Early Literacy Assessment Tool Project

Early Literacy Assessment Tool

The 2012 School Finance Act required the Colorado Department of Education to select a contractor to supply an early literacy assessment tool that teachers may use to obtain real-time assessments of the reading skill levels of students in kindergarten through third grade. The intent of the program was to support state purchase of software that would provide individualized assessments with immediate results, store and analyze those results, and recommend activities based on those results. 

In the spring of 2018, through a new competitive process, the award was made to both Amplify and Istation for the approved interim assessments on both platforms. The contract duration is for five years through June 2023. Pending legislative approval during the 2020 session, the department will offer the project for the 2020-2021 school year. This is a non-competitive project.

By participating in the Early Literacy Assessment Tool Project, applicants first select one of the two vendors and then will be supplied with the online tools to support the assessment. Participants will select:

• Amplify for Acadience Reading (formerly named DIBELS Next) and IDEL, approved interim assessments for the READ Act, and DIBELS Deep PA/WRD diagnostic reading assessment, an approved diagnostic measure.
• Istation for ISIP Early Reading and ISIP Lectura Temprana, approved interim assessments for the READ Act.

All approved applicants will receive software licenses to use the assessment that they select. The tool will store and analyze the results and recommend school and home activities based on those results. Hardware is not included. Applicants will be responsible for providing their own hardware.

A list of hardware devices that support the software is available for each vendor:

• Amplify: www.amplify.com/assessment/devices
• Istation: www.istation.com/Support#technical

              VENDOR Resources and Information: 

Early Literacy Assessment Tool Project Submission Process and Deadline

The window is now open to submit an application to participate in the Early Literacy Assessment Tool (ELAT) Project for the 2020-2021 school year.

Please find important documents below:

• Application document 
• Amplify assurances and PII forms
• Istation assurances and PII forms
• ELAT school information template
• School and district codes

An application training webinar was held on Thursday, January 9, 2020. The webinar recording and presentation slides are linked here.

Applicants must submit the application via SurveyMonkey by Friday, January 31, 2020 at 11:59pm: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LBDFMNT. 

Support Staff

Colorado Department of Education Project Manager

Laura Stelling
CDE READ Act Grants Project Manager
303-866-6971
stelling_l@cde.state.co.us

ELAT Email List

If you would like to be added to the email list for ELAT updates please email Tammy Yetter at yetter_t@cde.state.co.us.