The third in a series of studies to assess the reading achievement of Indiana students, a study compared the reading achievement of sixth and tenth graders in 1944-45, 1976, and 1986. The same edition of the Iowa Silent Reading Test (ISRT) was administered to sixth- and tenth-graders in 1944-45, 1976, and 1986. The 1944-45 sample consisted of 25%…

The purposes of this study were to determine to what extent students' expectancies, as measured by students' predictions, related to test performance; to determine if taking the test would alter or influence students' expectations and the accuracy of their predictions; and to determine if students' expectations could be altered by a report…

A test was made to determine whether high expectancy prediction (the Rosenthal effect) would significantly effect reading achievement and IQ scores for tenth-grade students. Random samples of 112 students each were drawn from the tenth grade of a New Jersey high school representing a wide distribution of socioeconomic levels. The Sequential Tests…

The six levels of understanding used to compare the skills of achieving and nonachieving readers investigated in this study were taken from the cognitive domain of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. It was hypothesized that there is a significant difference, favoring achieving readers, between mean total scores of achieving and…

This pamphlet describes the new Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) Essential Skills Reading Test which was given to every fourth, seventh, and tenth grader in Michigan in 1989. The questions addressed in the pamphlet include: (1) Why is a new MEAP reading test needed? (2) How has the teaching of reading changed? (3) How is the new MEAP…

A study was conducted to determine whether high and low ability comprehenders would benefit from induced lookbacks over naturally occurring text. Subjects were 64 tenth grade students selected on the basis of how their self-perceived proficiency matched their actual reading achievement as measured on a standardized test. The subjects were randomly…

Automaticity training was provided to an experimental group of eight high school sophomores whose reading achievement fell below the seventy-fifth percentile on the New Jersey Minimum Basic Skills Test to determine the effect of such training on reading comprehension. The 16 subjects (experimental and control groups) were pretested using the Gates…

The primary goal of the Wisconsin Reading Task Force is the initiation and implementation of an immediate and ongoing program of statewide assessment of reading performance and reading instruction. The assessment plan looks at students in terms of two questions: How well is the student achieving in reading in comparison with other students in his…

Reports the results of two studies which further examine the relations of motivational-variables contribution to reading achievement and text comprehension. Results revealed that reading amount significantly predicted text comprehension (with other variables controlled) in both studies (Study 1 included third and fifth graders; Study 2 included…

A criterion-referenced assessment of reading literacy conducted in the fall of 1971 in grades 4, 7, 10, and 12 of the Madison Public Schools is described. The study was designed to answer the question: Can Wisconsin students read (gain information from) the written materials they encounter in daily living? The procedures for identifying the…

A study investigated the relationship between sex and reading achievement at the high school level. In addition, it examined the amount of variance in reading achievement accounted for by certain demographic variables, such as type of school, location of school, and socioeconomic status of students. Data for the study came from the High School and…

This study was conducted in order to identify the major reading, cognitive, and linguistic skills that contribute to individual differences in performance on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) at third, seventh, and tenth grades. The authors were also interested in understanding the primary deficiencies in…