Description
Ages: 4-0 through 6-11
Testing Time: 20 minutes or less, depending on the child’s age and ability
Administration: Individual
The Screener for Early Number Sense (SENS) is an individually administered, criterion-referenced early screening tool available in three grade-level kits that (a) identify young students at risk for mathematical difficulties/disabilities and (b) provide information about identified students that can lead to effective early intervention. The SENS spans the early childhood period from pre-K to first grade (4 to 7 years of age) when crucial math foundations are built and consolidated.
Features
The SENS is grounded in a conceptual framework that reflects state-of-the-art research on number sense development, including work by two of the SENS authors, Nancy C. Jordan and Alice Klein. The SENS framework is based on three evidence-informed assumptions:
1. Number sense encompasses subdomains of number, number relations, and number operations;
2. Number sense difficulties predict later math achievement and can be identified early; and
3. Number sense is malleable and can be taught to most children.
Test items cover knowledge of number (e.g., counting, cardinality, place value), relationships between numbers (e.g., number comparison, number line), and number operations involving addition and subtraction. Items become progressively more difficult in size and type of numerical representation from grade to grade (i.e., from Pre-K to Kindergarten to Grade 1).
Technical and Statistical Characteristics of the SENS
The SENS was validated on a weighted sample of 1,150 children from diverse socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds. Scoring the SENS is straightforward: Each item is scored as correct/incorrect and then a Total Raw Score is computed based on the total number of correct items. This Total Raw Score can be used to determine a student’s risk status for mathematical learning difficulties by referring to the Risk Status table for each grade level in Appendix A of the SENS Manual. The cut scores on the Risk Status tables help to identify students who need targeted instructional support or further diagnostic evaluation. The SENS Manual also includes a comprehensive discussion of the test’s theoretical and research-based foundation, item development, standardization, administration and scoring procedures, and guidelines for using and interpreting the test’s results.
The SENS internal consistency and test–retest reliability coefficients at each grade level are > 0.9. Predictive validity is high across grade levels (> 0.79). Diagnostic accuracy studies demonstrated the test’s ability to differentiate children who have exceptionalities that might negatively impact numeracy skills from those who do not. Specifically, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses revealed that the SENS is highly accurate in discriminating between children at risk and not at risk for showing math learning difficulties one year later.
EACH GRADE LEVEL SENS KIT CONTAINS: Examiner’s Manual, Picture Book, 25 Examiner Record Forms, and Manipulatives Card, all in a sturdy storage box. (©2024)