Curriculum bias and reading achievement test performance

The overlap of words specifically taught in reading textbooks with the contents of standardized reading achievement tests may be a source of bias that is frequently overlooked in psychoeducational assessments. This study compares the standardized achievement test performance of 62 second graders receiving instruction in two different reading curricula (Open Court and Houghton-Mifflin) to determine whether either curriculum generates different quantitative estimates of reading achievement. Reading subtest scores derived from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-Brief Form (K-TEA), the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R), and the Reading Recognition and Reading Comprehension subtests from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) were examined. Grade level equivalents and scaled scores from the California Achievement Test (CAT) were also examined. Three Curriculum × Test repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted using grade level scores (2×7), standard scores (2×4), and CAT scaled scores (2 × 5) as dependent measures. A significant Curriculum × Test interaction was identified, suggesting differences among tests in estimates of reading ability as a function of the reading program.     

Format changes in reading achievement tests: Implications for learning disabled students

It has been seen that children's scores on reading achievement tests vary not only with knowledge of content, but also with the differing formats of test items. Teachers working with learning disabled children or children with attention problems may wish to choose standardized tests with fewer, rather than more, format changes. The present study evaluated the number of format and direction changes across tests and grade levels of the major elementary standardized reading achievement tests. The number of format changes varies from one change every 1.2 minutes on the Metropolitan Achievement Test Level E1 to one change every 21.3 minutes on the P1 level of the Stanford Achievement Test. Teachers may wish to take this evaluation into account when considering use of standardized reading achievement tests for their students.     

Recouping and rethinking the effects of summer vacation on reading achievement

Vacations may have detrimental effects on maths and spelling performance, but the findings for reading are less conclusive. The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of summer vacation on early literacy skills of young children. Participants included rising first and second‐graders, most of whom were at‐risk, struggling readers. No evidence of summer setback was evident for this sample of children; in fact, gains in reading (or, recoupment of any losses) were more common in children performing at lower levels than for those with higher scores at the end of the school year. Our outcomes are different from those reported by other researchers. We explain this with attention to the content of our comparisons, the grade levels investigated and measures used to assess performance, and discuss implications for future research based on our findings.     

Students' self-perception of reading ability,enjoyment of reading and reading achievement

Using data from New Zealand's National Education Monitoring Project, a light sampling, low stakes performance based national school assessment program, reading self-efficacy, reading enjoyment, and reading achievement were examined in samples of 8 and 12 year old children. Sample sizes were n = 480 for each group. While reading achievement increased substantially in going from age 8 to age 12, reading enjoyment and reading self-efficacy declined. Girls outperformed boys in reading achievement and showed higher levels of reading enjoyment; differences in self-efficacy by gender were minimal. Results are discussed in terms of previous research and implications for instructional practice.     

Employing teachers' ratings in selection of achievement tests in reading and mathematics with a behaviorally disturbed population

The usefulness of a particular standardized achievement test with a specific population may be determined largely on the basis of experience. Sixty-six behaviourally disturbed students were administered portions of a test battery including the Reading Recognition subtest of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), PIAT Reading Comprehension, the Reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT); PIAT Mathematics, WRAT Arithmetic, Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test (SDMT), and KeyMath Diagnostic Arithmetic Test. Toward the end of the academic year, teachers estimated students' grade levels in reading and mathematics. Results indicated that, in mathematics, the SDMT and the PIAT predicted teachers' ratings equally well and better than the other tests; in reading, all tests predicted teachers' ratings equally well except for the PIAT Reading Comprehension, which performed less well than others. Explanations for these results are offered, together with suggestions for identifying achievement tests suitable to specific populations.     

Preschool literacy experience and later reading achievement

During their children's preschool years, parents were asked about the frequencies of adult reading, parent-child reading, and children's solitary book activities in the home. Parental responses were compared for three groups of children defined according to the parents' reading skills and the children's reading achievement in Grade 2. The results indicated that the 22 preschoolers who became poorer readers had less frequent early literacy-related experiences than the 34 children who became better readers.     

