ROAR® (Rapid Online Assessment of Reading) is an online assessment of foundational reading skills developed by the Stanford Reading and Dyslexia Research Program. Magpie Literacy partnered directly with Stanford to build the ROAR® assessments into Magpie digital tools. ROAR® assesses phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, word reading, and sentence reading in K-2. Assessments feature fun characters and voiceover narration, allowing students to listen to instructions and engage with the task at their own pace and independently, without the need for adult guidance. Students complete the ROAR® benchmark assessments in Magpie Literacy three times during the year (start of year, mid-year, and end of year).
ROAR® Assessments
- ROAR®-Phoneme is a screener of phonological awareness skills. ROAR®-Phoneme provides nationally normed percentiles to indicate where student scores fall in relation to their age group, categorizing them as being at or above average, below average, or significantly below average. As a screener assessment, the data will indicate which students may need additional support with phonemic awareness skills.
- ROAR®-Letter is an inventory assessment of the ability to identify all letter names (uppercase and lowercase) and the most common sounds. ROAR®-Letter provides the percentage of items answered correctly across letter names and sounds. As a diagnostic assessment, data will indicate which letter names and sounds students may need additional support in learning.
- ROAR®-Word is a screener of individual word recognition (decoding and automaticity). ROAR®-Word provides nationally normed percentiles to show where student scores are at or above average, below average, or significantly below average for their age group. As a screener assessment, the data will indicate how students compare to their peers of the same age in the nationally normed sample and which students may benefit from additional support in decoding and automatic word reading.
- ROAR®-Sentence is a screener of sentence reading efficiency. ROAR®-Sentence provides nationally normed percentiles to indicate where student scores fall at or above average, below average, or significantly below average for their age group, and which students may benefit from additional support with sentence reading, decoding, and fluency.
| Skills | Time | Grade(s) | Scores | |
| ROAR®- Phoneme: Phonological Awareness Screener | Whether or not a student can match sounds at the beginning and end of words, and whether they can delete sounds | ~15 minutes | K-2nd |
Percentiles from a nationally normed sample of similar-age students E.g., a student in the 60th percentile scored higher than 60% of same-age students in the nationally normed sample |
| ROAR®-Letter: Letters & Sounds Diagnostic (Alphabet knowledge) | Which letters can a student recognize and match with the name and sound | ~12 minutes | K-1st |
Percentage Correct of all items in the assessment E.g., a score of 60% reflects that the student answered 60% of the items correctly and 40% incorrectly |
|
ROAR®-Word Single Word Recognition Screener |
Whether or not a student can recognize single words quickly and determine if they are real or nonsense words
|
~10 minutes | 1st-2nd |
Percentiles from nationally normed samples of similar age students E.g., a student in the 60th percentile scored higher than 60% of same-age students in the nationally normed sample
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ROAR®- Sentence: Sentence Silent Reading Efficiency Screener |
Whether or not a student can silently read and understand sentences quickly and accurately, to determine if they are true or false
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~3 minutes | 2nd |
Percentiles from nationally normed samples of similar age students E.g., a student in the 60th percentile scored higher than 60% of same-age students in the nationally normed sample |
Note: If students do not complete an individual ROAR® assessment within 32 hours, they will restart the assessment the next time they log in.
When Will Students Take ROAR®?
Start of Year ROAR®
Students will be automatically prompted to take the Start of Year ROAR® assessments the first time they log into Magpie and will ideally complete them over two days. After completing the Start of Year assessments, students will automatically begin their Magpie lessons.
Mid-Year ROAR®
Starting in mid-November, students will complete the Mid-Year ROAR® assessments. When students log into Magpie on or after the Mid-Year ROAR® start day, they will pause their Magpie lessons and complete the Mid-Year ROAR benchmark assessments ideally over two days. After completing Mid-Year ROAR, students will continue Magpie lessons automatically.
End of Year ROAR®
In early May, students will complete the ROAR® End of Year assessments in Magpie; these assessments should be completed during the final weeks of the school year. When students log into Magpie on or after the assessment start date, they will pause their Magpie lessons and complete the End of Year ROAR® benchmark assessments ideally over two days. After completing the End of Year assessments, students can continue learning in Magpie.