PAT Early Years Reading is an assessment of pre-literacy and early reading skills, covering print conventions, decoding, listening comprehension and reading comprehension. It has been specifically designed for the first two years of formal schooling (Foundation and Year 1), a time when students are building their foundational literacy skills to become independent readers.
The following topics are covered in this article:
The following articles provide more detailed information about using PAT Early Years Maths effectively:
- When to test with PAT Early Years Reading
- Choosing the right PAT Early Years Reading test
- Administering PAT Early Years Reading tests
- Using results from PAT Early Years Reading
About PAT Early Years Reading
There are four PAT Early Years Reading tests, which increase in difficulty and are accessible across the two-year period. The number of tests provided allows educators to monitor progress of a variety of literacy skills over time.
As with all PAT assessments, each PAT Early Years Reading test is made up of items – or questions – that cover a spread of difficulty and allow for some overlap in the skills assessed between the previous assessment and the next assessment.
The PAT Early Years Reading Framework covers five strands of early reading and aligns to the Australian Curriculum.
The five strands are:
- PR (print conventions & environmental print)
- PH (phonics & phonemic awareness)
- VO (vocabulary)
- LC (listening comprehension)
- RC (reading comprehension)
The strands differ from those reported in PAT Reading 5th Edition as PAT Early Years Reading tests cover skills specific to emerging readers. These new strands reflect a mixture of constrained and unconstrained skills (Paris 2005). Constrained reading skills relate to the ‘mechanics’ of reading and require a level of automaticity to be effective, as demonstrated in the skills required to decode written letters and words into sounds (Clay 1989). Constrained skills have a ‘ceiling’ and once they have been mastered, all learning is complete. Other skills, such as vocabulary and comprehension, continue to develop across a lifetime and are therefore referred to as unconstrained skills.
The number of items that assess constrained skills are high in the first two PAT Early Years Reading tests. These questions decrease in number in the following tests. Conversely, items that assess unconstrained skills increase in number as the tests go along to match the expected progression in students’ reading skills.
Comparison to PAT Reading 5th Edition Test 1
PAT Early Years Reading is a comprehensive suite of four test forms with embedded audio support, specifically developed to assess students in the first two years of formal schooling.
PAT Reading 5th Edition includes a Test 1, which has been targeted to students in Year 1, resulting in some overlap with PAT Early Years Reading. The table below summarises the features of the assessments.
Related article: Getting started with PAT Reading 5th Edition
ACER recommends using PAT Early Years Reading to assess and monitor student progress across a range of pre-literacy and early reading skills.
| PAT Early Years Reading | PAT Reading 5th Edition – Test 1 |
|---|---|
A suite of four test forms:
|
A test form within PAT Reading 5th Edition |
Features content developed to assess pre-literacy and early reading skills across five strands:
|
Developed using existing PAT Reading content to assess reading comprehension skills across two strands:
|
| Most suitable for students in Foundation and Year 1 | Most suitable for students in Year 1 |
| Uses interactive item types such as drag-and-drop, and hotspot | Uses simple format multiple-choice items |
| Includes embedded audio support to allow students to complete tests independently and at their own pace | Simple test design to support the typical reading levels of six- and seven-year-old students |
| Student results are reported on the PAT Reading scale | |