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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. Through a competitive bid process, the contract was awarded to Amplify for its DIBELS Next system and diagnostic reading assessments in January 2013 through June 30, 2018.

In the spring 2018 through a new competitive process the award was made to both Amplify and Istation for the approved interim assessments on both platforms. The new contract duration is for the next five years.  Legislative funding was passed in the spring of 2018, therefore the department will offer the project for the 2018-2019 school year. This is a non-competitive project. 

By participating in the Early Literacy Assessment Tool Project, applicants will select one of the two vendors and then receive access to the LEA selected online approved READ Act assessment:

  • Amplify for DIBELS Next and IDEL, approved interim assessments, and DIBELS Deep PA/WRD diagnostic reading assessment, an approved diagnostic measure.
  • Istation for ISIP Early Reading, Istation and ISIP Lectura Temprana, Istation, 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. Applicants will be responsible for providing their own hardware.

Hardware is not included. A list of devices that support the software is available for each vendor:

 

News for Amplify Users:

The Dynamic Measurement Group (authors of DIBELS Next) have announced that the name of DIBELS Next will change to Acadience Reading.  It’s important to note that the content of the assessment will remain the same.  Additionally, the current materials, training, and software provided by Amplify through the Early Literacy Assessment Tool (ELAT) Project will all remain current and usable; this is simply a change in the assessment name.  Amplify will continue to provide the software under the DIBELS Next name for a transitional period and will provide another update when the name will change on Amplify’s mCLASS platform.

The draft document of the proposed READ Act Rule Changes will reflect the name change in Section 9.00--9.01(A)(ii) Acadience Reading (Previously published under DIBELS Next).

 

                        VENDOR Resources and Information: 

View Amplify Resources   View Istation Resources

 

Support Staff

Colorado Department of Education Project Manager

Tammy Yetter
CDE Senior Literacy Consultant
720-955-8055
yetter_t@cde.state.co.us

Amplify Support Staff

Eric Howey
Director, Educational Partnerships
303-549-3706
ehowey@amplify.com

Karen Cushman
Educational Partnership Manager
765-366-5013
kcushman@amplify.com

Andrew Benesh
Educational Partnership Manager
469-616-9112

abenesh@amplify.com

Istation Support Staff

Vickie Whitfield
Vice President of Instruction and Product Knowledge
972-643-3448
vwhitfield@istation.com

Eric Longoria
elongoria@istation.com
(303) 963-6955

Noe Guevara
nguevara@istation.com
866-883-7323 ext: 4928

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.

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Colorado Dept. of Education
201 East Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 303-866-6600
Fax: 303-830-0793
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