ESTA-L

The Early Screening Tool App – Literacy (ESTA-L®)

ESTA-L® has been developed by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW) to assist teachers to map students’ vital early literacy skills. The constrained phonological awareness and phonics skills are fundamental to ensuring all children learn to read. ESTA-L® will also support teachers to gauge the range of early literacy skills students demonstrate across their class.

ESTA-L® has been designed to be used with students enrolled in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2. Teachers in Years 3-6 may also use the screener to identify and support students who have not acquired these critical early literacy skills.

Teachers log onto the app to administer the screener 1:1. The screener will prompt teachers as they move through the instructional priorities. Teachers have the option to choose for the app to automatically read the questions or to read the questions themselves. Student errors will be captured via the device’s voice recording function. Upon completion of the screener, the data automatically synchronises to an online platform that enables teachers to log on and manipulate the student data for their class and analyse student errors.

ESTA-L® has been designed to enable teachers an accessible and manageable tool to capture the acquisition of foundational literacy skills that are essential for learning to read. The data elicited from ESTA-L® can be used to plan whole class instruction and differentiated teaching for students according to their identified needs. It will support teachers to provide parents with clear evidence about their child’s progress in learning to read.

ESTA-L® will support and enable teachers to:

- gauge the range of early reading skills across their class.

- plan whole class instruction.

- voice record student responses for later reference and analysis.

- differentiate teaching for students according to their identified needs.

- use clear evidence when reporting to parents.

- save time and paper, as it eliminates the need for a paper-based recording form and the time required for the teacher to transfer the results onto a spreadsheet