Empirical evidence supports the importance of executive function (EF) in reading, but the underlying mechanism through which EF contributes to the reading process is unclear. The present study examined the direct and indirect effects of EF on reading comprehension through the indirect pathway of language and cognitive skills (i.e., syntactic…

The main aim of this study was to investigate the impact of formal teacher competence on pupils' reading achievement. The data comes from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001 in grade 3. Information was obtained from pupils (n = 5271) and teachers (n = 351). The analyses were conducted using 2-level structural equation modeling. Teacher…

Policymakers view parental involvement (PI) as a crucial component of school reform efforts, but evidence of its effect on student achievement is equivocal. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort dataset, we examined the long-term impact on student- and school-level achievement of three types of school-based PI: PI to…

The simple view of reading proposes that reading comprehension is the product of word reading and language comprehension. In this study, we used the simple view framework to examine the early prediction of reading comprehension abilities. Using multiple measures for all constructs, we assessed word reading precursors (i.e., letter knowledge,…

This study examined transactional development of mothers' beliefs (self-efficacy, success attributions of a child's success to maternal effort) and children's academic skills. Six hundred sixty-eight children and their mothers were evaluated twice: at the beginning of the first grade and at the end of the third grade. Mothers' beliefs were…

The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether and, if so, how formal teacher competence relates to the relationship between pupil reading achievement and teachers judgements' of pupils' reading achievement. The data come from the Swedish participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001 in Grade 3.…

Background: This study explored the credibility of Swedish third-grade students' self-assessments of their reading achievement by relating those assessments to two different criteria--teachers' judgments and students' reading test scores. Student gender and socioeconomic status (SES) were introduced to determine to what extent, if any, these…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) on the reading fluency (RF) of students from traditionally underrepresented groups. The study included 86 participants attending 1st through 4th grade within an inner-city charter school located in a high-poverty, urban…

Because random assignment is not possible in observational studies, estimates of treatment effects might be biased due to selection on observable and unobservable variables. To strengthen causal inference in longitudinal observational studies of multiple treatments, we present 4 latent growth models for propensity score matched groups, and…

This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach on student achievement. Schools (n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at…

Background: Cultural capital in families and especially, the educational level of parents, has during the last decades been found to be the most important dimension of socio-economic influence on school performance. How the transmission of cultural capital over generations is concretized is however not yet fully investigated. Aims: The aim is to…

This study reports on an examination of the factor structure underlying reading performance in a sample of urban, dysfluent children. Participants were 140 second and third graders identified as exhibiting reading difficulties stemming from inefficient word and/or nonword reading. Consistent with a more complex view of reading, the results of…

Purpose: In this study, the authors evaluated the contribution made by dialect shifting to reading achievement test scores of African American English (AAE)-speaking students when controlling for the effects of socioeconomic status (SES), general oral language abilities, and writing skills. Method: Participants were 165 typically developing…

Purpose: Some researchers (F. R. Vellutino, F. M. Scanlon, & M. S. Tanzman, 1994) have argued that the different domains comprising language (e.g., phonology, semantics, and grammar) may influence reading development in a differential manner and at different developmental periods. The purpose of this study was to examine proposed causal…