A screener is an assessment that quickly checks your child’s reading skills to help teachers plan individualized instruction. 

The aimswebPlus screener will check important literacy skills including alphabet knowledge, letter sound knowledge, phonemic awareness, decoding, and oral vocabulary.

The skills are tested differently based on your child’s grade level.

aimswebPlus Early Reading Screening Assessments 

The aimswebPlus reading screeners that measure the skills above are based on a student’s grade level. You can learn more about these assessments below:

Early Literacy (K-1) Screener

• Initial Sounds (K): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will be provided a page with four pictures. Your child will be asked to either point to a picture of a word that matches the initial sound the teacher says or make the initial sound of a word spoken by the teacher. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes. 
• Letter Naming Fluency (K): Measures a student’s knowledge of upper-and lower-case letters. Your child will have one minute to say the names of visually presented upper-and lowercase letters that they know. This assessment will take 1 minute.
• Letter Word Sounds Fluency (K): Measures a student’s letter sound knowledge. Your child will have one minute to say the sounds of visually presented letters, syllables, and words that they know. This assessment will take 1 minute.
• Rapid Automatized Naming [RA] (K- 1st grade): Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Objects is a 5-minute measure of rapid automatic naming. Students are required to name all of the drawings on a page as quickly as possible. Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Colors & Shapes is a 10-minute measure of rapid automatic naming. This measure requires students to name a series of familiar colors (e.g., red), familiar shapes (e.g., circle), and then color-shape combinations (e.g., red circle) under timed conditions.
• Nonsense Word Fluency (1st grade): Reads aloud from one page of nonsense words for 1 minute. This assessment will take 1 minute.
• Phoneme Segmentation (1st grade): Measures a student’s phonemic awareness. Your child will listen to a word that is spoken by the teacher and then say each sound they hear in the word. This assessment will take 2-3 minutes. 
• Oral Reading Fluency (1st grade): Measures a student’s decoding skills. Your child will read two stories aloud, each for one minute.
• Word Reading Fluency (1st grade): Reads aloud from two pages of word lists for 1 minute.

Reading (2-5) Screener

• Oral Reading Fluency (2nd-3rd grade): Measures a student’s decoding skills. Your child will read two stories aloud, each for one minute.
• Reading Comprehension (2nd-5th grade): Reads literary and informational passages silently and answers multiple-choice questions about each passage. This assessment will take 15-45 minutes.
• Vocabulary (2nd-5th grade): Chooses the multiple-choice response that best matches the meaning of a target word. This assessment will take 3-15 minutes.
• Silent Reading Fluency (4th-5th grade): Reads three stories silently one part/segment at a time and answers multiple-choice questions about each segment under timed conditions. This assessment will take 5-15 minutes.

Early Numeracy (K-1) Math Screener

• Number Naming Fluency (K): Points to and names visually presented numbers 0 through 20 for 1 minute. 
• Quantity Total Fluency (K): States the total number of dots in each box or pair of boxes for 1 minute. 
• Concepts & Applications (K-1st): Solves math problems presented orally with a stimulus page and provides a response by pointing or answering aloud.  This assessment takes 7-12 minutes.
• Number Comparison Fluency-Pairs (1st): Sees a pair of numbers and then points to and names the larger one for 1 minute. 
• Math Fact Fluency- 1 Digit (1st): Mentally solves addition and subtraction problems using numbers 0 through 10 for 1 minute.  

Math (2-5) Screener

• Concepts & Applications (2nd-5th): Solves math problems covering a variety of math domains typical of on-grade-level curriculum at their own pace (with no time limit). This assessment takes 12-35 minutes.
• Number Comparison Fluency-Triads (2nd-5th): Compares the numerical value of numbers presented as triads for 3 minutes. Triads are compared by determining whether the top number in the triad is closer in magnitude to the bottom left number, the bottom right number, or exactly between the two numbers.
• Mental Computation Fluency (2nd-5th): Answers as many one- or two-step mental computations of math expressions as possible within 4 minutes selecting the correct answer from three options.

The aimswebPlus screener will occur three times throughout the year: fall, winter, and spring. Families can expect results to be shared on student report cards.

This test does not affect students’ grades. It only helps the teacher understand how to individualize instruction for students.

The information from the screeners will help teachers identify strengths and areas for growth in reading and math.

No special preparation is needed for aimswebPlus testing—students should simply come to school ready for a normal day. 

This test does not diagnose dyslexia or other disabilities. For more information about characteristics of dyslexia and related interventions and accommodations, please see our dyslexia resources webpage.

No, according to Tennessee Department of Education and state law, there is no ability for families to opt their child out of this requirement.

If you have any questions or need more information about the early reading screener, please contact your child’s teacher or principal.

You may also visit the Pearson Assessments webpage.