Group differences in test scores are a key metric in education policy. Response time offers novel opportunities for understanding these differences, especially in low-stakes settings. Here, we describe how observed group differences in test accuracy can be attributed to group differences in latent response speed or group differences in latent…

Purpose: The overarching aim of this journal-ready dissertation was to investigate the degree to which differences existed in performance on the STAAR English I End-of-Course exam by student economic status, race/ethnicity, and language status. The objective of the first article was to ascertain the extent to which the economic status of boys and…

We study how to automatically generate cloze questions from given texts to assess reading comprehension, where a cloze question consists of a stem with a blank space holder for the answer key, and three distractors for generating confusions. We present a generative method called CQG (Cloze Question Generator) for constructing cloze questions from…

The purpose of this correlational study is to determine the nature of the relationship between school and demographic factors and student achievement using data from the individual schools reported by a school district in Northern Texas. Answers to the following questions were sought: Do the teacher demographic factors (years of experience,…

Curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBM-R) is a commonly used tool for universal screening and progress monitoring in K-12 education and is one that can add value to decision-making. However, the social validity of this measure among teachers is often questioned. Reasons some teachers have traditionally opposed the use of CBM-R have included…

This brief focuses on the 2023-2024 school-year implementation of "My Reading Academy" by the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County (ELC PBC) that led its deployment in voluntary pre-K (VPK) classrooms across the School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) and independently operated for-profit and nonprofit centers, including…

Facility with learning from multiple text documents is critical for college and career readiness. However, children with reading difficulties and disabilities have been largely excluded from research on multiple document comprehension. Accordingly, little is known about how children with reading difficulties and disabilities perform on…

This study explored students' prosocial efficacy and reading outcomes in a culturally relevant summer reading program for underrepresented students. From a positive developmental approach, the reading program focuses on topics rooted in multicultural education, with books organized according to themes such as making a difference for oneself, one's…

Practitioners are encouraged to apply theories of reading development to psychoeducational test interpretation. Orthographic mapping provides an explanation of the acquisition of sight words. Although many test batteries provide tasks for practitioners to assess reading components associated with orthographic mapping, the relationship among…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of iCoaching during reading intervention. An interventionist received mentoring support to implement iCoaching. The goal of the study was to increase teacher-delivered, behavior-specific praise (BSP). Design/methodology/approach: Using a single-case multiple-probe design…

Purpose: We hypothesize that alphabet learning during early childhood matters for reading and spelling in alphabetic languages. In this preregistered study, we conceptually replicated and extended work on children's alphabet learning trajectories and associations with Grade 1 outcomes. Method: Preschool-aged English-speaking U.S. children (n =…

State laws that mandate in-grade retention for struggling readers are widespread in the U.S., covering 34% of public-school third graders in 2023-24. This study investigates the impacts of Michigan's third-grade reading law on subsequent test scores and school progress outcomes for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 third-grade cohorts. Using a regression…

Purpose: College placement assessments often overlook multilingual learners' full linguistic abilities and literacy engagement, as standardized tests primarily assess English proficiency rather than how students interact with academic texts. Directed Self-Placement (DSP) offers an alternative approach through self-assessment, with some models…

Background: Differentiating typical language development (TD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) in a bilingual context is difficult. The societal language is often the only mutual language of the child and the SLT. It has been shown that when assessing second language (L2) performance using tools developed for monolingual children,…

Intelligence is a key factor underlying individual differences in learning. This study aimed to determine whether students with strong linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences learned better or more quickly than those with weak linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. Forty-nine senior high school students were taught reading…