by Gary J. Robertson, PhD
The ERA is part of the WRAT–Expanded series and is an individually administered measure of important pre-reading and beginning reading skills for use in Grades pre-K, K, and 1. Four subtests measure these important aspects of early reading: letter recognition and visual perception of word parts, letter sounds, word comprehension, and sentence comprehension. Performance may be interpreted on each of the subtests and on three composites: Pre-reading Skills, Reading Skills, and Total Battery.
Administration
The child's reading skill acquisition determines whether the entire test is given or whether only selected subtests are used. Children who are not yet reading words and sentences can be assessed with only the two pre-reading tests (letter recognition/visual perception and letter sounds), whereas children already reading would most likely be given only the two reading tests (word comprehension and sentence comprehension). Administration of all four subtests requires about 40 minutes, with the two parts—pre-reading and reading—requiring about 20 minutes each.
Interpretation
National norms based on both age and grade reference groups are available. Subtest scaled scores, standard scores for the three composites, percentile ranks, and stanines are also available. The Record Form provides a convenient score summary and profile to facilitate the interpretation and use of the test results. The manual contains useful illustrations of appropriate uses and interpretation of results
