The purpose of this study was to evaluate seven reading comprehension tests according to the construct of comprehension which they claimed to measure. The 367 items from these tests were classified by two judges according to the following four levels indicated on a reading comprehension taxonomy: recognition and recall, inference, evaluation, and…

By comparing a retarded reader's performance on paired associate and serial learning, results are expected to show the differences in types of learning problems. (Author/DEP)

The first of eight related documents, this booklet is part of a series of papers presented at the 1978 National Right to Read Conference examining issues and problems in literacy. In its examination of standardized reading competency tests, the booklet first offers a definition of the kind of test it will consider and the criteria the test must…

Intended to help educators select diagnostic and criterion referenced reading tests for their specific purposes, this book contains reviews of nine individual and three group tests. The reviewed tests were selected for their "importance" from a list of 34 and were reviewed by experts according to their descriptions of content, test development,…

The results from the Oral Reading Test developed for the Early Childhood Education Program evaluation provided the opportunity to study some of the factors that might influence student's test-taking behavior. The Oral Reading Test requires individual students to demonstrate reading skills by reading aloud sentences typical of various grade level…

A total of 94 ninth and tenth grade students participated in a study to determine which of the following six reading expectancy formulas predict actual reading achievement of secondary school students of average intelligence: the Dechant formula, the Harris I formula, the Science Research Associates'"Tests of General Ability," the Harris II…

This paper provides information on black English to be used by teachers as they score errors and miscues on the oral part of informal reading inventories. The information is presented in order for teachers to understand items spoken in black English that are equivalents to standard English and that when spoken would indicate understanding of the…

Test scores for fall and spring administrations for two consecutive years for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I students in the Tucson Unified School District are presented and compared. The students were given out-of-level tests: the 138 seventh-grade students and 106 eighth-grade students were given Level 2 of the…

This is a report on the results of the Citywide Reading Test administered in June, 1979, in the elementary, intermediate and junior high schools of New York City. The testing instruments used were the California Achievement Tests. Section A of this report presents information on pupil performance for the school system as a whole. Section B…

A guide for administrators' use in determining Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I eligibility of students in their schools is divided into five sections. Section I describes four rules which must be followed in identifying Title I students, and which will be monitored during the year by consultants visiting the school. Section II suggests…

The 1978 New York City Test Report indicates that forty-three percent of those tested in that year in the City's public schools are reading at or above grade level. These results, however, when summarized in this way, are meaningless. The graph prepared for this article traces the reading levels of the school system and its 32 districts for…

Stanford Diagnostic Reading Tests and The Wide Range Achievement Tests were administered to 307 second, fourth, and sixth grade students to study the reading subskills of blacks, Latinos, and Asians/whites. An analysis of variance tested main effects of ethnicity, reading levels (good, average, and poor), and interaction effects. Main effects of…

This guidebook puts testing in proper perspective as one aspect of evaluation and leads the test user through a practical discussion about selecting and developing valid, reliable tests. Its primary purpose is to assist classroom teachers, reading consultants, and school administrators in making decisions about measuring student reading…

Two types of diagnostic reading tests are described--tests of phonics skills and tests of work-study or critical reading ability. The following criteria for evaluating these tests are suggested: (1) an analysis of the methods used in measuring the component skills and the validity of subscores in designating areas for remedial instruction (the…

Rather than abandon reading expectancy formulae because they produce different reading expectancy scores, educators should attempt to improve such formulae in order to make appropriate decisions about students. Potential reading levels derived from the use of various expectancy formulae may be compared after converting the scores to stanines,…