Early Reading Assessment Research Articles

INTEGRATING AI-BASED SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE READING ASSESSMENTS WITHIN MOROCCO’S TaRL PROGRAM

This study examined the integration of artificial intelligence-powered speech recognition technology within early reading assessments in Morocco’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of an automated speech recognition tool compared to traditional paper- based assessments in improving reading skills among 100 Moroccan first to third-graders. The mixed- method approach combined pre-post standardized reading tests with qualitative feedback. Results showed students receiving the AI-enabled speech recognition assessments demonstrated significant gains in reading achievement compared to peers assessed via traditional methods. Qualitative findings revealed benefits of instant feedback and enhanced engagement provided by the speech recognition tool. This study contributes timely empirical evidence on adopting learning technologies, specifically AI-driven automated speech assessment instruments, to enhance foundational literacy development within under-resourced education systems implementing student-centered pedagogical techniques like TaRL. It provides valuable insights and guidance for integrating innovative speech analysis tools within localized teaching and learning frameworks to strengthen early reading instruction and monitoring.

Percentile Norms for an Early Reading Assessment in Malay

The study aimed to develop percentile norms on early reading proficiency among young elementary school children. These percentile norms were derived from a suite of early reading assessments in Malay administered to 866 Primary One (Grade 1 equivalent) school children from multilingual and multi-ethnic backgrounds. During testing, the children (462 males and 404 females) were approximately seven years old. The early reading assessment battery included measures such as letter writing, letter name knowledge, letter name fluency, rapid automatised naming, phonological awareness comprising elision, phonological memory, spelling, word reading accuracy, word reading efficiency, oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary comprising expressive vocabulary and receptive vocabulary, and listening comprehension. These percentile norms are useful for the early identification and intervention of young children with reading difficulties and reading disabilities from multilingual communities whose languages include Malay, a transparent orthography. The implications of using the norms data for the diagnosis and classification of children with reading difficulties are discussed.

An Early Reading Assessment Battery for Multilingual Learners in Malaysia.

The aim of the study was to develop a new comprehensive reading assessment battery for multi-ethnic and multilingual learners in Malaysia. Using this assessment battery, we examined the reliability, validity, and dimensionality of the factors associated with reading difficulties/disabilities in the Malay language, a highly transparent alphabetic orthography. In order to further evaluate the reading assessment battery, we compared results from the assessment battery with those obtained from the Malaysian national screening instrument. In the study, 866 Grade 1 children from multi-ethnic and multilingual backgrounds from 11 government primary schools participated. The reading assessment battery comprised 13 assessments, namely, reading comprehension, spelling, listening comprehension, letter name knowledge, letter name fluency, rapid automatized naming, word reading accuracy, word reading efficiency, oral reading fluency, expressive vocabulary, receptive vocabulary, elision, and phonological memory. High reliability and validity were found for the assessments. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three main constructs: phonological-decoding, sublexical-fluency, and vocabulary-memory. Phonological-decoding was found to be the most reliable construct that distinguished between at-risk and non-at-risk children. Identifying these underlying factors will be useful for detecting children at-risk for developing reading difficulties in the Malay language. In addition, these results highlight the importance of including a range of reading and reading-related measures for the early diagnosis of reading difficulties in this highly transparent orthography.

A within-subject experiment of item format effects on early primary students' language, reading, and numeracy assessment results.

Standardized testing is ubiquitous in educational assessment, but questions have been raised about the extent to which these test scores accurately reflect students' genuine knowledge and skills. To more rigorously investigate this issue, the current study employed a within-subject experimental design to examine item format effects on primary school students' standardized assessment results in literacy, reading comprehension, and numeracy. Eighty-nine Grade 3 students (ages 8-9 years) completed tests that varied only in item format: multiple choice; open-ended; error detection and correction; explain; and, for numeracy questions, low literacy. Analyses contrasted students' performance across these conditions, as well as item response theory-derived item difficulty and ability discrimination estimates. Findings revealed that difficulty increased and accuracy decreased from multiple-choice to open-response to error-correction and explain questions. However, the most difficult item formats tended to yield the greatest discrimination across student ability levels. Despite previous findings to the contrary, low-literacy numeracy questions did not improve student performance or reduce item difficulty. Overall, findings indicated the impact of differing methods of assessment on standardized test performance and highlighted the need for careful consideration of not only the content of assessments but also their approaches to assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Checking the Possibility of an International Comparative Study of Reading Literacy Assessment for Children Starting School

