How is DORA different from other reading assessments? A: DORA gives a very detailed account of how the learner is achieving in all areas of reading. Many reading assessments report results as a single reading grade- equivalent level. Knowing that a reader is at a certain grade level is helpful, but more detailed information is better for and more effective in driving effective instruction. For example, some reading assessments might report that your 4th grade son is reading at a 2nd grade level. DORA reports how well he can sound out words compared with how well he can memorize words compared with how well he read and understood words in the context of a passage. In addition, spelling information is included. The very detailed reports that are provided by Let?s Go Learn provide specific information on the areas where your child needs the most support. DORA covers skills ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. Another difference is that many assessments promote the fact that they can assess a student in 10 minutes or so. While those assessments are efficient, many shortcuts are taken which can lead to unreliable and unusable results. A short assessment usually only looks at 1 or 2 sub-skills of reading and then generalizes the results as the student’s entire ability. In our opinion, this leads to incorrect diagnosis and will ultimately shortchange the learner.