Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills™ (TILLS™) Technical Manual

This concise manual presents the powerful research and technical data behind the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills™ (TILLS™). Professionals will find clear answers to frequently asked questions about the technical data as they learn the specifics of TILLS development and field testing and the composition of the normative sample.

Full chapters are devoted to the validity of TILLS, the reliability of TILLS, and the evaluation and reduction of test bias. Readers will get valuable information on

• test development using item response theory (IRT) procedures
• measurements of validity for each of the three purposes of TILLS
• evidence of additional aspects of construct validity, including confirmation that TILLS scores reflect age-related change and measure skills at both the sound/word and sentence/discourse levels
• the documenting of patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses and tracking change over time
• TILLS sensitivity and specificity levels, broken down into 9 age bands meaningful to the development of language and literacy skills
• strong reliability evidence for intra-class stability, inter-scorer reliability, and test-retest reliability
• the assessment process to remove or minimize item-level bias and subtest-level bias
• when to adjust cut scores for identifying language and literacy disorders

With this comprehensive resource on the unparalleled research behind TILLS, professionals will be confident that their language and literacy assessments will be completed with an extensively tested, psychometrically sound tool.

About TILLS

TEST OF INTEGRATED LANGUAGE AND LITERACY SKILLS (TILLS) is the reliable, valid assessment professionals need to test oral and written language skills in students ages 6—18 years. TILLS is a comprehensive, norm-referenced test that has been standardized for three purposes:

• To identify language and literacy disorders
• To document patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses
• To track changes in language and literacy skills over time

To achieve these purposes, TILLS is constructed to allow you to derive scores for identifying, tracking, and profiling a student’s strengths and weaknesses and interpreting the results to support decisions about what to do next.

Learn more about TILLS and explore the key benefits.

Test of Integrated Language & Literacy Skills™ and TILLS™ are trademarks of Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

The contents of TILLS were developed under Grant No. R324A100354 from the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.