A 1971-72 study compared the effects of a Kindergarten Diagnostic Prereading Program with the effects of traditional kindergarten on children's predicted reading levels. A follow-up study of the first grade reading achievement of the children from both kindergarten programs was recently completed. The purpose of the follow-up study was to answer…

Four questions concerning the relationship between results of cloze test scores and individual reading ability are investigated: (1) Is there a relationship between the cloze results and individual reading ability? (2) Should cloze tests be written at mean grade level? (3) Which provides higher correlations--giving credit for exact responses only…

This packet of reading problem exercises is designed to be used by either the tutor or the classroom teacher for the purpose of informally assessing reading proficiency in children. There are two sets of cards in this packet. Each reading skill identified has two items--one appearing in each set of cards. The reading problem-solving exercises have…

This report is the sixth of a series of reports having to do with item studies of the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) regularly administered to students in grades four, six, eight, ten, and twelve enrolled in the public school system in Hawaii. The item study summaries prepared for achievement tests administered at the various…

A digest of findings from a national survey by Louis Harris and Associates of adult reading skills comprises this edition of Adult Reading Development, a publication of the National Reading Center. The study measured the ability of adults to respond to practical real-life situations such as reading direct-dial instructions in a telephone directory…

Evidence has accumulated indicating that high arousal or activation facilitates long-term retention (LTR) but depresses short-term retention (STR) relative to low activation in list learning. The present study extended this research to the learning and retention of text by children. It specifically investigated the effects of questions inserted…

Scales and tests for evaluating children with learning disorders are listed by type of test and by characteristics investigated. Types of tests listed are individual intelligence tests, developmental charts, readiness tests, and language evaluation instruments. Tests are also included for investigating visual motor development and functioning,…

The results of a series of factor analyses of a new test of literal comprehension using a multiple-choice cloze format are summarized. These analyses were conducted in the validation of a test design to measure for the most part a factor of literal comprehension independent of IQ and inferential reading processes, yet marked by certain related…

Language comprehension is an immensely complex process involving the dynamic interaction of diverse sources of knowledge. In order to model this process, tools are needed which allow detailed specification of the process components. In this paper, the essential characteristics of a model of reading comprehension are discussed in the context of the…

Creative reading of fiction is defined in this paper as the unique addition by readers, in their imaginations, to the author's plot, setting, and characterization. The test for the creative reading of fiction, described in this paper, contains three parts (each an incomplete narrative) for determining how creatively readers can complete…

The reading comprehension items for the Nelson Reading Skills Test, a revision of a widely used standardized reading test, were administered to several hundred fourth- and sixth-grade students in order to determine whether the student's ability to answer correctly actually depended on his comprehension of the accompanying passage. All the…

This study investigated test-wiseness in a sample of urban high school seniors. Fifty-four academically talented black and minority students were matched on reading comprehension scores from the California Achievement Tests and were assigned to cells in a seven-group, before/after design. Specially constructed forms of the 1973 Iowa Silent Reading…

Most students seem not to have learned the transformational grammar their teachers said had been taught.

Various American College Test (ACT) score combinations were used to predict students' performance on numerous reading tests at a large number of postsecondary institutions. These studies indicated a high level of predictive accuracy. (Author/CTM)