ECLAS-2 and E-PAL description

THE EARLY CHILDHOOD LITERACY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
ECLAS-2
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The Early Childhood Literacy Development System (ECLAS-2) consists of two parts, the ECLAS-2 Kit for Grades K – 3 and the Early Performance Assessment in Language Arts (E-PAL) for Grades 2 and 3. E-PAL is only administered one time per year, in the spring.
	ECLAS-2 KIT Group and Individual Activities The ECLAS-2 Kit contains group administered activities and individually administered activities. The group activities are always specific to a grade and time of year. Therefore, in the group activities no student will be at a level lower or higher than that specific to their grade and time of year. For example, Level 4 (End of Grade 1) group activities are given to all Grade 1 students during the spring administration. In the individual activities, each child continues to be assessed at as many progressively higher levels as he/she can master. Students may be at a higher or lower level than that of their grade. Thus, a wide range of levels is to be expected in the individual activities. Benchmarks The benchmarks in ECLAS-2 are research derived with the expectation that 75% to 80% of children will master the benchmark. This ensures that children having the most difficulty with early literacy skills will be identified. The benchmarks for each level and strand can be found in the ECLAS-2 Kit Overview and on the appropriate page of the student’s Literacy Development Checklist. The benchmarks in ECLAS-2 are for Midyear and End of Grade. Since ECLAS-2 was administered in the beginning of the school year and not Midyear, the benchmarks are goals to be worked towards. A brief description of each strand follows.
	PHONEMIC AWARENESS STRAND (Individual) Phonemic Awareness is an understanding of the individual sounds in spoken words. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a spoken word that makes a difference in the word’s meaning or the smallest unit of speech that makes a difference to meaning. Awareness is the insight that every word can be understood as a sequence of phonemes. The Phonemic Awareness sub skills are individually administered activities, beginning in Kindergarten and continuing until mastery is achieved. It is recommended that in the fall Grade 1 students be reassessed in these sub skills even if previously mastered. Rhyme Recognition and Generation Syllable Clapping Initial and Final Consonants Blending and Segmenting
	PHONICS STRAND Phonics is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language). Alphabet Recognition is an individually administered activity beginning in Kindergarten and continuing until mastery is achieved. Alphabet Writing is a group administered activity beginning in Kindergarten. Spelling is a group administered activity beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through the End of Grade 3. Decoding is an individually administered activity beginning at the End of Grade Kindergarten and continuing until the child has mastered the End of Grade 2 benchmark (Level 6)*.
	READING AND ORAL EXPRESSION STRAND Vocabulary is a group administered activity beginning in Grade 1 and continuing through the end of Grade 3. Sight Words is an individually administered activity beginning at End of Grade (Kindergarten) and continuing until the child has mastered the End of Grade 3 benchmark (Level 8). Reading* encompasses: Concepts of Print is an individually administered Midyear Kindergarten activity. The child is reassessed until mastery is achieved. Emergent Reading* is an individually administered End of Grade (Kindergarten) activity. The child is reassessed until mastery is achieved. Reading Accuracy* and Reading Comprehension are individually administered activities beginning at Level 3 (Midyear Grade 1) and continuing until the child has mastered the End of Grade 3 benchmark (Level 8). Oral Expression* is measured based on the child’s verbal responses to the comprehension activities beginning at Level 1 (Midyear Kindergarten) and continuing through Level 8 (End of Grade 3). Reading Fluency encompassing reading rate and reading expression,is an individually administered activity beginning at Level 4 and continuing until the child has mastered the End of Grade 3 benchmark (Level 8). * Remember that in the individual activities when the child masters a level, he/she continues to be assessed at progressively higher levels. Thus, a child in Kindergarten could have mastered Concepts of Print, Emergent Reading and moved on to higher levels of Reading Accuracy and Comprehension.
	LISTENING AND WRITING STRAND (Group) The Listening and Writing Strand was made optional for all students for the spring 2004 administration of the ECLAS-2 Kit. Listening and Writing includes Listening Comprehension and Writing Development (Mechanics) at Grades K-3, and the addition of Writing Expression beginning at the End of Grade 1 through the End of Grade 3.

	The Early Performance in Language Arts (E-PAL) E-PAL is a performance assessment measuring writing in response to literature. Students respond to a passage that is read to them and a passage that the student reads. It is administered one time per year in the spring. Only Grade 2 students who have mastered Level 5 or higher in the Reading Accuracy and Reading Comprehension activities take the E-PAL 2. In Spring 2004, E-PAL was made optional for Grade 3 students with the understanding that the E-PAL 3 provides useful information about students’ literacy development that could be used to provide supplementary information to support promotion decisions. The E-PAL is scored on a scale of 0 - 3 with 0 being a non response, 1 a Low, 2 a Medium, and 3 a High. Students are given 3 separate scores: Listening/Writing Reading/Writing Writing Mechanics.