In this empirical study we examined the effect of a literacy-infused science intervention on fifth grade economically challenged students' science achievement in the curriculum-based and standardized assessments. A total of 27 treatment students and 20 comparison students from two intermediate schools in a rural district in South Texas in the…

The stability of subskill scores on the Reading Comprehension Test of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills was studied. It was concluded that the subskills are of limited use in diagnosing specific strengths or weaknesses in a student's reading comprehension skill development. (Author/GK)

A study determined the effect of parental involvement on reading achievement of participating students. Subjects were 22 fifth-grade students in a Chicago public school who received parental involvement and 19 students in the same school who did not receive parental involvement. Subjects' scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were used in the…

For many reasons, students do not always perform on tests in ways that are congruent with their true abilities or achievement levels. Problems of this sort may be especially common on Title I evaluations where the tests administered are too difficult for a large percentage of the students. Such considerations raise the questions of whether…

Research on an interpretation technique (IT) for using the Pupil Item Response Record (PIRR) of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) to actively involve students in their test interpretation was presented. The major concern of the study was to determine whether the IT had any impact on attitudes toward or knowledge about the ITBS. Students in…

A study examined the effect of geographic mobility on elementary school students' achievement. Although such mobility, which requires students to make multiple moves among schools, can have a negative impact on academic achievement, the hypothesis for the study was that it was not a determining factor in reading achievement test scores. Subjects…

This study compared the reliability and validity of two different measures of reading ability, the Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Reading test and the ITBS Vocabulary test. The data consisted of scores of 377 grade 5 and grade 6 students on these tests, along with their assigned reading levels in the…

A set of 10 attitudinal items from the 1985 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was administered to 131 fifth graders who had taken the Iowa Test of Basic Skills to determine the relationship between reading achievement and attitudes. Complete, appropriate data were available for 114 students. Teachers' responses to selected NAEP…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program to improve the reading/vocabulary skills of an ability-grouped fifth grade class of "low achievers" (N=15) through the implementation of a literature-based whole language approach. Students were read aloud to from quality children's literature. From these books, spelling and vocabulary…

Teacher testing-related attitudes and practices were explored in the context of court-ordered achievement testing in a school district engaged in desegregation. Responses to a mail survey (the Teacher Assessment Practices Questionnaire) from 79 teachers (grades 3, 4, and 5) across 13 elementary schools in a midwestern urban district suggest that…