1. The Names Test of Decoding
By Patricia Cunningham
With additional names by F. A. Duffelmeyer

2. Rationale
The rationale behind this specific subtest is that it is one indicator of a student’s decoding abilities in relation to reading words within the context of names; therefore making them unfamiliar words but not nonsense words. This should not be used alone to test a student’s word identification abilities, but along with other sight word, decoding, and phonological tests, it gives an indicator of the area of word identification that a child has difficulty with. This should only be done after a complete Whole-to-Part Stage I assessment has been done and a student’s profile indicates difficulties in the area of word identification. This is not a measure of comprehension abilities in reading.

3. Directions for administering:
Begin by telling the student that they are going to read a list of people’s names. The list is lengthy, therefore if a student is having significant difficulty within the first 10 names, you might choose to stop the testing. If that is the case, the norms on the following slide does not apply. Each first and last name counts as one. All names are phonetically regular and follow the rules of standard English phonetics.

4. How It works
Iowa Norms (see Duffelmeyer, Kruse, Merkley, & Fyfe, 1994)
2nd grade= 44 names correct
3rd grade= 51 names correct
4th grade= 62 names correct
5th grade= 64 names correct
Perfect score= 70

6. Jay Conway

8. Kimberly Blake

10. Cindy Sampson

12. Stanley Shaw

14. Flo Thornton

16. Ron Smitherman

18. Bernard Pendergraph

20. Austin Shepherd

22. Joan Brooks

24. Tim Cornell

26. Roberta Slade

28. Chester Wright

30. Wendy Swain

32. Dee Skidmore

34. Troy Whitlock

36. Shane Fletcher

38. Bertha Dale

40. Gene Loomis

42. Chuck Hoke

44. Homer Preston

46. Ginger Yale

48. Glen Spencer

50. Grace Brewster

52. Vance Middleton

54. Floyd Sheldon

56. Neal Wade

58. Thelma Rinehart

60. Yolanda Clark

62. Gus Quincy

64. Patrick Tweed

66. Fred Sherwood

68. Ned Westmoreland

70. Zane Anderson

72. Dean Bateman

74. Jake Murphy