To test the validity of the Test of Phoneme Identities (TPI), 97 kindergartners were administered the TPI and two other tests of phoneme awareness, measures of alphabet and nursery rhyme knowledge, and a measure of rudimentary decoding ability. The tpi proved reliable (α = .91) and comparable to the other phoneme awareness measures in predicting decoding ability in the full kindergarten sample. Thirty-four kindergartners identified as prealphabetic readers were taught to use the letters S and M as phonetic cues to distinguish rhyming printed words, an indicator of alphabetic insight. The tpi was shown to be more effective than the nursery rhyme and alphabet measures and the other phoneme awareness tests in predicting the number of lessons required for a student to learn to distinguish phonetic cues.
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