The early years of school, when a child is only learning to read, are critically important for later development and learning. Cross-cultural comparative assessments of reading literacy provide a rich source of data for researchers, practitioners and politicians on the opportunities and prospects of early childhood development in different countries, circumstances and contexts. There are few publications of this sort available, and none of them has involved Russian-speaking children on entry to school so far.Data obtained using two language versions of the International Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (iPIPS) on representative samples of first-graders from the Republic of Tatarstan and Scotland is used to compare the early reading assessment results between children starting school in countries with linguistic, cultural, and school entry age differences.Two studies are conducted to analyze the possible methods of comparing assessment results of children from different countries in the absence of a common measurement scale. The first study uses the rank-ordering method to establish a correspondence between the levels of reading literacy among Russian- and English-speaking children by expert judgment. In the second study, the obtained model of literacy levels is used to establish the cut-off scores (benchmarks) of student assessment outcomes.

Constructing a Russian-Language Version of the International Early Reading Assessment Tool

Successful adaptation of first-graders to school largely determines their subsequent educational attainment. In Russia as well as across the globe, there are few high-quality standardized assessment instruments providing comprehensive vision of what children know and what they can do when they start school. Large-scale evaluation of reading literacy is particularly challenging due to age-specific characteristics and the assessment format. This article outlines a step-by-step procedure of localizing a part of an international instrument iPIPS designed to measure early reading skills at the start of school and the progress made during the first school year, within the framework of Russian educational paradigm. Localization is understood as transformation of an instrument originally developed in another language (English in this case) so that it accounts for the cultural and linguistic characteristics of the target audience. The procedure included development of a Russian-language version of iPIPS and a series of studies to verify its construct validity. The process involved analyzing the linguistic characteristics of the original tasks, finding equivalent linguistic means in the Russian language, and designing Russian-language tasks identical to the original ones in terms of functionality. To verify construct validity of the localized instrument, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the scale, tested its reliability, and studied compliance of the task structure and hierarchy with the theoretical framework. The findings have revealed that large-scale local or regional tests administered using this localized assessment instrument may yield valuable data which can be further used for analysis of the current situation and informed decision-making in educational policy.

Headsprout Early Reading for Specific Literacy Difficulty: A Comparison Study

This study compared the efficacy of the Headsprout© Early Reading (HER) program with SENCO-delivered supplementary literacy instruction. Participants were primary school children (aged 6–9) in receipt of free school meals and supplementary literacy instruction. Data were collected within their school setting. The treatment group received HER intervention, while the treatment as usual (TAU) group received SENCO-delivered intervention, inclusive of guided reading, paper-based phonics training and word recognition tasks. It was hypothesized that children in the HER intervention group would significantly outperform those in the TAU group on measures of word/non-word recognition and sentence reading over a 7-month period. Thirty-two pupils with specific literacy difficulty were randomized to either HER (n = 17) or TAU (n = 15). Literacy skills were assessed using the Phonics and Early Reading Assessment pre- and post-intervention. ANOVA and t test analysis found that HER made significantly greater gains on measures of word/non-word recognition [t(30) = 7.55, p < 0.001], sentence reading [t(30) = 3.33, p < 0.05] and sight words [t(30) = 4.23, p < 0.001] than the TAU group. This study is the first to demonstrate stronger outcomes for children receiving computer-aided instruction over SENCO-delivered literacy instruction in a Northern Irish School.

Instrumentos de avaliação de leitura em fase inicial: habilidades e processos envolvidos

Este estudo se constitui como uma análise e discussão de instrumentos de avaliação de leitura inicial: “Bateria de Recepção e Produção da Linguagem Verbal” (SCLIAR-CABRAL, 2003a) e “Teste de Competência de Leitura de Palavras e Pseudopalavras” (SEABRA-CAPOVILLA, 2010). O principal objetivo é analisar questões relativas a alguns dos múltiplos processos cognitivos (decodificação, reconhecimento de palavras e acesso lexical, processamento sintático e textual, e compreensão) e habilidades básicas de leitura (fluência – ritmo, prosódia, velocidade – e exatidão) nos instrumentos. Concluímos que os instrumentos analisados, ainda que avaliem leitura em fase inicial através de medidas desconectadas (off-line), o fazem com base em diferentes aspectos. Enquanto a Bateria de Recepção e Produção da Linguagem Verbal permite verificar habilidades de percepção de oposição entre grafemas em pares mínimos e em frases, dificuldades no processamento de frases, habilidades de decodificação grafêmico-fonológica e compreensão textual, o Teste de Competência de Leitura de Palavras e Pseudopalavras permite verificar o estágio de desenvolvimento de leitura, a partir da classificação do processamento do sujeito avaliado como logográfico, alfabético ou ortográfico.

