,
3rd Grade,
4th Grade,
5th Grade,
6th Grade,
7th Grade,
8th Grade
Languages
English,
Spanish
Respondent
Student

Administration Information

Administration
Paper

Access and Use

Price

Base package subscription: $5.50 per student; Premium package subscription: $7.25 per student

Contact

888-882-7257

Open Access
No
Use in Research

Hur, E., Buettner, C. K., & Jeon, L. (2015). The association between teachers’ child-centered beliefs and children’s academic achievement: The indirect effect of children’s behavioral self-regulation. Child & Youth Care Forum, 44(2), 309–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-014-9283-9

Jamaludin, K. A., Alias, N., Mohd Khir, R. J., DeWitt, D., & Kenayathula, H. B. (2016). The effectiveness of synthetic phonics in the development of early reading skills among struggling young ESL readers. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 27(3), 455–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2015.1069749

Niessen, N. L., Strattman, K., & Scudder, R. (2011). The influence of three emergent literacy skills on the invented spellings of 4-year-olds. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 32(2), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525740110363624

Wilcox, M. J., Gray, S. I., Guimond, A. B., & Lafferty, A. E. (2011). Efficacy of the “TELL” language and literacy curriculum for preschoolers with developmental speech and/or language impairment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(3), 278–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.12.003

Psychometrics

Scoring
Computer scoring
Referencing
Criterion-referenced
Psychometric References

Invernizzi, M., Juel, C., Swank, L., & Meier, J. (2015). PALS K technical reference. University of Virginia. https://literacy.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu1006/files/2022-03/K_Tech_Ref_2015.pdf

Invernizzi, M., Meier, J., & Juel, C. (2015). PALS 1-3 technical reference. University of Virginia. https://literacy.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu1006/files/2022-03/1-3_Tech_Ref_2015.pdf

Invernizzi, M., Meier, J., & Juel, C. (2015). PALS 4-8 technical reference. University of Virginia. https://literacy.virginia.edu/sites/g/files/jsddwu1006/files/2022-03/4-8_Tech_Ref_2015.pdf

Savage, C. (2022). Considerations for use of early grades reading assessments. EdInstruments Brief, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Brown University. https://edinstruments.org/resources/early-grades-reading-assessments 

National Comparison
No

Psychometric Considerations

Psychometrics is the science of psychological assessment. A primary goal of EdInstruments is to provide information on crucial psychometric topics including Validity and Reliability – essential concepts of evaluation, which indicate how well an instrument measures a construct - as well as additional properties that are worthy of consideration when selecting an instrument of measurement.

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