The Technical Adequacy of Coding Procedures for Retell Measures in Elementary School Students with Dyslexia

Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of two common frameworks for scoring retell data (i.e., clause- and idea unit-based methods) among 86 third- through fifth-grade students with dyslexia. At the beginning and end of the school year, students read two grade-level R-CBM probes (one orally and one silently) and engaged in a retell following each passage. Results from the clause- and idea unit-based scoring frameworks were compared to a criterion measure, the GORT-5 Reading Comprehension subtest. Both retell scoring methods demonstrated adequate temporal stability across the school year and were also sensitive to detecting growth in student’s comprehension skills across the year. Clause- and idea unit-based scores were found to correlate strongly with one another and correlated moderately to strongly with the criterion measure. Although differences did not emerge in the correlational results, mean differences did emerge with clause-based scoring resulting in a higher percentage of recall than did idea-units. Overall, results from this study provide support for the validity of retell as a measure of reading comprehension among elementary school students with dyslexia.