The relationship of reading performance to difficulty level of material was the focus of this study. Participants in the study were 83 fourth graders from four urban schools. Each student was administered passages at different levels of challenge (independent, instructional, frustration) based on word identification accuracy. Passages were scored…

THE TEST WAS DESIGNED TO ASSESS SPEED OF READING COMPREHENSION. IT CONSISTED OF NUMBERED PASSAGES, ONE TO THREE SENTENCES IN LENGTH, ARRANGED IN PARAGRAPH FORM TO SIMULATE THE NORMAL READING EXERCISE. TOWARD THE END OF EACH PASSAGE, A WORD WAS INSERTED WHICH SPOILED THE MEANING OF THE PASSAGE. THE PUPILS WERE INSTRUCTED TO FIND THE WORD THAT…

The Fairview Reading Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA), which was used in a cross categorical elementary school resource program at Fairview Elementary School in Darien, Illinois, is described. The test measures oral reading accuracy, rate and comprehension on passages taken directly from the two basal reading series used in the school. As the…

Responds to previous article on validating curriculum-based measurement (Derr-Minneci and Shapiro, this issue). Contends that research reported by Derr-Mennici and Shapiro neither validated curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in reading from behavioral perspective, nor investigated accuracy of CBM. Organizes comments around three points of emphasis…

Responds to previous article on validating curriculum-based measurement (Derr-Minneci and Shapiro, this issue). Contends that, in examining variation in oral reading rate across their three settings, Derr-Mennici and Shapiro's assessment procedures were of unknown accuracy, and that these procedures themselves varied among settings, making it…

Investigates factors measured by several tests of reading comprehension. Four different factor analyses consistently resulted in Efficiency Level factor when there was one factor; when there were two factors, one was interpreted as Accuracy Level and the other as Rate Level factor. Finds that the most important factor involved is Efficiency Level,…

Reports research results suggesting that teachers need to assess several facets of reading comprehension, such as vocabulary, comprehension of passages, and speed of reading, in order to obtain an adequate picture of students' reading skills. (AEA)

Examined effects of who administers behavioral assessment (teacher versus school psychologist), physical location of assessment (reading group versus teacher's desk versus office), and whether performance is timed or untimed for oral reading rates of 100 third and fourth graders. Results showed significant effects for reading level, tester,…

To determine the effectiveness of one method of rate training in grades two, four, six, and eight, four classes of pupils in each of the four grades studied were assigned randomly to experimental or control treatments: two classes were given 20 lessons each of rate training, one control class was given instruction emphasizing comprehension, and…

The relationships of two cognitive styles to reading speed and comprehension were investigated by administering a measure of ability to disregard irrelevent stimuli (closure flexibility) and a measure of ability to move fluently from one stimulus to another (fluency) to 94 fifth-grade children. (CM)

In 1981, the reading achievement of a representative sample of Queensland (Australia) Year 5 students was assessed by using a test that measured skills in the areas of vocabulary, comprehension, and speed of reading. The aim of this testing was to compare reading achievement in 1981 with reading achievement in 1971 and 1976. Comparisons of…

Two related studies were conducted to determine whether students read all-capital text and mixed text displayed on a computer screen with the same speed and accuracy. Seventy-seven college students read M. A. Tinker's "Basic Reading Rate Test" displayed on a PLATO computer screen. One treatment consisted of paragraphs in all-capital type…

SEVERAL DEVELOPMENTAL HYPOTHESES DRAWN FROM THE SUBSTRATA-FACTOR THEORY OF READING WERE TESTED AT THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL. TO ELABORATE ON THEORETICAL ASSERTIONS THAT READING ABILITY IS AN AUDIOVISUAL PROCESSING SKILL OF SYMBOLIC REASONING, THE SUBSTRATA FACTORS ACCOMPANYING DEVELOPMENT OF SPEED AND POWER OF READING WERE DEPICTED IN…