Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

Early comprehension is an important, but not well-understood, contribution to early literacy and language development. Specifically, research regarding the nature of skills representative of early comprehension, including how they contribute to later reading success, is needed to support best practices to adequately prepare students. This article…

It is essential for learners to develop foundational literacy skills, ideally, in the first grade of formal education. These skills are then firmly entrenched and can be expanded in the following grades to form a basis for all future academic studies. Appropriate assessment practices and tools to aid this process can inform the achievement of…

This study examined the validity of Nonsense Word Fluency as an index of beginning reading proficiency for students in kindergarten through second grade. Validity evidence for Nonsense Word Fluency is addressed in the context of research-based instructional practices implemented on a large scale. Technical adequacy data are presented for all…

With the exception of transfer-type experimental designs, none of the statistical methods proved satisfactory for isolating reading subskills. (RB)

Explains the creation and validation of the Narrative Comprehension of Picture Books task (NC task), an assessment of young children's comprehension of wordless picture books. Creates and tests assessment materials and procedures that can be used with young children, whether or not they can decode print. Discusses how narrative comprehension is…

This paper investigates the validity of two current approaches for estimating text difficulty at the first-grade level--the Scale for Text Accessibility and Support-Grade 1 (STAS-1) and the Fountas/ Pinnell system--and analyzed student performance in relation to each. Subjects, 105 first graders in two schools, used "little books"--easy to read…

This report describes the development and testing of a computerized early literacy diagnostic assessment for students in prekindergarten to grade 3 that can measure skills across a variety of preliteracy and reading domains. The STAR Early Literacy assessment was developed by a team of more than 50 people, including literacy experts,…

This study describes and tests the aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) approach to reading. The rationale which forms the basis of ATI--pairing student to method--evolved from the works of Piaget and other psychologists whose studies focus on the general, and cognitive, development of children. From these studies, it was determined that…