This study examines the washback effects of a national test in Swedish at upper secondary schools. The test consists of three parts--reading, writing and speaking--and this study specifically focuses on the washback effects in relation to Stephen Ball's theory of policy enactment. The study draws on qualitative data from a total of 21 interviews…

Classroom-level influences on literacy skills in kindergarten through Grade 2, and on literacy and numeracy skills in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9, were examined by comparing the similarity of twins who shared or did not share classrooms with each other. We analyzed two samples using structural equation modeling adapted for twin data. The first, Study 1,…

Data collection procedures using adapted Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA) and Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) were developed for deaf and hard of hearing students. Results from statistical analyses through linear regression indicated that reading fluency scores using CBA and CBM materials adapted for deaf and hard of hearing students…

Sufficiently developed skills in L1 are considered a precondition for success in the achievement of bilingualism. Moreover, it is reported that language learners whose native language skills are better mastered obtain superior second language proficiency and exhibit higher levels of language competence and accomplishment in L2. This chapter aims…

Text-to-speech (TTS) refers to technology that reads aloud digital text (Understood, 2019). For years, TTS and its human counterpart--read aloud--have generated controversy about when and for whom these supports should be allowed on state assessments (Thurlow, Christensen, & Rogers, n.d.; Thurlow & Weiner, n.d.; Thurlow, Laitusis, Dillon,…

Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia (REL AP) supported Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff with training, coaching, and technical support to execute quantitative analyses aimed at two research questions: (1) which schools performed better, worse, or about the same as predicted with respect to grade 3 students' mathematics…

How willing to participate in supplemental reading intervention programs are young dual language learners (DLLs)? Here we employ a qualitative case study design to consider two kindergarten and one first-grade DLLs' motivation for doing reading tasks within a school-based, pull-out, English-only, reading intervention. Focal children's…

Based upon the ecological perspective and the social cognitive theory, this study examined the role of reading self-efficacy in the associations of contextual factors with reading achievement by establishing an educational ecology of reading. The model included student factors, student/home factors, student/school factors, and school factors of…

Large-scale standardized ESL tests such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are widely used around the world to measure the language proficiency of test-takers and make different decisions based on their scores. Reading comprehension is an integral part of such tests which requires test-takers to read passages and answer a…

Linking score scales across different tests is considered speculative and fraught, even at the aggregate level. We introduce and illustrate validation methods for aggregate linkages, using the challenge of linking U.S. school district average test scores across states as a motivating example. We show that aggregate linkages can be validated both…

Purpose: The value of shared reading as an opportunity for learning word meanings, or semantics, is well established; it is less clear whether children learn about the orthography, or word spellings, in this context. We tested whether children can learn the spellings and meanings of new words at the same time during a tightly controlled shared…

Background: Late secondary-level students (those in their final 2 years of secondary school) preparing for the demands of university and careers increasingly face texts written in academic language. Unfortunately, few intervention studies show how instruction can improve their reading achievement. Methods: The 152 student participants (16-17 years…

This publication highlights the key concepts and findings of the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study. Oral reading fluency is defined as the ability to read text aloud with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. The NAEP ORF study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over…

Nationwide, over half a million children live in households that report very low food security among children, meaning a child is not eating enough, going hungry, skipping a meal, or not eating for a full day because the household can't afford food. School meals fill an important gap in meeting household food demand during the week but cannot meet…

District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to test the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new curriculum, called Word Knowledge Instruction (WKI), consists of 15-minute lessons taught 4 days a week for 20 weeks. The…