Education data, literacy and research

Reading Assessment Programme (RAP) is an online reading assessment tool which provides a simple, structured and systematic approach to assessing key phonics and reading skills for all children across the primary phase. It is simple and easy to use.

It can be used with all children working at a Reception to Year 6 age expected level. It can be used with Secondary aged children working below age expected level.

Assessments are provided for a wide range of phonics providers. FFT’s Success for All Phonics Programme follows a Letters and Sounds sequence and is therefore suitable for Letters and Sounds schools. There are also a range of bespoke assessments which align with the teaching sequence of a range of other phonics providers, therefore ensuring you are assessing on the correct content.

Pupils will benefit from the flexibility around assessment choice. The range of assessments mean that you could use RAP for carrying out baseline assessments to identify phonics gaps for pupils (including older pupils, SEND and EAL pupils) or tracking progress of older pupils through a phonics programme.

For those pupils working at an age expected level, termly assessments from Year 2 to Year 6 will provide decoding and fluency outcomes, allowing you to track progress and ensure pupils are on track (Reading Attainment Levels, Standardised Scores and Reading Fluency Ages will support this).

GPC knowledge, Blending, Segmenting, Decoding, Fluency and Comprehension (optional).

Depending on your phonics provider, there are between 6–12 assessments through Reception and Year 1, as well as additional summative assessments at the end of Reception and end of Year 1. There are three assessments per year for Year 2–Year 6.

The Reception and Year 1 assessments align to the systematic teaching of phonics from a range of phonics providers. You assess children in these year groups after whole class teaching of a set of GPCs.

The Reception and Year 1 end of year Summative Assessments can also be used as a baseline assessment at the beginning of Year 1 and Year 2.

Year 2 to Year 6 assessments are designed as end of term assessments. They can however, also double up as a baseline assessment.

It will systematically assess GPC knowledge following the teaching of GPCs in whole class teaching, with assessments aligned to the teaching sequence for a range of phonics providers.

It will assess pupils’ ability to apply their GPC knowledge to the decoding of phonetically decodable words, reading of Year 1 and 2 Common Exception Words and NC Spelling List Words and Tier 2 Vocabulary in Years 3–6.

It will provide a Words Correct Per Minute (WCPM) fluency score which converts into a Standardised Score, Reading Attainment Level and Reading Fluency Age (Year 1 and above for most assessments).

It will allow you to assess comprehension of the fluency passage to ensure understanding is secure.

Yes, you will be able to access all the DfE Phonics Screening past papers to practice online.

A range of instant, easy to interpret reports will allow you to quickly analyse data. Reports allow you to assess data at year group, class and pupil level against the different reading skills assessed.

Emphasis is placed on GPC knowledge, decoding and fluency.

Analysis of the reports will inform whole class/ year group trends and teaching gaps which will feed into teaching plans. Additionally, the reports will identify pupils who require additional phonics or reading intervention, such as Tutoring with the Lightning Squad.

As well as our dedicated Support Team, we provide a comprehensive online and on-demand training programme as part of your subscription.

Yes, RAP provides Standardised Scores, Reading Attainment Levels and Reading Fluency Ages for FFT/L&S assessments and for some assessments for other phonics providers. For Reception assessments, Standardised Scores and Reading Attainment Levels are based on Decoding outcomes. From Year 1 and above, and for other providers, Standardised Scores and Reading Attainment Levels are based on Fluency outcomes and Reading Fluency Ages are provided.

Yes! RAP is the assessment tool for use by FFT Success For All Phonics schools. There are also key reports and data in RAP which can be used to inform decisions and content use in Tutoring with the Lightning Squad.

If you are an existing FFT customer and have a subscription to Aspire, Tutoring with the Lightning Squad, FFT Success for All Phonics or our Year 2 programme then you will automatically have RAP as part of your subscription, free of charge.

If you don’t have a subscription, you can purchase a subscription to RAP. Find out more.

Find out more by completing our online form to get in touch or by signing up to one of our introductory webinars, 'Introduction to FFT's Reading Assessment Programme'.