Identification of educationally at-risk children during the kindergarten year: A four-year follow-up study of group test performance

Group test performance of children identified during the kindergarten year as educationally high, moderate, and low risk was investigated by following a group of 472 children from grades one through four. End of kindergarten predictive measures were the Kindergarten Evaluation of Learning Potential, the Bender-Gestalt Test, and the Slosson Intelligence Test; follow-up measures were group achievement tests administered in April of each school year. Significant differences in achievement performance were found between the high and low risk groups. Significant correlations were found between risk group designation and achievement performance in the first four grades. (No significant differences in group test performance were found for risk groups or individuals between grade levels.) Findings support the predictive validity of the present screening procedures for group test performance through grade four. Further, the findings show that students appear to perform consistently at the same level year to year in a regular class instructional program.     

Predictive validity of my class inventory

A recent guest-edited issue of this journal (Volume 6, Number 3, 1980) summarizes the considerable interest evident since the late 1960s in the conceptualization, assessment, and study of student perceptions of psychological characteristics of their classroom learning environment. This issue and several other recent key overviews (Moos, 1979; Walberg, 1979; Fraser, 1981; Fraser and Walberg, 1981) have firmly established classroom environment as a thriving field of study.When used as criterion variables in prior curriculum evaluation research, student perceptions of classroom environment characteristics have differentiated revealingly, usefully, and appreaciably between classrooms following alternative curriculum materials or instructional strategies (Anderson, Walberg, and Welch, 1969; Levin, 1980). In addition, other studies have established the criterion validity of classroom environment perceptions in differentiating between classrooms varying in class size (Walberg, 1969), grade level (Welch, 1979), and subject matter (Anderson, 1971a; Hearn and Moos, 1978), and between classrooms in five different types of schools (urban, rural, suburban, vocational, alternative) (Trickett, 1978). The strongest tradition in past research on classroom learning environment, however, has involved investigation of the predictive validity of student perceptions (i.e., the ability to predict student cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning outcomes).     

Cognitive processing rates among disabled and normal reading young adults: A nine year follow-up study

Forty adults who had been diagnosed as reading disabled when they were children and 40 adults from a matched control group of normal readers were tested to assess the diagnostic utility of a newly developed set of tests as well at to ascertain whether or not reading disability persists into early adulthood. The new measures, designed to examine cognitive processing rates in disabled and normal adult readers, included expressive verbal fluency, confrontation naming, and perceptual speed. Evidence for significantly slower cognitive processing rates and persistent problems in reading and spelling was apparent among the young adult disabled readers. Spatial and mathematical ability levels were well within the normal range.     

Acquiring meaning for decimal fraction symbols: A one year follow-up

Fourth graders with differing achievement records participated in a specially designed two week unit on decimal fractions. Students were encouraged to connect meaningful referents with decimal fraction symbols and use these meanings to develop procedures for adding and subtracting decimal numbers. One year later these students and a matched set of fifth graders were interviewed and given paper-and-pencil tests. Three questions were of interest: (1) Do short term changes in the processes students use to solve problems remain stable over time; (2) Do students who have been instructed in conceptually-based processes exhibit a higher level of performance one year later than their conventionally taught peers; and (3) What is the relationship between entry achievement level and the year-long effects of conceptually-based instruction? The results suggest that: (1) If students used the meanings of written symbols as a basis for solving problems immediately after instruction, they used these processes to solve problems one year later, regardless of entering achievement; (2) Compared to their conventionally taught peers, students in the lower achievement group benefitted relatively more from the conceptually-based instruction than students in the higher achievement group; (3) However, higher achieving students were more likely to exhibit use of conceptually-oriented processes one year later than the lower achieving students.     

