Computerized Monitoring of Early Reading Skills (CMERS)

CMERS is a computer adaptive test (CAT) of reading skills for early readers in kindergarten through third grade, developed by the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) in partnership with Talking Fingers, Inc. It is an assessment battery designed to assess many of the same skills measured by conventional tests such as DIBELS and CTOPP. Conventional tests rely on individual administration with a trained examiner, making them labor and resource intensive as well as costly. These tests, however, require limited personnel because they run on a computer. They can also closely target testing to individual students’ abilities, typically reducing the amount of time a student requires on each test.

CMERS consists of 8 subtests that measure:

• Growth in phonemic awareness (phoneme identification, phoneme blending)
• Phonics knowledge and skill (letter sounds, letter names, phonemic decoding, and spelling)
• Reading fluency
• Vocabulary
• Passage comprehension

The tests are administered individually on laptop computers. A trained test administrator gives the student verbal instructions and technical assistance – how to navigate through the tests, manipulate the mouse to make answer selections, and so on. Each assessment is set up to look like a game to the students, which lessens the pressure of test-taking .

As of March 2005, TCARE is in final stages of testing; the final version will run on a classroom computer. 

CMERS Software

CMERS software is currently being revised and will be available commercially in the near future.