Early reading and practice-inspired research

ABSTRACTLarge-scale standardised, early reading assessments abound at the international and national levels, but research into urgent problems facing practitioners remains scarce. Practice-inspired research involves university-researchers in partnership with teacher-researchers undertaking high-quality research to provide relevant and useful knowledge. Case studies of practice-inspired research of students beginning to read in schools within complex, diverse communities provided unexpected findings as well as innovative practices. The first study investigated the connections between oral language and early reading and revealed that contrary to teachers’ expectations, students’ oral language did not map neatly to early reading development. Oral language was, however, important in its own right for learning in school. The second study investigated a large number of struggling readers in a school within a low-income community. This research found an urgent need for flexible, one-to-one, reading interventions for previously overlooked readers who fall into the third quartile within classrooms.

Internal structure and standardized scores of the Spanish adaptation of the EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) for early reading assessment.

The EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) is an assessment tool containing the main predictors of reading learning disabilities based on the National Reading Panel (NRP) (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). This study has two main objectives: First, to analyze the internal structure of the EGRA, and second, to examine the validity and normative data for first and second grade primary school students in a Spanish-Speaking population. This study had a sample of 400 children (196 female and 204 male) attending early grades of Primary School, between 6 and 8 years of age. Our findings indicate that the EGRA has acceptable psychometric properties and an internal structure that is based on the two main factors of &quot;decoding and comprehension&quot; and &quot;oral comprehension&quot;. We believe that the normative data collected from this study may be useful for the early detection of 'at risk' Spanish children having reading disabilities, as well as for planning of early reading education.

Addressing False Positives in Early Reading Assessment Using Intervention Response Data

The current study examined a solution to high false positive reading risk classification rates in early kindergarten by investigating a method of identifying students with possible false positive risk classifications and returning them to general classroom instruction. Researchers assessed kindergarten students ( N = 105) identified as at risk who were participating in a full-year Tier 2 reading intervention program. Students with very strong initial curriculum mastery ( n = 9) were identified as having possible false positive risk classifications and returned to general classroom Tier 1 instruction. Very strong responders who were exited from intervention (i.e., exited strong responders) scored above the risk range across multiple reading measures at the end of the year and performed similarly to a historical comparison cohort who remained in intervention services for the entire year (i.e., treated strong responders). Results suggest that kindergarten students with false positive risk classifications can be identified after a period of intervention services and successfully returned to general classroom instruction.

Physical Activity, Self-Regulation, and Early Academic Achievement in Preschool Children

Research Findings: The present study investigated whether active play during recess was associated with self-regulation and academic achievement in a prekindergarten sample. A total of 51 children in classes containing approximately half Head Start children were assessed on self-regulation, active play, and early academic achievement. Path analyses indicated that higher active play was associated with better self-regulation, which in turn was associated with higher scores on early reading and math assessments. Practice or Policy: Results point to the benefits of active play for promoting self-regulation and offer insight into possible interventions designed to promote self-regulation and academic achievement.

Classroom-up Policy Change: Early Reading and Math Assessments at Work

This article reviews the development of the Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessments (EGRA and EGMA), which are locally tailored, timely assessments designed to directly inform policy and instruction for learning improvement, particularly for countries on the lower end of the income spectrum. The history of the design and implementation of the tools, as well as case studies of their use in Egypt and Kenya, are a useful counterbalance to the experience of the more traditional international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) documented in this special issue – in particular for understanding the needs of countries struggling to transform ‘education for all’ into ‘learning for all’.

Technical Adequacy and Cost Benefit of Four Measures of Early Literacy

Technical adequacy and information/cost return were examined for four early reading measures: the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), STAR Early Literacy (SEL), Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GRADE), and the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI). All four assessments were administered to the same students in each of Grades K through 2 over a 5-week period; the samples included 200 students per grade from 7 states. Both SEL and DIBELS were administered twice to establish their retest reliability in each grade. We focused on the convergent validity of each assessment for measuring five critical components of reading development identified by the U.S. National Research Panel: Phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. DIBELS and TPRI both are asserted to assess all five of these components; GRADE and STAR Early Literacy explicitly measure all except fluency. For all components, correlations among relevant subtests were high and comparable. The pattern of intercorrelations of nonfluency measures with fluency suggests the tests of fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and word reading are measuring the same underlying construct. A separate cost—benefit study was conducted and showed that STAR Early Literacy was the most cost-effective measure among those studied. In terms of amount of time per unit of test administration or teachers’ time, CAT (computerized adaptive testing) in general, and STAR Early Literacy in particular, is an attractive option for early reading assessment.