Foop is still floop: A six year follow-up of phonological dyslexia and dysgraphia

A six year follow-up of a previously documented case of developmental phonological dyslexia, is reported. Overal reading and spelling levels have risen significantly, but the qualitative nature of the performance has remained unchanged: impaired non-word reading; morphological and visuo-semantic paralexias; and function word substitutions in text. Rhyming skills also remain impaired. A higher proportion of errors are paralexias and within these a higher proportion are visuo-semantic or morphological. The error pattern of phonological dylexia is thus more pronounced than before. In spelling, only a minority of errors are phonologically plausible. There is no evidence of the mastery of the alphabetic stage of reading or the alphabetic stage of spelling. It is argued that A.H. is reading orthographically not logographically and that current reading models, which require passage through an alphabetic stage before attaining an orthographic stage, do not adequately account for individual variation in the acquisition of literacy skills.This work was supported by a research award from the Wolfson Foundation. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Christine Temple, The Neuropsychology Unit, Radcliffe Infirmary, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HE, United Kingdom.     

Relationships between reading,phonological skills and language development in individuals with Down syndrome: A five year follow-up study

This article is based on language, memory andreading information gathered for a five yearfollow-up study of 30 children and adolescentswith Down syndrome, aged from 10 to 24 years atthe end of the study. At Time 1, 10individuals were classified as readers but byTime 2 this number had risen to 16. Readers significantly outperformed non-readerson tests of nonverbal ability, languagecomprehension and production, phonologicalmemory and phonological awarenesss. However,some of these differences could be accountedfor by readers' significantly lower hearingthresholds. Phonological memory and earlyletter knowledge at Time 1 were significantpredictors of reading scores for Time 2readers, after controlling for age, nonverbalability and corresponding Time 1 readingscores. There was no evidence that learning toread had a significant impact on later languagecomprehension, but early reading skills may besignificant predictors of MLU five years later,after controlling for age, nonverbal abilityand hearing.     

Predictive validity of teacher ratings of creativity over 2 years

Fifty white, suburban middle-class children were tested in the fourth grade with six divergent thinking tests developed from Guilford's SOI model and in the sixth grade with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, Verbal Form A. In the fourth grade, these students' classroom teachers completed for each of them the Scale for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students. With IQ and reading and math achievement controlled via partial correlations, Guilford-like and Torrance measures were significantly correlated over 2 years but only teachers' rating of students as “sensitive to beauty and the aesthetic characteristics of things” was significantly related over 2 years to creativity measures. This characteristic appeared to be most crucial in the prediction of creativity for boys.     

Concurrent and discriminant validity of the Gordon Diagnostic System: A preliminary study

The discriminant and concurrent validity of the Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) was investigated in 29 youngsters categorized into “normals” or “ADHDs” based on teacher ratings. The results failed to demonstrate the discriminant validity of any GDS score regardless of the behavior rating used. The Vigilance Correct and Vigilance Omission scores were significantly correlated with ADHD Rating Scale scores completed by teachers. The sample size in the study demands cautious interpretation of these results; however, the authors suggest the continued use of multiple behavior ratings by teachers as the “gold standard” for the classification of youngsters with a suspected Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.     

A study of the validity of four types of student ratings of college teaching assessed on a criterion of student achievement gains

The purpose of the study was to investigate relationships between student ratings of college teaching using four types of student rating instruments and pre- vs. post-student achievement gains in 36 sections of an undergraduate analytic geometry and calculus course. Student rating instruments used varied according to type of items (high vs. low inference) and focus (students rating their own perceived growth vs. rating the instructor). Data were collected on 799 students (66% freshmen; 16% sophomore; and 15% juniors) at the University of Florida, and relationships were analyzed using the Pearson product-moment correlation technique. Significant relationships were not found between student ratings and student achievement.     

Dimensionality and Predictive validity of the Classroom Learning Activities Checklist in Prekindergarten

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - The Classroom Learning Activities Checklist (CLAC) is a brief classroom observation measure that assesses task-oriented and self-regulated...     

A follow-up study of dyslexic boys

Over 500 men who attended the Gow School, an independent school for boys with developmental dyslexia, were given a follow-up questionnaire from 1 to 38 years after they left the school. More than half had graduated from college; business was the most frequently chosen major in college; most were employed in managerial or related business positions; and their adult reading habits and attitudes did not compare well with those of other men of similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Socioeconomic status and IQ were not predictive of adult outcome among these men in contrast to their effect in the general population. An important result was that severity of the reading problem upon entrance to Gow and the academic and remedial progress of the men while at the school were highly predictive of adult educational, occupational, and attitudinal status. This work was supported by funds from NIH grant HD00486, the Gow School, and the John F. Kennedy Institute.     

