1) The document discusses various phonemic awareness assessments that teachers can use to evaluate students' literacy abilities and inform reading instruction. 2) It provides a chart describing different phonemic awareness skills (e.g. rhyming, sound matching, blending), the appropriate age to assess each skill, examples, and assessment procedures. 3) The assessments are designed to measure students' development of skills like isolating sounds, blending/segmenting words, and manipulating sounds, which are crucial for early reading success.

1. The Instruction-Assessment Connection
Nathan Hillery
American College of Education

2. Introduction
Measuring phonemic awareness is essential to the
development and implementation of instruction to help improve
students’ process of learning-to-read. Each assessment that
is used for understanding a student’s level in phonemic
awareness should include appropriate age when administered,
steps in procedures, and the goal of mastery. The following
slides presents phonemic awareness assessments that
provides correct instruction that strengthens the areas of need
in a student’s literacy abilities.

3. Phonemic Awareness Assessment Chart
Target Skill Age
Appropriate
Examples Components of the
Assessment
Accomplished by: Reference
Phoneme matching 5 rat, rip, hat Identifies words that
sound alike.
1. Recognize different and
same words
2. Says words that are the same
3. Corrects for matching words
Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H.
(2010). Purposeful play for
early childhood phonological
awareness. Shell Education.
Phoneme isolation (initial
sound)
5 “rat” - /r/ Identify first sound
in a word.
1. Recognize sounds
2. Says initial sound
3. Corrects for multiple sounds
Kalmar, K. (2008). Let's give
children something to TALK.
YC Young Children, 63(1), 88.
Phoneme isolation (final
sound)
6 “rat” - /t/ Identify last sound in
a word.
1. Recognize sounds
2. Says final sound
3. Corrects for multiple sounds
Kalmar, K. (2008). Let's give
children something to TALK.
YC Young Children, 63(1), 88.
Phoneme isolation (medial
sound)
6 “rat” - /a/ Identify middle
sound in a word.
1. Recognize sounds
2. Says middle sound
3. Corrects for multiple sounds
Kalmar, K. (2008). Let's give
children something to TALK.
YC Young Children, 63(1), 88.
Phoneme blending 6 /r/ /a/ /t/ - “rat” Identifying a word
from sounds.
1. Recognize word from given
sounds
2. Says the entire word
3. Corrects word
Zeece, P. D. (2006). Sound
reading and reading sounds:
The case for phonemic
awareness. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 34(2), 169-
175.

4. Phonemic Awareness Assessment Chart
(continued)
Phoneme segmentation 7 “rat” - /r/ /a/ /t/ Identify sounds
in a word.
1. Recognizes sounds from given word
2. Says individual sounds to a word
3. Corrects sounds
Zeece, P. D. (2006). Sound
reading and reading sounds:
The case for phonemic
awareness. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 34(2), 169-
175.
Phoneme manipulation (initial
sound)
7 “rat” - “at” Identifying a
word obsoleting
first sound.
1. Recognizes word parts
2. Says rime of word
3. Corrects mispronounced word part
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K.
(2005). Whatever happened to
developmentally appropriate
practice in early literacy?. YC
Young Children, 60(4), 22.
Phoneme manipulation (final
sound)
7 “rat” - “ra” Identifying a
word obsoleting
last sound.
1. Recognizes word parts
2. Says onset of word
3. Corrects mispronounced word part
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K.
(2005). Whatever happened to
developmentally appropriate
practice in early literacy?. YC
Young Children, 60(4), 22.
Phoneme manipulation –
Substitution
8 “rat” – “r” to “h” =
hat
Identifying a
new word
changing the
onset.
1. Recognizes word parts
2. Substitutes rime of word with new
rime
3. Corrects mispronounced word part
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K.
(2005). Whatever happened to
developmentally appropriate
practice in early literacy?. YC
Young Children, 60(4), 22.
Phoneme manipulation -
Rhyming
4 “rat” – “hat” yes
“rat” – “rap” no
Identifying
rhyming.
1. Recognizes word parts
2. Says whether two words rhyme
3. Corrects rhyming identification
McCarthy, P. A. (2008). Using
sound boxes systematically to
develop phonemic awareness.
The Reading Teacher, 62(4),
346-349.
Target Skill Age
Appropriate
Examples Components of
the Assessment
Accomplished by: Reference

5. Rhyming
• At age 4
• Identifying words that have the
same ending rime, ability to
recognize same and different
ending blends, and cognitive
development of speech/hearing.
(McCarthy, 2008).
Child’s
Response
1. Hat Bat yes No
2. Rat Rip Yes No
3. Man Pan Yes No
4. Come From Yes No
Teacher asked a student if two words
sound the same or rhymes. The student’s
response is indicated on the chart.

