The DORA spelling sub-test is one of seven areas tested by DORA.
The process of spelling involves a number of cognitive processes. While each person uses different strategies for spelling words, these strategies often involve familiarity with a particular word (i.e., both in its meaning and visual exposure), letter-sound matching, and confirming how the word “looks.” Because spelling is also a generative process (as opposed to a decoding and meaning process in reading), it’s natural for young readers’ spelling abilities to lag a few months behind their reading abilities.
DORA’s Spelling subtests try to capture the nuances behind the different processes that children use to spell words by employing target words with increasing difficulty in different domains. In the process of creating the items for the DORA Spelling subtest, Reading Specialists created a list of recommended target spelling words by examining words commonly encountered or taught at particular grade levels. The difficulty of words recommended changes in these general domains:
1) number of syllables in a word
2) the regular phonetic patterns with the words
3) the irregular phonetic patterns within a word
4) vocabulary level
5) a child’s expected familiarity with a word based on his/her grade level.
For the first through third-grade spelling list, for instance, while most of the words are phonetically regular, the number of syllables increases with each grade level and the phonetic patterns within each word become increasingly difficult.
SP Level is determined by the highest set the learner got 3/5 correct or better.
12 5-word lists. Each set represents a grade from 1 to 12.
Low, Mid, High
5 out of 5 correct is High
4 out of 5 correct is Mid
3 out of 5 correct is Low