Validating an Online Assessment of Developmental Spelling in Grades Five Through Eight

Abstract

Assessments of developmental spelling, also called spelling inventories, are commonly used to understand students' orthographic knowledge (i.e., knowledge of how written words work) and to determine their stages of spelling and reading development. The information generated by these assessments is used to inform teachers' grouping practices and instructional priorities. While relatively easy to administer, developmental spelling assessments can be time-consuming to score and are susceptible to human error in both the scoring and the interpretation of results. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate an online version of a commonly used spelling inventory, making the assessment more efficient and accessible and the results more reliable for teachers and scholars alike. Implications for practice and directions for further research are discussed.

Stages, Phases, Repertoires, and Waves: Learning to Spell and Read Words

“…The resulting hierarchical, developmental progression described by stage theorists evolved from the identification of similar error patterns in learners. These error patterns were based on spelling data across thousands of learners at different grade levels and within different instructional contexts (e.g., Beers, 1980; Gehsmann, Spichtig, & Tousley, 2017; Invernizzi & DeCoster, 2016; Snowling, 1994). This progression was described in terms of stages during which learners are observed to move from emergent literacy behaviors through understanding the function of alphabet, sound, pattern, and morphology in the spelling system.…”