Explanation video of this page - Google Sheet to reference with item list as you QA
Overview: In Staff Assessment builder, DORA is in "Strand" Tier 3. It is essentially 7 sub-tests combined into a single strand. The sub-tests are listed in order below:
- High-Frequency Words Sub-test
- Word Recognition Sub-test
- Phonics Sub-test
- Phonemic Awareness Screener Sub-test
- Vocabulary Sub-test
- Spelling Sub-test
- Comprehension Sub-test
DORA Adaptive Logic Spec (Doc you seen in screenshot below) - DORA Scoring and Set organization
High-Frequency Words (HF):
(1) Initially if the student has not take a DORA test or High-Frequency sub-test, they won't have any previous HF score. So then the Start Set (2) will be simply based on the student's grade level "Variable 1" column. But if they have scores then you find that score and look in (1) and figure out which set to start at in (2). Look at the "DORA Scoring and Set organization" doc above the screenshot to see how sets and score are organized per sub-test.
In HF, it is easier to figure out. There are 9 sets of items and each set's mastery is a score 1 to 9. Non-mastery of lowest set is 0.
Word Recognition (WR):
(3) Since HF can have a score of 0 to 9, this score combined with the student's grade (4) will determine the start set (5). Start sets are the set of items that the student starts with. In WR, there are 12 sets of items. But scoring is 3 per set so 0, or 1 to 36. Be aware of this for the next placement into Phonics...
Global Rule for all Sub-test Start Points:
If the student took a sub-test or full DORA previously, the higher of "the previous score + 1" or "new calculated start point" is used. If a student previously had a score of 6 in HF and was in grade 4 in (1) which calculates a start point to be 4 (2), then we take 6+1 which is greater than 4. So the start point is 7. If the student has a max score of course you can't add one so the start point is just that max score.
Phonics (PH)
(1) Since WR has a score range of 0 to 36, you will use this score to place simply into PH. Look to the right to (2). i.e WR score of 4 to 6 starts at set 5 in PH. The red type in (1) that says "PH set highscore" means that in the future if a student has the highest score in PH and they are in grade 6 or greater, DORA will skip the PH sub-test and set the score to 10. PH has a score range of 0, 1 to 10.
Phonemic Awareness (PA Screener)
(3) This sub-test is turned on for all students in grade 2 or lower. Start set is 1. But there is only "1" set! If the students grade is 3 or greater (4), you'll see that you then also look at the HF score in (3) and determine whether the start set is 1 or the sub-test is skipped.
Vocabulary (VO)
(5) This start point is totally set by the students grade level. So grade 2, starts at set 2 (6). Grade 9 starts at set 6. Be aware that VO has 12 sets of items but a score range of 1 to 36 (0 for non-mastery of lowest set). Just like WR. FYI, SP and CO are like this too!
Spelling (SP)
(1) If a student has a 0 score in HF and in WR (2) then this subtest is skipped.
Otherwise a combination of the score (3) in PH and (4) in WR determine the starting set (5).
Comprehension (CO)
(6) This subtest also is skipped if HF is 0 and WR is 0. In other words the test-taker can decode any words so we don't want to give him/her a passage.
Otherwise, the lower of (8) VO or WR determines set level (9). Remember VO and WR have score of 0, 1 to 36. These place into 12 sets of passages. CO has 12 sets of passages.
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