Assessment
Reading Anxiety Tests (RATs)
Reading Anxiety Assessment (all ages) by Motif
Motif provides a trusted set of free tests that help education professionals trouble-shoot literacy difficulties in children. The RATs are questionnaires designed to detect elevated levels of anxiety related to reading, and have different versions depending on whether the test-taker is a child, adolescent, or adult.
Reading Self Perception Scale (RSPS)
Reading Self-Concept Assessment (for children in grades 4-6) by Henk and Melnick
The RSPS is a 33-item assessment designed to measure how test-takers feel about themselves as readers. The assessment measures four subscales of reading self-perception:
Progress - How current reading compares to one’s own past performance.
Observational Comparison - How one’s reading compares to classmates’ performance.
Social Feedback - Direct/indirect input on reading ability from teachers, classmates, and family.
Physiological states - Internal feelings experienced during reading.
Assessment refers to the measurement of an underlying skill, ability, or construct. Evidence‑based assessment means using tools and procedures that have been tested in research, so the questions we ask and the scores we report are reliable, valid, and genuinely helpful for decision‑making. In practice, this means assessment should be guided by the best available scientific evidence rather than opinion, leading to clearer, more trustworthy results.
Below we endorse the following evidence-based reading assessments:
Reading Self Perception Scale 2 (RSPS2)
Reading Self-Concept Assessment (for adolescents in grades 7-10) by Henk, Marinak, and Melnick
The RSPS2 is a 47-item assessment based on the RSPS, but adapted for older students. The RSPS2 was created because older students’ reading expectations and self-concept differ from younger children’s. The assessment measures the same four subscales (progress, observational comparison, social feedback, and physiological states) as the original RSPS.
Reading Engagement Scale (RES)- Placeholder
Reading Engagement Assessment (for children in grades 3-5) by McGeown and Smith
The RES measures reading engagement along four subscales:
Behavioural - e.g., How often does the test-taker read?
Affective - e.g., How enjoyable is reading books?
Cognitive - e.g., How do you approach difficult to read sections during reading?
Social - e.g., Do you like to discuss reading books with peers?