Morphological Awareness Test for Reading and Spelling (MATRS)

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Morphological Awareness Test for Reading and Spelling (MATRS)
Kenn Apel, Ph.D., Victoria S. Henbest, Ph.D., Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D.
K-12

Morphological awareness—the ability to recognize, understand, and consciously use the smallest units of meaning in a word—is one of the most important skills for literacy development. Now there’s a comprehensive, reliable, and valid assessment tool for evaluating the morphological awareness skills that strongly predict concurrent and future reading and spelling abilities.
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STOCK NUMBER ISBN
58621 978-1-68125-862-1
COPYRIGHT
AVAILABILITY
Not Yet Published

WHY MATRS? 

  • Assesses morphological awareness, a unique and significant predictor of literacy skills
  • Helps educators determine what students know about morphemes and where they need more morphological awareness instruction
  • Helps states meet literacy goals and mandates focused on students’ morphological awareness
  • Developed by leading experts on morphological awareness through more than a decade of research
  • Norm-referenced and standardized—4,060 students were included in the normative sample
  • Easy and intuitive to use, with videos that demonstrate how to administer each task

HOW IT WORKS

MATRS consists of easy-to-implement subtests called tasks, administered by a reading specialist, speech-language pathologist, or other intervention specialist. There are a total of eight tasks in MATRS, and students complete four in each grade:

  • Task 1: Segmenting (Grades 1 and 2)
  • Task 2: Affix Identification (Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6)
  • Task 3: Affix Meaning (Grades 1, 2, 3, and 4)
  • Task 4: Suffix Choice (Grades 5 and 6)
  • Task 5: Spelling Multi-Morphemic Words (Grades 4, 5, and 6)
  • Task 6: Suffix Spelling (Grades 1, 2, and 3)
  • Task 7: Spoken Relatives (Grades 1 and 2)
  • Task 8: Written Relatives (Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Following the clear directions in the Examiner Administration Booklet and demonstration videos, the examiner provides students with oral prompts and plays audio recordings to elicit and record responses. The test takes 35−45 minutes, and scoring is easy with the time-saving Excel scoring solution, which provides automated access to standard scores and percentile ranks. The MATRS kit also includes access to a full set of assessment materials for administering a follow-up test, so you can easily determine the effectiveness of interventions.

WHAT TO ORDER

The MATRS Kit contains everything you need: a detailed manual, Examiner Administration Booklet, and a pack of 10 Student Response Forms for each grade. You’ll also receive digital access to materials for follow-up testing, demonstration videos for each task, audio files, a Technical Report, and the MATRS Excel automated scoring solution.

Manual Contents
About the Authors
About the Downloads
Preface

 

Chapter 1: Overview of MATRS and Its Value
What is Morphological Awareness?
Background to MATRS
Overview of MATRS
Development of MATRS

 

Chapter 2: MATRS Tasks and Administration
Conceptual Model for MATRS
Preparing to Administer MATRS
Administering MATRS
MATRS Tasks

 

Chapter 3: MATRS Scoring, Interpretation, and Follow Up
Scoring MATRS
Considerations When Scoring MATRS
Additional Review of Students’ Responses
Providing MATRS Results to Others

 

Chapter 4: What’s Next: Case Studies/Student Profiles
Case 1: Nicole
Case 2: Connor
Case 3: Gage

 

Chapter 5: Research and Psychometric Data
Item Development Prior to Studies
Participants
Other Measures Administered
Procedures Across All Years of Item Calibration and Task Validation
Data Analysis and Results: Item Calibration Studies
Data Analysis and Results: Task Validation Studies
Results

 

References

Appendix A: Task Keys: Version A
Appendix B: Task Keys: Version B
Appendix C: Conversion of Raw Scores to Standard Scores and Percentiles

Index

Reviews

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Reviews

Jan Wasowicz, Ph.D, CCC-CLP, BCS-CL, Speech-Language Pathologist, Board Certified Specialist in Child Language, SPELL-Links author - June 16, 2026
“MATRS is a much-needed and very timely contribution to the field of literacy assessment. At a moment when the roles of spoken language and morphology in literacy is gaining broader recognition--including the inclusion of morphology in the International Dyslexia Association's revised definition of dyslexia--MATRS gives professionals a standardized, norm-referenced tool to meaningfully assess student's morphological awareness skills. This assessment will be an important resource for evaluation, and will provide initial insights to help guide next steps in intervention planning.”
Deb Glaser, Ed.D., Author of Morpheme Magic, Teacher Educator, Consultant - June 16, 2026
“Finally! MATRS is the assessment we have been waiting for. Timely and easily implemented, MATRS gives teachers the information they need about students' morphological awareness. This reliable and valid assessment will be instrumental in advancing morphological awareness understanding and instruction.”
Stephanie Al Otaiba, Ph.D., Professor and Patsy Ray Caldwell Centennial Chair in Teaching and Learning, Harold Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Southern Methodist University, Faculty Affiliate of the Florida Center for Reading Research - June 16, 2026
“Finally there is a reliable and valid norm-referenced assessment of morphological awareness to use with elementary-aged students! Apel, Henbest, and Petscher have designed, tested, and refined this instrument to be feasible for practitioners and researchers to administer and interpret. Their manual provides case studies with examples of how data from the test can inform instruction or interventions, and videos guide how to administer this timely tool. The authors also offer advice for helping pracitioners, parents, and students understand how (and why) morphological awareness 'matters' for developing reading and spelling. MATRS will be an invaluable tool for implementing Response to Instruction and Multi-tiered Systems of Support."”
Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D., Professer, School of Education, University of California, Irvine - June 16, 2026
“Morphological awareness is a cornerstone of skilled reading and spelling, yet it has long been under-assessed in educational and clinical settings. The MATRS offers a psychometrically sound, normed assessment that ensures reliable, comparable results across diverse populations, giving educators and clinicians the data they need to make informed decisions.̶

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