What Is The Sparkle Assessment Kit?

Systematic Phonics and Reading Knowledge Levelled Evaluation

The SPARKLE Kit is a testing series that has been created for teachers to evaluate and monitor the reading skills of their students. Systematically sequenced into 8 levels of data collection, the SPARKLE Kit includes comprehensive student recording forms to assist teachers to accurately determine reading proficiency. Individually administered, the student screener and reading evaluation data can be used for instructional planning purposes and to formulate interventions. The SPARKLE Kit was predominantly designed as an assessment tool to be used alongside the Decodable Readers Australia books, however, this resource is a tool that provides educators with a comprehensive report of student reading skills regardless of the instructional program used. The SPARKLE Kit collects data on the following components:

Letter/Sound Correspondences
Word blending skills (building in complexity)
Fluency (Words Correct Per Minute)
Decoding skills at text level
Comprehension/Checking for understanding of what has been read
Assists in informed future instructional planning and the formulation of intervention strategies.

Why Was The Sparkle Kit Created?

Systematic Phonics and Reading Knowledge Levelled Evaluation

Learning to read is a complex process. Consequently, teachers need to be adequately equipped with sophisticated tools that allow them to accurately and efficiently ascertain each individual student’s developmental reading progression.

The SPARKLE Assessment Kit is the most comprehensive reading assessment tool currently available in Australia that provides teachers with materials to evaluate the explicit teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics. When students are taught to read using a systematic introduction of the English code they consequently need to be assessed in the same way. This is the first opportunity teachers have had to evaluate the reading skills of their students using an assessment tool that aligns with a structured literacy approach.

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What's In The Sparkle Kit?

Systematic Phonics and Reading Knowledge Levelled Evaluation

The SPARKLE Assessment Kit includes a screener at each level to evaluate individual students’ phonic knowledge and blending skills.

Each Screener assesses:

The student’s knowledge of the grapheme/phoneme correspondences of the new sounds introduced within the level.
The student’s ability to blend these sounds to read whole words that are comprised of various spelling patterns.
The student’s ability to read the sight words that are used within the levelled texts.

The two Main Fiction texts within each level, are comparative in the following way:

The number of words in the text.
The composition of the words in the text. For example – words that include new sounds, various spelling patterns and multisyllabic words.
The number and detailing of illustrations.
The depth of the theme. The student texts in each level of the SPARKLE Kit follow the identical sound sequence as in the Decodable Readers Australia – Main Fiction Series books.
An Early Reader Evaluation (for each level)for more vulnerable students requiring a simpler text.

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How Do I Collect Data Based On The SPARKLE Kit?

We have created a FREE downloadable data recordinging tool using Excel. The package has embedded formulas to help analyse your data.

SPARKLE Kit Digital Data Recording Package

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Testimonials

"We are using your readers in our whole school reading program because they are the most appealing, well sequenced readers we can find. It’s great to have some Australian themed decodables. Keep up the good work, and we look forward to our continuing relationship."

Luke Bowering - Head of Curriculum

"We stumbled across Australian Decodable Readers by accident and were totally thrilled when we did. Not only did they link directly to the phonics program we were implementing at the school, they had an Australian theme. We use both the big books and the student books in the classroom teaching program and the students then take the small books home to consolidate their learning. The decodable readers are crucial for allowing students to generalise phonemic awareness, phonics and sight word skills taught whilst engaging with texts."

Leanne Santaromita - Deputy Principal

"We use and recommend Decodable Readers Australia to our clients who are requiring extra assistance with reading and spelling. The readers systematically introduce the sounds to the child and the words gradually increase in length and complexity. The children like the characters and the pictures don’t provide too much information about what is written, so that children are encouraged to decode the words rather than guess what the words are. I would highly recommend these readers to any parent, school, or educator or therapist, for all children learning to read – not just those experiencing difficulties."

Dimity Williams - Speech Pathologist & Author

"Our school has purchased all published levels of the Decodable Texts since their inception. Our teachers love the Australian themed readers, as they are aligned to the explicit teaching of letters in the order matching Jolly Phonics. An excellent resource, valued by not only our Early Years teachers but also by other teachers across the school, who teach students with learning difficulties. Well done! We look forward to the next levels (5 & 6) to be available."

Robyn Martin (M. Ed) - STLaN Link It! Coordinator

"Your decodable readers are a fantastic resource to support our students in their reading journey, offering engaging and well sequenced progression of text. Our students and teachers alike love the Australian characters in your readers and the questions in the back of the books are an excellent resource to support parents when reading with their children. Thank you for your fabulous work!"

Lauren Mayers - Prep Teacher