Scales of the Online Reading Assessment (ORA)

Items of ORA are designed to assess strengths/weaknesses on the skills deemed essential for college-level reading.

The skills tested are organized under the following outline.

1. Using context to determine the meaning of words and phrases.
   a. Words with multiple meanings
   b. Unfamilar and uncommon words or phrases.
   c. Figurative language
   
2. Finding main ideas and supporting details
   a. Explicit and implicit main ideas.
   b. Ideas that support, illustrate, or elaborate the main idea.
   
3. Identifying a writer's purpose.
   a. Expressed or implied purposes.
   b. Evaluating the appropriateness of a passage for a particular purpose or audience.
   c. Recognize the likely effect on an audience of
   a writer's choice of words.
   d. Identify a writer's point of view or opinion.
   
4. Analyzing the relationship among ideas.
   a. Identify a passages method of organization.
   b. Draw conclusingions inductively or deductively.
   
5. Evaluating a passage with critical reasoning skills.
   a. Evaluate stated or implied assumptions used to validate an argument.
   b. Judge the relevance of facts, graphic data, expert opinions, or analogies.
   c. Evaluate the logic of an argument.
   d. Evaluate the validity of an analogy.
   e. Distinguish between fact and opinion.
   f. Assess the credibility or objectivity of a writer or his/her passage.
   
6. Applying study skills to a reading.
   a. Organize and summarize a passage.
   b. Interpret informationn presented in a graph, chart, or other visual.