TX-KEA: How to score TX-KEA Spelling?

For TX-KEA spelling, the goal is to write all the sounds they hear in a word. The words become increasingly challenging as the school year progresses. The scoring requires students to use conventional spelling rules, rather than developmental spelling approaches. TX-KEA assesses the application of conventional spelling rules because this yielded a more reliable score than developmental spelling methods in our validation study. The TX-KEA Written Spelling subtest does not measure handwriting. It is not expected that students have conventional handwriting at the beginning of the kindergarten year. Thus, written letters only need to be recognizable to be scored as correct. Letter approximations and common reversals can be scored as correct. The guiding principle is to give the student credit for a letter if it is a recognizable attempt.

You should refer to examples of acceptable, recognizable letters in the TX-KEA Scoring Guidelines.