This examination of the reading processes of 36 fifth graders focused on the reader's attempts to gain meaning from three content passages using syntactic and semantic cue systems. The reading strategies of high, average, and low ability readers appeared not to vary with content. Prior knowledge and interest influenced comprehension. (Author/BS)

In September 2001, New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP) was awarded a grant by the New York Institute for Special Education to evaluate the Cornerstone K-3 national literacy initiative. This report examines the implementation of The Cornerstone Initiative in 18 schools from nine school districts, representing the…

This report outlines the results of a two year implementation of the Nebraska's Reading First initiative. Over three thousand six hundred students from Kindergarten to Third grade were included in the project. Results indicated significant growth across all demographic groups. Student performance in the earlier grades has shown great promise for…

Kentucky's goal of reaching academic "proficiency" by 2014 illuminated problematic findings in 2002 reading test scores: 44.30% of middle and 71.25% of high school students scored below "proficient." The research question was, "Do teaching practices in schools with high reading achievement scores differ from teaching…

The main purpose of this study was to illustrate a polytomous IRT-based linking procedure that adjusts for rater variations. Test scores from two administrations of a statewide reading assessment were used. An anchor set of Year 1 students' constructed responses were rescored by Year 2 raters. To adjust for year-to-year rater variation in IRT…

This paper examines three inter-related issues: whether past levels of resources, context and opportunity structures carry long-term consequences for subsequent child attainments and behaviours; whether shocks, or transition events, alter the path of these outcomes in a positive or negative fashion; and what role can be played by policy…

The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) brought new challenges and opportunities for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Like many states, Pennsylvania was faced with adding assessments in grades 4, 6 and 7 in reading and mathematics. However, unlike most states, Pennsylvania did not respond to NCLB by simply adding…

This paper is the fourth in a series prepared for the National Academy of Education on the evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Trial State Assessment (TSA) and the impact of reporting TSA results. This paper provides a perspective on the last of the TSAs, an assessment of fourth-grade reading that was carried out in 44…

The psychometric research done by G. Rasch between 1951 and 1959, which is explained and illustrated in this book, takes psychometrics from being purely descriptive to being a science of objective measurement. Individual centered statistics require models in which each individual is characterized separately and from which, given adequate data,…

Approaches to the assessment of literacy skills in bilingual learners, particularly learners of English as a Second Language, are discussed. Literature is reviewed and an assessment technique that attempts to identify both strengths and needs of bilingual learners is outlined. It is argued that current assessment of bilingual readers is based…

Beginning in 1999, all of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) had to be aligned with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. This handbook describes the PSSA reading assessment. It contains samples and instructions for developing assessment items for grades 5, 8, and 11. Although designed for teachers, the Handbook is meant to be a…

Following the style of the 1958 original, this third edition of the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability is both a standardized attainment test and a diagnostic test for readers of all ages and thus can be used to assess reading progress objectively as well as to obtain structured diagnostic observations of an individual's reading behavior. It…

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different modes (modalities) of assigning raters to test items. The impact on total constructed response (c.r.) score, and subsequently on total test score, of assigning a single versus multiple raters to an examination reading of a student's set of c.r. responses was evaluated for several mixed-item…

This paper is the first of a series that will compare estimates of error that arises when state assessments are linked to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Different forms of linkage are discussed. Comparisons are made between whole-sample regression, repeated half-sample replication, bootstrap, and jackknife estimates of the…

This paper examines the efficacy of content-general reading tests used to place students into development courses. It argues that the discipline-generic model of comprehension supporting content-general reading tests is challenged by conclusions emerging from studies of schema theory, construction-integration theory, domain-knowledge theory, and…