CPM: Why is the letter naming measure timed?
- Thao.Yoder
Answer
Automaticity, or the ability to recall information immediately, is used in the Circle Progress Monitoring System to determine if children are acquiring letter knowledge. This method is based on widely accepted research that links letter recognition fluency to later word reading fluency.
Letter knowledge, phonological awareness skills, and general language abilities are some of the key building blocks of early reading skills (i.e., what some refer to as “the big three of early reading”). Research has indicated that the automaticity of letter recall is important for reading skills. For early readers, this means immediately recognizing that letter shapes have letter names. These associations support later fluent letter reading that leads to word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
The Circle Progress Monitoring was developed to evaluate a child’s ability to name letters within a time sensitive format that would provide a measure of automaticity or speed of recall. Specifically, the letter naming measure evaluates the number of upper- and lower-case letters that a child can name in 60 seconds. In electronic administrations (e.g., laptop, tablet) the timing demands are controlled by the technology, making the task significantly less cumbersome to administer as compared to paper and pencil administrations.
There are 52 items on the sub-measure (all uppercase and lowercase letters). The assessment is timed for 60 seconds. Depending on the speed of the student’s answers, they may see all 52 items, or fewer items.