This project took place at four Montana middle and high schools in three rural settings located across the state. Study participants included students and teachers located in four middle and high schools. Each of the schools had large percentages of struggling readers, American Indian students, English learners, and low-income students. Comparison…

In this paper, the author asks the question, "Can Boys Succeed Later in Life if They Can't Read as Well as Girls?" He notes troubling statistics that illustrate lower performance of boys compared to girls, including performance on state reading tests, and graduation rates from both high school and college. He says that the good news is that the…

As teacher educators, we continue to focus on tutoring experiences as ways to help tutors connect coursework to practice. This study presents a preservice tutoring program designed to provide a field-based experience where the tutors would be able to (a) learn about literacy instruction, (b) use a multitude of assessment data rather than…

While structural reform has certainly inspired change in Boston's public schools, its true value is best measured by examining the impact those changes have had on students. Seen through the lens of student performance over the past five years there is ample suggestion that these structural changes have been more than just window dressing--they…

Designed to provide an experience as close as possible to the actual assessment, this paper presents the revised model of assessment in reading for the Michigan High School Test (HST). The revisions incorporated into the paper reflect the testing transition from the High School Proficiency Test to the HST. The first part of the paper presents…

A technique for measuring comprehension of lengthy prose is presented. The "textual segmentation" procedure requires subjects to partition text into complete, meaningful units such as paragraphs, chapters, and books. Potential applications of textual segmentation include measurement of reading comprehension, readability, and criteria for…

Indicates that standardized reading tests vary widely in terms of the number of skills measured and in terms of the relative emphasis on each skill in studies done at the high school level. (RB)

Reviews recent research on reading comprehension and textbook content and provides examples of several instructional strategies designed to aid students in understanding textbook passages. (JDH)

This document outlines the test and item specifications for the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for tenth grade reading. The purpose of this test is to measure Washington tenth grade students' level of proficiency in the Essential Academic Learning Requirements in reading. The reading test described in the document contains literary,…

In an effort to evaluate comprehension skills with a "real world" task, students were asked to summarize and respond to an excerpt from a college freshman textbook. The written responses of a group of both high school students (n=100) and college students (n=51) were analyzed through a checklist developed to assess students'…

A study investigated the relationship between attendance and reading ability and the difference in attendance or reading ability attributed to gender or race. The measuring instrument was the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. An interracial group comprised of 33 students, 18 males and 15 females, was placed in a semester-long reading improvement…

This publication contains released test items for grade 10 reading from the 2001 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). It is designed to assist teachers and administrators in the analysis of specific test items in order to identify patterns, trends, weaknesses, and strengths of student performance on the Essential Academic Learning…

With 70 percent of its student body entering school reading below grade level, Blackstone Academy Charter School realized that teachers needed to make literacy a pillar of the school's culture. This 9-12 urban high school administers a reading evaluation developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association each fall and spring to all incoming…

The Reading Skills Committee of the New Jersey Department of Education determined that the Eleventh-Grade High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) reading test should be based on contemporary theories defining reading as a process and that requisite reading skills could best be identified in terms of text and tasks. The purpose of the test is to assess…

The Maryland Functional Reading Test, Level II (MFRT-II) assesses Maryland students' mastery of functional reading skills that are described in the Declared Competencies Index published by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) in 1980. The test is also used to certify students for graduation from high school and to identify those who…