Details the steps followed in the development of the Basic Skills Word List. (FL)

Argues that giving students a reading test that is above or below their levels of achievement will yield inaccurate information. (FL)

Describes the development and testing of an instrument designed to measure two factors--affect and anxiety--associated with reading avoidance. (FL)

Finds the revised Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test an improvement over the original edition. (AEA)

Different indices can be used to measure an individual's pattern of responses on an achievement test as usual or consistent with the norm. The relationships among eight of these indices are investigated for a math and reading test given to approximately 2,100 fourth-grade students. (Author/BW)

Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the reading portions of the California Achievement Tests. (JT)

Suggests five criteria for teachers to keep in mind when choosing passages for the cloze procedure. (MKM)

Reviews five commercially available tests of functional literacy and discusses two concerns related to the testing of functional literacy. (MKM)

Examines the relationship between the Woodcock Word Comprehension Test and several measures of reading achievement and verbal intelligence on 194 children. Pearson product-moment correlations (r) were used to test the relationships. It appeared that the Woodcock Word Comprehension Test assesses reading ability more than general verbal ability.…

Six informal diagnostic procedures are outlined to assist teachers in assessing how well their students may be able to read assigned readings. The procedures are observation, simplified reading inventory, cloze procedure, informal reading inventory, group reading inventory, and criterion-referenced tests. (MKM)

The level of difficulty of reading instruction materials was examined along with the relationship between the material difficulty-student ability level difference scores and classroom adjustment. Students tended not to receive instruction in material at a level of difficulty equal to their tested ability. Classroom behavior improved as the…

This study, using the Visual Pattern Recognition Test for Prereading Skills, found that beginning readers improve in word recognition if they are given training in identifying essential components of letters. (HOD)

Fifty adults (ages 28-86) with macular degeneration were given the Low Vision Reading Comprehension Assessment (LVRCA) to test its reliability and validity in evaluating the reading comprehension of those with vision impairments. The LVRCA was found to take only nine minutes to administer and was a valid and reliable tool. (CR)

Performance of 31 deaf students (ages 7-17) on 15 language and literacy measures found that students scoring highest on a passage-comprehension measure also demonstrated greater proficiency on specific skills (such as reading more listed words). In addition, students who used Signing Exact English (SEE) for 5 years or more scored better than those…