Easy Assessments to Determine Students¹ Levels in Phonics, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension Start of the Year Assessment! A concise, ready-to use collection of assessments to use at the beginning of the school year. With these tests, you can determine each child¹s level of proficiency in reading, identify instructional needs for individuals and for the group as a whole, and have a baseline from which to measure a child¹s growth in reading. Covers phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and oral reading.