TOWES Foundation
| TOWES Foundation is a web-based tool
that assesses important components that underlie fluid and
automatic reading. Foundation was
developed based on the best understanding of literacy and learning
that research and science currently offer. |
Components tested are:
• Letter Recognition: assesses
decoding skill at the letter level.
• Working Memory: a building
block to phonics. Inadequate working memory may represent a
significant barrier to literacy acquisition for adults.
• Phonemic Awareness:
ability to recognize familiar words as whole units or "sight
words"; ability to "sound out" unfamiliar words quickly,
using the underlying written patterns of speech.
• Receptive Vocabulary:
understanding of written words and a good predictor of reading
ability.
Foundation can improve
learner triage by identifying individuals in need of specific
components improvement and enabling the sorting of learners into
groups based on common learning needs.
There is also a stand-alone
Oral Fluency tool: used for other language speakers to
determine, for other language speakers, overall oral proficiency
and proficiency on several sub-scales including sentence mastery,
vocabulary, fluency and pronunciation.
Key Features and Benefits
•
Affordable: Foundation is
competitively priced, with significant volume discounts.
•
Web-based: Foundation is delivered from a
web-based platform. Each component is scored in the system.
• Fast:
All the elements of Foundation can be completed in 45
minutes to one hour.
•
Adaptive: Foundation uses a
robust, proprietary platform developed specifically for the
web-based suite of tools. The platform incorporates multiple
adaptive algorithms to reduce testing time while achieving greater
precision for a given test duration.
• Real time
scores: Foundation provides valid,
reliable scores that are available immediately upon test
completion.
Key Users and Benefits
• Educators:
Foundation measures individual skill and provides
information to assist educators in planning instruction and
grouping learners.
• Training
Organizations: Foundation can help improve the
efficiency of instruction by enabling the categorization of
learners into precise groups, based on common learning needs.
•
Researchers: Foundation is
capable of meeting the demands of projects requiring reliable,
valid data.