Researchers investigated the effects of a read-aloud modification on students' performance on a reading comprehension test. A total of 338 students in Grades 4 and 5 participated; 76 of these students (22%) received special education services, the majority of whom were labeled learning disabled. Students completed a standardized reading…

Effects of orthographic transparency were examined by comparing children learning to read in Albanian, Welsh, and English. Twenty Year 1 Albanian children were given a reading test consisting of a 100-word stratified sample of decreasing written frequency. They were able to read accurately 80% of the words; reading latency was a direct effect of…

Until recently there has been no nationally acceptable test for assessing reading for the higher grades (Five and Six) of the elementary schools in Greece. As part of an effort to validate such a test, evidence was gathered from teachers' rating scales. Seventy-two teachers from Fifth and Sixth Grades all over Greece evaluated their 1377 students'…

Standardized tests have become commonly used tools for accountability in public education in the United States. In Florida, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is used to measure student achievement on grade-specific standards and benchmarks. Various agencies have developed computer-based and web-based software applications to improve…

Public schools across the United States are educating an increasing number and diversity of immigrant students. Unfortunately, little is known about their performance relative to native-born students and the extent to which the "nativity gap" might be explained by school and demographic characteristics. This article takes a step toward…

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is intended as a reference document for language education including assessment. This article describes a project that investigated whether the CEFR can help test developers construct reading and listening tests based on CEFR levels. If the CEFR scales together with the detailed description of…

This study focused on the feasibility of a group-administered paper-and pencil lexical-decision test as a plausible alternative or supplementary tool for the assessment of reading skills. Lexical-decision tests and oral-reading tests were administered to 130 Dutch students from primary grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. Correlations were moderate to high…

A large cohort of 200 eleven-year-old children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) were assessed on basic reading accuracy and on reading comprehension as well as language tasks. Reading skills were examined descriptively and in relation to early language and literacy factors. Using stepwise regression analyses in which age and nonverbal IQ…

A comparative investigation of word reading efficiency indicates that different strategies may be used by English and Swedish early readers. In a first study, 328 native English speakers from UK Years 3 and 6 completed a pen-and-paper word recognition task (the "Wordchains" test). Results were analysed for frequency and type of errors…

Critics of "No Child Left Behind" judge that it oversimplifies the influence of social context and the place of socially ascribed traits, such as social class, race, and gender, in determining achievement. We hold that this is especially likely to be true with regard to gender-related group effects and gender-implicated interaction…

This study examined the effects of testing accommodations on the mathematics and reading test scores of a sample of 119 fourth graders and 78 eighth graders. The sample included 49 fourth-grade students diagnosed with a disability and 39 eighth-grade students diagnosed with a disability. All students were tested under two conditions (i.e.,…

In the present study, we examined the reading activities of young readers, while reading an expository text. A total of 24 third-graders was administered a think-aloud task on two occasions. Their protocols were analysed by a coding system that captured two levels of the reading process: the word identification level and the reading comprehension…

The aim of this study was to understand whether the reading comprehension process is better explained by a single or by multiple factors. 184 students (9 to 13 years old) were presented with a recently devised battery of tests, that measure ten aspects of reading comprehension. Structural equation modelling showed that a two factors model better…

Background: This study investigates the posited relationship between learning to read, and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviours, during the transition from preschool to primary school. Methods: A total of 196 (104 boys, 92 girls) children participating in the Jyvaskyla Entrance into Primary School (JEPS) study were followed up six…

Children in the researcher's rural school district have limited opportunities for a high quality preschool programming that prepares them for school readiness. Quality preschool programming is defined as teachers with proper qualifications and training, small class size, stimulating curriculum, and parent involvement. The theoretical foundation…