A concurrent validity study of the Woodcock Word Comprehension Test

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the Woodcock Word Comprehension Test and several measures of reading achievement and verbal intelligence. Subjects were 194 children who were tested in a University Reading Clinic. All were administered the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests, the Slosson Oral Reading Test, an Informal Reading Inventory, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised, the Slosson Intelligence Test, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Pearson product-moment correlations (r) were used to test the relationships. It appeared that the Woodcock Word Comprehension Test assesses reading ability more than general verbal ability.     

Student understandings of acids and bases: A two year study

Conclusion This study had indicated that further research needs to be done into the examination of how subsequent learning will interact with knowledge previously gained. Does the learning of new knowledge in relation to previously understood knowledge cause interference (Biggs & Telfer 1986) or does it result in some confusion culminating in lack of linkages (Osborne & Freyberg, 1985)? Can the benefits of constructivism be built upon when using other strategies? These are some of the questions which arise from the results obtained in this study. This study does not provide any definitive solution to the questions; however it does show that long term retention of concepts learnt using a constructivist strategy does occur.     

Predictive validity of the Slosson Intelligence Test with the WISC-R and the WRAT-R level 1

Slosson Intelligence Tests (SITS) administered by school guidance counselors correlated significantly with school psychologist administered WISC-Rs (r=.75). The Slosson IQ correlated significantly higher with the WISC-R Verbal IQ than with the Performance IQ score. The mean Slosson IQ was a statistically significant 4.4 points higher than the mean WISC-R Full Scale IQ (p<.01).     

Predictive validity of the IELTS in an English as a medium of instruction environment

As access to a university education has increased globally, there have also been increases in the number of universities that use English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and in the number of non‐English‐speaking students studying in English‐speaking countries. Correspondingly, the English language proficiency of students studying in EMI environments is becoming increasingly significant. Using a large sample of 953 undergraduate students at an EMI university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this paper examines the predictive validity of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as it pertains to the academic success of students as determined by grade point average and addresses implications and appropriateness of further language support. Results indicate that IELTS scores are a meaningful predictor of academic success, especially in the EMI environment that exists in the UAE. Lower than the IELTS guidelines, an IELTS 6.0 seems to be a key benchmark that predicts academic success. It may be that this more moderate English proficiency score is a better fit for non‐English‐speaking countries, but that further language support embedded into degree programmes is necessary except at the highest proficiency levels, and that a bilingual option should be considered at the lowest proficiency levels.     

A follow-up study of students in Slovenia: The 1976 generation

The paper presents the main results of nearly nine years of a follow-up study. All Slovene secondary school students, who in scholastic year 1975/76 were in the last class of at least four-year secondary schools were followed-up during higher education from 1976/77 to 1983/84. Study efficiency is analyzed by gender, family educational background, type of secondary school, delay of the first enrollment, abilities, early scholastic achievement and regional development.     

Families with abused children: A follow-up study of post-crisis support

Treatment provisions planned and executed were studied in a follow-up of 14 abused or neglected children three years after discharge from the Children's Department of Ullevaal Hospital. A majority of the families were shown to have received either no help or inappropriate help. Half of the children were evaluated as being so emotionally impaired that serious future adjustment problems could be anticipated. Inappropriate treatment related to lack of understanding, workers' own feelings and normative standards. Overidentification with parents and a general belief in their ability to develop caring skills were observed as was the tendency to overlook or minimize the child's experiences and the risk to which he was exposed. Anxiety, insecurity and lack of skill in establishing appropriate relationships prevented workers obtaining adequate bases for evaluation and for effectuation of treatment. Workers' professional situations were unfavorable in specified ways. Appropriate treatment was based on differentiated psychosocial evaluation, a high involvement level by the worker and continuity. The professional situation was also favorable. Workers combined traditional therapeutic approaches with conscious use of professional authority. They intervened actively for protective purposes but were empathetic with both child and parents.