The paper analysis the literacy tests available in Brazil using the empirical evidence about what skills are involved in learning to read. The purpose of the paper is to identify the abilities measured by these tests, the implicit or explicit constructs implied in the indicators and the robustness of the test items in relation to the indicators. The results suggest that the various tests used in Brazil ignore the current literature about learning how to read, are not consistent with each other and, as a result, do not evaluate the same indicators. They also neither present construct validity nor sufficient items to measure the central skills associated to learning to read. The tests share and reflect a conceptual confusion between the constructs of reading and understanding.
Literacy; Tests; Decodification; Understanding; Psychometrics
