The Effect of a Read Aloud Accommodation on Test Scores of Students With and Without a Learning Disability in Reading

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a read aloud testing accommodation on students with and without a learning disability in reading. A sample of 260 midwestern middle school students (24% with a learning disability in reading, and 76% without such a disability) were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions for testing with four tests of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. The test conditions were standard administration and reading the tests aloud to the students. Based on a two-way (2 x 2) analysis of variance, with test administration and student status as the two fixed factors, the students with learning disabilities in reading, as well as those without, exhibited statistically significant gains with the read aloud test administration. Interaction effects were not significant. Implications of these results for the read aloud accommodation are presented.