6. Sound Matching
• At age 5
• Identifying matching beginning
sounds provides understanding
of hearing, ability to recognize
same and different phonemes,
and cognitive development of
speech. (Yopp, & Yopp, 2010)
Child’s
Response
1. Hat Bake yes No
2. Rat Rip Yes No
3. Man Mop Yes No
4. Come Stem Yes No
Teacher verbally states each word and
ask the student whether the words have
the same beginning sound. The student’s
response is indicated on the chart.

7. Initial Sound
• At age 5
• Identifying beginning sounds
provides understanding of
hearing, ability to recognize
phonemes, and cognitive
development of speech.
(Kalmar, 2008)
Child’s
Response
1. Hat /h/ yes No
2. Rat /r/ Yes No
3. Man /m/ Yes No
4. Come /c/ Yes No
Teacher verbally states each word and
ask the student what the first sound is in
the word. The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

8. Final Sound
• At age 6
• Identifying ending sounds
provides understanding of
hearing, ability to recognize
phonemes, and cognitive
development of speech.
(Kalmar, 2008)
Child’s
Response
1. Hat /t/ yes No
2. Rat /t/ Yes No
3. Man /n/ Yes No
4. Come /m/ Yes No
Teacher verbally states each word and
ask the student what the last sound is in
the word. The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

9. Medial Sound
• At age 6
• Identifying middle sounds
provides understanding of
hearing, ability to recognize
phonemes, and cognitive
development of speech.
(Kalmar, 2008)
Child’s
Response
1. Hat /a/ yes No
2. Rat /a/ Yes No
3. Man /a/ Yes No
4. Come /o/ Yes No
Teacher verbally states each word and
ask the student what the middle sound is
in the word. The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

10. Blending
• At age 6
• Identifying phoneme blending
provides understanding of
individual sounds, ability to
produce a word from phonemes,
and development of speech.
(Zeece, 2006).
Child’s
Response
1. /h//a//t/ hat yes No
2. /r//a//t/ rat Yes No
3. /m//a//n/ man Yes No
4. /c//o//m/ come Yes No
Teacher verbally states each phoneme in
a single word and ask the student what is
the word The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

11. Segmentation
• At age 7
• Identifying phoneme
segmentation produces
development in isolation of
sounds, ability to hear sounds
for spelling, and development of
parts of speech. (Zeece, 2006).
Child’s
Response
1. Hat /h//a//t/ yes No
2. Rat /r//a//t/ Yes No
3. Man /m//a//n/ Yes No
4. Come /c//o//m/ Yes No
Teacher verbally states a single word and
ask the student to say each sound
individually with short breaks between
each sound. The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

12. Initial Sound Manipulation
• At age 7
• Identifying phonemes in parts
produces development in
isolation of sounds, ability to
modify words, and advance
individual sounds in a word.
(Neuman, & Roskos, 2005).
Child’s
Response
1. Hat at yes No
2. Rat at Yes No
3. Man an Yes No
4. Come om Yes No
Teacher verbally states a single word and
ask the student to say the word without
the first sound. The student’s response is
indicated on the chart.

13. Final Sound Manipulation
• At age 7
• Identifying phonemes in parts
produces development in
isolation of sounds, ability to
modify words, and advance
individual sounds in a word.
(Neuman, & Roskos, 2005).
Child’s
Response
1. Hat ha yes No
2. Rat ra Yes No
3. Man ma Yes No
4. Come co Yes No
Teacher verbally states a single word and
ask the student to say the word without
the ending sound. The student’s response
is indicated on the chart.

14. Sound Substitution
• At age 8
• Identifying phonemes in parts
produces development in
isolation of sounds, ability to
modify words, and advance
individual sounds in a word.
(Neuman, & Roskos, 2005).
Child’s
Response
1. Hat /f/ fat yes No
2. Rat /s/ sat Yes No
3. Man /p/ pan Yes No
4. Cot /m/ mop Yes No
Teacher verbally states a single word and
ask the student to say the word with a new
beginning sound that is provided. The
student’s response is indicated on the
chart.

15. Conclusion
In conclusion, phonemic awareness development is
crucial to the foundation of literacy. The skills that form
phonemic awareness is the spoken words that can be
identified and manipulate individual sounds. According to
research, a student’s skill in phonemic awareness is a reliable
indicator of later reading success or challenges with reading
(Zeece, 2006). Teachers of young students have a major role
in ensuring that students develop strong abilities in phonemic
instruction through using and understanding key assessments.

16. References
Kalmar, K. (2008). Let's give children something to TALK. YC Young Children, 63(1), 88.
McCarthy, P. A. (2008). Using sound boxes systematically to develop phonemic awareness. The
Reading Teacher, 62(4), 346-349.
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (2005). Whatever happened to developmentally appropriate
practice in early literacy?. YC Young Children, 60(4), 22.
Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H. (2010). Purposeful play for early childhood phonological awareness.
Shell Education.
Zeece, P. D. (2006). Sound reading and reading sounds: The case for phonemic awareness.
Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(2), 169-175.