Six tests of abilities and attitudes related to early reading achievement were administered to first graders in a rural setting. Scores from the Metropolitan Achievement Test were used as criterion measure of the predictive powers of the tests. Test effectiveness and value are discussed. (Author/DF)

Presents results from a case study of a bilingual reader who read both easy and hard texts in her first and second language. Rational cloze and introspection tasks were used to examine quantitative and qualitative differences in comprehension in the two languages. Discusses implications of the test for diagnostic testing. (SED)

Reports an overall positive response to the tests reviewed, with caveats regarding test reliability and validity. (AEA)

This empirical study used data from the Reading: Basic Understanding section of the New Standards English Language Arts Examination. Data were collected for 3,200 high school students randomly selected from those who took the examination. The resulting sample had 16 raters who scored 200 students each, with each student rated by only 1 rater. The…

This document presents a sample test form for high school reading and comprehension proficiency. The first section of the exam consists of 27 questions taken from 7 selections, which included 4 literature and poetry selections and the following nonfiction titles: Procedures for Answering a Call, Just the Facts, Garlic, and Pot Roast with…

Prior research has shown that test takers use a variety of strategies when taking passage-based reading comprehension tests. The specific effects that these alternative strategies have on actual examinee test performance are largely unknown. Evidence suggesting that performance differences exist across testing conditions would imply that the…

This document contains samples and explanations from Colorado's state reading and writing comprehension test for Grade 4, hereby released to the public (parents, teachers, and any other interested parties). It presents one reading comprehension item, the scoring guide for that item, and 6 different student responses, with the scores they received.…

Kansas schools implementing the Success for All reading program once again made significant gains on the Kansas Reading Assessment. From 2001 to 2004, fifth graders in Success for All schools gained 19.9 percentage points in students scoring proficient or better on KRA. Other Kansas schools gained 7.8 percentage points.

Suggests that informal word analysis inventories be used to determine a pupil's skill mastery level and, because of the flexibility of informal tests, that they are perhaps superior to standardized measures. (TO)

Discusses the basic precepts of the Reading Miscue Inventory as an evaluation of oral reading. (TO)

This study demonstrated that previously nonproductive students could be maintained in academic tasks for 65, 30 to 50 minute sessions with the aid of extrinsic reinforcement that averaged only $.07 daily per student. (Author)

Summarizes an intensive survey of current research undertaken in an attempt to identify cognitive factors related to discrepant achievement of economically deprived black and white rural first graders--i.e. students whose achievement was at a level unpredicted by diagnostic testing. (JM)

Suggests reading comprehension exercises, especially on lower reading levels, fail to test the pupil's understanding of the material read. (MM)