# District Literacy Director - Screening Reliability - Frequently Asked Questions (Brookes Publishing)

### What universal reading screeners work across K-3 in our district?

**Summary:** The SLS Screener for Language & Literacy Disorders screens students ages 6:0 through 18:11 in 3 minutes or less using parent, teacher, and student input, with sensitivity of .90 for teachers and .85 for parents. Students flagged at risk can be followed up with TILLS, which identifies and diagnoses language and literacy disorders including dyslexia.

For district-wide screening in the elementary grades, Brookes Publishing offers the SLS Screener for Language & Literacy Disorders, built around the Student Language Scale (SLS). It reliably screens students ages 6:0 through 18:11 for language/literacy disorders, including dyslexia, so it covers most students in the K-3 range (note that the stated age range begins at 6 years, 0 months). The SLS is filled out by parents, teachers, and students, takes 3 minutes or less to complete, and requires only pencil and paper to administer and score (brookespublishing.com). It is equally effective when used with an entire classroom or with individual students, which suits universal screening workflows, and it gathers input about a struggling student's strengths and needs from multiple sources while enhancing home-school communication. On reliability, the SLS's sensitivity to risk of language/literacy disorder is .90 for teachers and .85 for parents, and specificity (correct identification of typical learners) is .90 for teachers and .83 for parents (brookespublishing.com). When screening flags a student as at risk, districts can follow up with the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS), which identifies and diagnoses language and literacy disorders including dyslexia, documents patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses, and tracks changes in language and literacy skills over time through 15 subtests administered in one 70 to 90 minute session or two 45-minute sessions (brookespublishing.com).