Teachers' ratings vs standardized tests: An empirical investigation of agreement between two indices of achievement

The degree of correlation between teachers' ratings of vocabulary, comprehension, mathematics, and verbal intelligence with scores from the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) plus the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) was assessed with 120 boys and 110 girls aged 8.6 to 10.5 years in three southeastern suburban state schools in Melbourne. Teachers' ratings of students' general attitude also were collected. While results indicated that significant correlations did exist between data from the two sets of measures, these accounted for only small amounts of the total variance, suggesting that two almost discrete domains of information were being tapped. The need for reconciliation between these two domains is discussed and the presence of sex bias in teachers' ratings is raised for further study.     

Relationship between home literacy environment and reading achievement in children with reading disabilities

Past research has indicated that a significant relationship exists between young children's early home literacy environment and their reading-related skills. However, this relationship has rarely been investigated among older children with reading disabilities (RD). In the present study, the relationship between parent and child home literacy activities and children's academic functioning was investigated with a sample of 65 elementary-age children with RD. The results indicated that children's home literacy activities were not significantly related to any of their academic abilities, whereas parents' home literacy activities were significantly related to children's passage comprehension and spelling scores. However, relationships between home literacy environment and reading may be different for children with and without RD.     

Rasch scaling and reading tests

The aim of this paper is to sensitise research workers and other test users to an ongoing controversy concerning the relative merits of conventional test theory and Rasch scaling in the construction of reading tests. Supporters of Rasch scaling readily acknowledge its limitations in mapping the complexities of human reading behaviours. Despite this, the technique's practical and theoretical advantages in certain aspects of reading are seen as outweighing the acknowledged limitations. Currently an increasing number of test constructors and publishers are adopting Rasch procedures in developing reading tests. This does not mean that the approach is educationally valid. A great deal of further research is required.     

飞行专业学生英语阅读焦虑和阅读成绩的相关性研究

利用英语阅读焦虑量表和阅读测试卷,对通过随机抽样得到的300名飞行专业二年级大学生进行了测试,并就英语阅读焦虑阅读成绩之间的相关关系进行了研究.结果表明:阅读焦虑与阅读成绩之间存在负相关关系,并且焦虑高低与成绩高低表现出了显著性差异.     

Visual stress theory and its application to reading and reading tests

This paper presents a theory of visual stress. The theory is applied to the assessment of symptoms of visual stress and its treatment with coloured filters. The theory has implications for standard reading assessments that relate both to the visual skills and the age of the children taking the tests. These implications are reviewed, with the conclusion that insufficient attention is paid to visual factors in reading, particularly in the design of reading tests.     

Predicting delay in reading achievement in a highly transparent language

A random sample of 91 preschool children was assessed prior to receiving formal reading instruction. Verbal and nonverbal measures were used as predictors for the time of instruction required to accurately decode pseudowords in the highly orthographically regular Finnish language. After 2 years, participants were divided into four groups depending on the duration of instruction they had required to reach 90 % accuracy in their reading of pseudowords. Participants were classified as precocious decoders (PD), who could read at school entry; early decoders (ED), who learned to read within the first 4 months of Grade 1; ordinary decoders (OD), who learned to read within 9 months; and late decoders (LD), who failed to reach the criterion after 18 months of reading instruction at Grade 2. Phonological awareness played a significant role only in differentiating PD from ED and OD. However, phonological awareness failed to predict the delayed learning process of LD. LD differed from all other groups in visual analogical reasoning in an analysis not containing phonological awareness measures. Letter knowledge and visual analogical reasoning explained above 90% of the PD-LD difference. Preschool composite (objects, colors, and digits) naming speed measures best predicted reading fluency at the end of Grade 2. The supportive role of orthographic knowledge in phonological awareness, the role of visual analogical reasoning, and the inability of phonological measures to discriminate late decoders are discussed.