Getting started with Motif at a school
This is a quick guide for schools considering implementing our literacy tests, building from a simple to comprehensive implementation. We based the content on best practices from the test authors, and from what we hear of successful implementations.
This guide refers to “universal screening” across the entire primary range. While this is most effective, an alternative approach can be to adopt Motif testing within the K-2 years, where literacy learning is most critical. This option is explained in our example costings lower down the page.
What’s Motif? Motif offers science-based literacy assessments for students. Our tests can be seen as falling into three types – screening tests, diagnostic tests, and monitoring tests. Implementing what you can, in that order, will lead to the best results. Screening first, Diagnostic second, and Monitoring third.
Stage 1: Introducing screening tests
These tests are standardised to be administered in a fixed way, and also provide normed benchmarks for understanding how a student is performing relative to peers. Ideally, screening tests are administered to all students in a class at both the start and the end of the year (“universal screening”). Screening can be carried out by classroom teachers, clinicians, or support staff who have practised administering the test.
Stage 1a: Screening at the start of the year
Your first step should be to introduce screening at the start of the year. This will identify students who need further diagnostic testing in order to make decisions about targeted intervention. It will provide (1) information about the literacy skills of new students entering the school, and (2) a start-of-year benchmark for the whole class.
Early annual screening is great for new arrivals at the school, and is also a good benchmark to run after students come back from long summer holidays, having forgotten some previous years lessons (the “summer slide”).
Stage 1b: Screening at at the end of the year
Introduce screening at the end of the year to help teachers understand how well targeted intervention has worked for their students with literacy difficulties, and how well their literacy instruction has worked with their class. This information can help school leaders plan and prepare for appropriate testing, support, and instruction for the students in the following year.
For the lowest cost, you can use screening for the K-3 students only.
Stage 2: Introduce diagnostic tests to guide intervention
These tests are administered to students who fail to meet a defined benchmark on a screening test. They are designed to pinpoint specific literacy skills that reach a child at their point of need.
Diagnostic tests should be administered right after screening tests so a plan for targeted intervention can be implemented as quickly as possible. Diagnostic tests are usually administered one-on-one by clinicians or teachers who have received appropriate training.
We usually recommend additional support for students who score more than 1 standard deviation below the mean (this is below 16th percentile). So an average school would see approximately 16% of students requiring intervention.
Stage 3: Introduce monitoring tests to assess + adjust intervention
These tests are used to track student’s progress to determine if literacy instruction or intervention is working as quickly as it should, and if not, how it should be adjusted to better meet the needs of students.
For example, if a student is receiving targeted instruction in the letter-sound rules/grapheme-phoneme correspondences, the LeST can be administered every few months to determine which GPCs have been learned and which need more instruction or intervention.
Monitoring tests are administered at regular intervals after a student starts targeted intervention to determine how effective the intervention is, and how it might be modified to accelerate progress. Choosing a monitoring test can be a nuanced decision. It’s important to avoid the monitoring test being the screening test so students don’t simply get better at completing the test.
Example Costing – K-2
In this example, we take a 150 student school, and adopt the above stages 1-3 with the K-2 students (assumed 65 students). We assume that 16% of students tested (10 students) will require diagnostics and monitoring tests.
Example Costing – K-6
In this example, we take a 150 student school, and adopt the above stages 1-3 with the K-6 students.
The CC2 is used for students K-6, and the LeST is used for students K-2. This forms Stage 1, screening testing.
We assume that 16% of students tested across all grades (24 students) will require diagnostics and monitoring tests.
$300 – Motif subscription
Stage 1: Screening tests
$195 – Stage 1a: Screening tests at the start of the year
$195 – Stage 1b: Testing at the end of the year
$24 – Stage 2: Diagnostic tests after screening tests
12 results sheets at $1.50 for diagnostic type tests ($1.50 per result sheet)
$72 – Stage 3: Monitoring tests two to three times a year
48 results sheets at $1.50 for monitoring type tests ($1.50 per result sheet)
$786 – Total annual Motif costs
$300 – Motif subscription
Stage 1: Screening tests
$322.50 – Stage 1a: Testing at the start of the year
$322.50 – Stage 1b: Testing at the end of the year
$36 – Stage 2: Diagnostic tests after screening tests
24 results sheets at $1.50 for diagnostic type tests ($1.50 per result sheet)
$108 – Stage 3: Monitoring tests two to three times a year
72 results sheets at $1.50 for monitoring type tests ($1.50 per result sheet)
$1,089 – Total annual Motif costs
All tests will remain free to download
At Motif, we want to ensure these tests are used regardless of challenges with budget. That’s why we commit to offering the tests in printable PDF format for free download, forever. So if you’re unable to secure funding for Motif’s digitised tests, it’s always possible to use the tests in their physical form.
Digitised tests create a convenient mechanism for running, scoring, and storing results sheets, but it’s possible to run all of the tests with paper and pen.
Run testing with multiple accounts
Motif allows multiple accounts to run from the same results sheet balance using Organisational Groups. These let a school coordinate the purchasing of results sheets through one account, while allowing the convenience and security of all staff having their own accounts for testing students. A central administrator account maintains access to all test results across all accounts.