Foundational, Formative, and Fun INteractive CHild Assessment
Finch game-based assessment tools work together with GOLD to provide a more comprehensive picture of each child’s developmental progress, while shifting the time burden off of teachers and reducing the pressure on their observations alone.
The Finch literacy screener provides an early signal for children who are at risk for reading difficulties and dyslexia.
Finch formative games are adaptive and dynamic to directly capture developmental progress.
Two groundbreaking assessment tools in one
NEW Finch Literacy Screener
For children grades pre-K to kindergarten
Our groundbreaking universal literacy screener identifies children who may need additional reading support.
- Leverages advanced, automatic speech recognition to capture and score language development data for each child
- Generates a screener report and automatically feeds documentation and preliminary levels into GOLD
- Allows for early intervention to support emerging literacy-based learning challenges
- Fuels deeper data-driven insights and recommendations to help teachers easily support each child’s unique needs
NEW Finch Game-Based Assessment
For children grades preschool to kindergarten
Our new game-based direct student assessment tool offers a fuller picture of each child’s school readiness.
Available in English and Spanish
- Fun, age appropriate games
- Takes 5 minutes or less per child per week
- Automatically feeds GOLD portfolios with preliminary levels
- Is a reliable, validated tool supported by peer-reviewed research on reducing risk of bias
- Also available as part of GOLD’s comprehensive Kindergarten Entry Assessment experience
6 Reasons to Love Finch
Assessment made easier
Finch adds two assessment tools, relieving reliance on teacher observations alone for evidence of learning and development.
Game-based and age-appropriate
Child-facing formative games capture developmental data directly in just 5 minutes of play per child per week.
Literacy and dyslexia screener
An integrated literacy screener with automated speech recognition helps identify children who are at risk for reading difficulties and/or dyslexia, allowing for early intervention.
Individualized learning made easier
Deeper, data-driven insights and automatic recommendations go beyond measurement to help teachers more easily individualize instruction for each child.
Uniquely comprehensive data
Multiple sources of evidence offer a fuller picture of each child’s progress and increase the quality of developmental data.
English and Spanish available
Our game-based assessment tool has English and Spanish options to help fuel high-quality data.
Frequently Asked Questions
GOLD is Teaching Strategies’ observational assessment – teachers document what they see children do. Finch is the game-based, child-facing assessment component (formative games and a literacy screener) that adds directly into an existing GOLD account. GOLDFinch is simply the name for GOLD with Finch added – it’s not a separate product to purchase, it’s the combined experience. This page describes Finch, the add-on component itself.
Finch is an add-on to GOLD, not a standalone product — it’s built for programs that already use GOLD observational assessment and want to add child-facing, game-based data collection on top of it. When a program adds Finch to their existing GOLD subscription, the combined solution is what we call GOLDFinch. If you’re not yet a GOLD customer, you would adopt our comprehensive assessment, GOLDFinch.
Finch includes two child-facing, game-based assessment tools – formative games and a literacy screener – which are aligned to the Objectives for Development and Learning and deeply integrated with GOLD.
The literacy screener is designed for children ages 4 to 6. The game-based formative assessment is designed for children ages 3 to 6.
Yes, our new universal literacy screener identifies children who may be at risk for early reading challenges, including dyslexia.
Our formative, game-based assessments capture developmental data directly through just 5 minutes of play per child per week.
Yes, using Finch together with GOLD increases the quality of developmental data by leveraging multiple sources of evidence and adding both child-facing and literacy-focused screening that go beyond teacher observation. It has also been validated by peer-reviewed research to reduce the risk of observational bias by getting data directly from children.
After adding a Finch game to the weekly plan, teachers help facilitate the games on the tablet — starting the game and completing a few teacher-led questions when necessary. Once the game is complete, data automatically uploads into GOLD to help teachers drive instruction and individualize to best fit each child’s needs.
Yes. Finch’s game-based assessment is available as part of GOLD’s comprehensive Kindergarten Entry Assessment experience, giving programs a direct, child-facing data source alongside teacher observation for KEA reporting.
In order to add Finch to your existing GOLD account, please reach out to your Early Learning Solution Specialist, or Contact Us for more information.
Yes, Finch is available in both English and Spanish.
