Each district that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment in reading receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for San Diego Unified School District's student achievement in reading. In 2009,…

This paper provides information about Alabama High School Graduation Exam, 3rd Edition, a comprehensive standards-based exam. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state curriculum; (3) Increase alignment of local curriculum…

"Accelerated Reader"[TM] is a guided reading intervention used to supplement regular reading instruction in K-12 classrooms. Its aim is to improve students' reading skills through reading practice and quizzes on the books students read. The "Accelerated Reader"[TM] program calls for students to select and read a book and then…

The Alabama Reading Initiative is the brain child of state policy makers and academic leaders designed to increase student achievement on standardized reading assessments, and to change instructional practices in schools so that achievement is consistent and sustained. This quantitative population study was conducted in two rural school systems to…

One question about polytomous items (which yield responses that can be scored as ordered categories) concerns how much information such items yield? Using the generalized partial credit item response theory (IRT) model, polytomous items from the 1991 field test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Assessment were calibrated…

Some fundamental concepts of criterion referenced test (CRT) reliability are highlighted. Emphasis is given to the procedures for determining reliability of scores for individual pupils because this is an area requiring increased awareness by classroom teachers and practitioners. Reliability issues encountered in the evaluation of instructional…

TWO LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF THE EFFECTS OF EARLY READING ON LATER ACHIEVEMENT ARE REPORTED. EARLY READERS ARE CHILDREN WHOSE READING WAS THE PRODUCT OF NONSCHOOLING, WHO IDENTIFIED 18 OUT OF 37 WORDS ON AN ORAL TEST, AND WHO COULD ACHIEVE A RAW SCORE ON THE GATES PRIMARY READING TESTS. THE 1958 STUDY TESTED 49 EARLY READERS OVER A 6-YEAR PERIOD…

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of in-class componential analogy training on 4th, 8th, and 10th graders' performance of verbal analogies. (MT)

Four standardized tests that include paragraph reading subtests to measure reading comprehension are examined: (1) Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener, (2) Durell Analysis of Reading Difficulty, (3) Test of Reading Comprehension, and (4) Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests. (CL)

Analysis of comparisons of subtest scores of 76 students (grades two - six) on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests revealed that, although correlations for the total group were highly significant in both comparisons, a grade level analysis demonstrated wide variability in results. (CL)

Examines the concept of reading comprehension through a review of ways particular authorities have conceptualized it in models of the process and form of testing and assessing. Considers insights from this examination in the light of the business of teaching reading. (NRJ)

Occasionally, differences in test scores seem to indicate that a student performs much better in one reading area than in another when, in reality, the differences may not be statistically significant. The author presents a table in which statistically significant differences between Woodcock test standard scores are identified. (Author)

A study of the reading achievement of sixth-grade students in the Tampa Bay area of Florida shows average and above average students doing better on 1978 standardized reading tests than on tests from the 1950s, while below average students do better on the earlier tests. (PGD)