As the new school year approaches, it's crucial to ensure students start in the correct location of the UFLI Scope and Sequence. One of the key tools in this process is the CORE Phonics Survey. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the CORE Phonics Survey, and how it can help you make informed decisions about getting started with UFLI!
First: Do you NEED to assess your students?
If you are a Kindergarten, 1st grade, or 2nd grade teacher and you plan to start the school year using UFLI, there is no need to assess students for placement in the program. You simply follow the recommended scope and sequence for each grade level, which is found on pages 41-43 in the UFLI Foundations manual.
If you are an intervention teacher or working with small groups, then yes, you need to assess to determine your student’s needs. If you are starting mid-year, it is a good idea to use the CORE Phonics Survey. Also, if you are using UFLI for Tier 1 in grade 3 or beyond, it is important to assess to find a starting point in the curriculum.
What is the CORE Phonics Survey
The CORE Phonics Survey is the recommended initial diagnostic assessment tool for UFLI placement. It evaluates students' understanding of the relationships between sounds and letters, a foundational aspect of reading proficiency.
The CORE Phonics Survey was not created by the University of Florida to be used specifically with the UFLI Foundations phonics program, so it will not align perfectly. However, that's OK because It’s still a very effective assessment to determine students’ phonics skills and needs.
Where can I find it?
You can purchase the CORE Phonics Survey in the Assessing Reading Multiple Measures manual here: https://www.corelearn.com/store/?model_number=2234-9C) for $59.
It is also posted online by various private and public schools, but it is a copyrighted document.
How do I administer the assessment?
The CORE Phonics Survey is administered individually to each student. It takes about 5-10 minutes from start to finish. Students begin with letter names and sounds and then progress through various phonics skills, such as CVC words, long vowel spellings, and multisyllabic words.
Here is a YouTube video that shows a real student being given the CORE Phonics Survey: https://youtu.be/vmn40AfgrLQ?si=oI8-sIklDuWvEuTh
Using the Results
Once you have administered the CORE Phonics Survey, analyze the results to identify students' strengths and weaknesses. Use this information to determine a starting point in the UFLI scope and sequence or to group students for targeted instruction.
Click here for a link to the alignment chart created by the University of Florida.
CORE Phonics Survey Section | UFLI Foundations Scope & Sequence Unit |
Alphabet Skills & Letter Sounds | |
Consonant Sounds | Alphabet Unit: Lessons 1-34 |
Short Vowel Sounds | Alphabet Unit: Lessons 1-34 |
Long Vowel Sounds | VCe Unit: Lessons 54-59 |
Reading and Decoding Skills | |
Short Vowels in CVC Words | Alphabet Review & Longer Words Unit: Lessons 35a-41a* *focus on lessons a (target CVC) |
Consonant Blends with Short Vowels | Alphabet Review & Longer Words Unit: Lessons 35b-41b* *focus on lessons b (target CCVC/CVCC) |
Short Vowels, Digraphs, –tch* Trigraph | Digraphs Unit: Lessons 42-53 *tch trigraph targeted in Lesson 69 |
R-Controlled Vowels | R-Controlled Vowels Unit: Lessons 77-83 |
Long Vowel Spellings | Long Vowel Teams Unit: Lessons 84-88 |
Variant Vowels | Other Vowel Teams Unit: Lessons 89-94 Diphthongs Unit: Lessons 95-97 |
Low Frequency Vowel and Consonant Spellings | UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors Long i (igh): Lesson 87 Silent Letters: Lesson 98 Low Frequency Spellings Unit: Lessons 111-118 |
Multisyllabic Words | UFLI Lessons will vary based on errors Reading Longer Words Unit: Lessons 63-68 -le: Lesson 75 R-Controlled Vowels Review: Lesson 83* Vowel Teams Review 1: Lesson 88* Vowel Teams Review 2: Lesson 92* Vowels Teams & Diphthongs Review: Lesson 97* Affixes Review 1: Lesson 106 *target multisyllabic words in these review lessons |
Let’s get more specific:
I like to use blending lines to narrow down students' phonics skills, strengths, and weaknesses. Students read fluency lines of real and nonsense words as the teacher notes weaknesses. I keep a copy in the students' files to continually monitor progress throughout the year. Check it out here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fluency-Lines-Blending-Practice-for-Phonics-UFLI-Aligned-Nonsense-words-1-128-10989543?st=92d4f9547ec459ce52742be1cf8cb783
What about Heart Words?
If you're not starting with Unit 1, Lesson 1, then you must determine which heart words to teach from previous units. For example, if the assessment results indicate you need to start on Lesson 43, the beginning of Unit 3: Digraphs, then you should assess students for missing knowledge of the heart words taught in Unit 1 and Unit 2. This is my favorite assessment to use: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/UFLI-Aligned-Assessment-Monitoring-Heart-wordsFryDolch-ALL-LESSONS-1-121-10754525
What about progress monitoring?
The Quick Phonics Screener is my favorite assessment to monitor progress throughout the year. You can find it for free here: https://www.sfdr-cisd.org/media/gaidhbg0/quick-phonics-screener.pdf
Some schools opt for the Diables assessment. You can learn more about that here: https://dibels.uoregon.edu/
For general T1 instruction, it is recommended to use the spelling assessment for each lesson on Fridays. If students can spell it, they can very likely read it! This information is used to form small groups for reteaching the following week. All of the directions and dictation words and sentences can be found in the UFLI manual, starting on page 354.