The Language and Literacy Development of Head Start Children: A Study Using the Family and Child Experiences Survey Database

This article provides information about the Head Start Family and Children Experiences Survey (FACES). It also presents the findings of a study that capitalizes on the strengths of the data from FACES to investigate the impact of child and family characteristics, speech-language impairment, and the home literacy environment on the language and early literacy outcomes of children from low-income families. Data from the FACES 1997 cohort were used in this study. Variables included in the analysis were child and family characteristics (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, etc.); parent report of speech-language impairment; frequency of home literacy activities; and children's scores on vocabulary, letter-word identification, and early reading assessments. The results revealed that children's vocabulary abilities in Head Start were affected by maternal education, ethnicity, and the frequency of home literacy activities, and children's letter-word identification abilities were impacted by maternal education and the child's gender and age. Additionally, children's reading abilities in kindergarten were predicted by ethnicity, speech-language impairment, and the home literacy environment, as well as by children's vocabulary and letter-word identification abilities in Head Start. The findings demonstrate the unique contributions that the home literacy environment and the presence of speech-language impairment during preschool make in children's early reading outcomes.

The Timing of Early Reading Assessment in Kindergarten

Under the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind legislation, screening for reading risk has become routine in kindergarten. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of the timing of kindergarten assessment and the type of support provided to teachers to translate assessment results to instruction. Sixty-two schools with 201 kindergarten classrooms and 3,635 students in a southwestern state were randomly assigned to administer kindergarten assessment in the fall or in the winter, with teachers receiving onsite or web mentoring. A small, significant effect ( d = 0.13) was found for outcomes on a standardized reading test administered at the end of kindergarten when teachers administered the screen in the fall and received web rather than onsite mentoring. A slight, nonsignificant, reduction in reading risk (i.e., reduction in false positives) was apparent. Given these small effects, there is little empirical support for initiating screening in the fall rather than in the winter of kindergarten.

Reading First kindergarten classroom instruction and students' growth in phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency

This study investigated the role of the amount, content, and implementation of reading instruction provided by 17 kindergarten teachers in eight Reading First elementary schools as it related to students' progress ( n = 286 students) on early reading assessments of phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency. Children's phonological awareness and letter naming–decoding fluency grew significantly from fall to spring. On average, across the three 60 min observations, teachers provided over 30 min a day of phonological awareness and phonics instruction and 15 min a day of vocabulary and comprehension instruction. Global ratings of instructional quality revealed two implementation factors: explicit and individualized implementation and meaningful interactions around text. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the amounts of specific instructional content, as well as how this instruction was implemented, was related to students' letter knowledge and phonological awareness skill growth.

Contextual effects on predicting risk for reading difficulties in first and second grade

This study utilized early reading assessment data from a randomized trial of 210 urban and rural schools in Texas to examine contextual effects on risk prediction in first and second grade. The primary objective was to examine the roles of (a) individual differences, (b) the grade 1 classroom, and (c) the pairing of first and second grade teachers in determining grade 2 outcomes in word reading and fluency. A second objective was to investigate whether the administration format of the assessment (paper, paper plus desktop, handheld plus desktop) or the level of teacher support (web mentoring, no mentoring) moderated the prediction. These moderator variables proved not to be significant. Subsequent analyses found that a combination of student pretest and mean of pretest classroom was a better predictor than student pretest alone. Additionally, the effect of student scores varied by teacher-pair. On average, intraclass correlations (ICCs) ranged from 6% to 17%. Differences in ICCs at the classroom level were much greater than at the school level, and differences in urban schools were twice that of rural schools.

Book Review: Early Reading Assessment: A Practitioner’s Handbook

Book Review: Early Reading Assessment: A Practitioner’s Handbook

Screening for Secondary Intervention

The article by Speece (in this issue) underscores the disappointing accuracy results of early screening for reading difficulties and argues that development conceptualized as rate of learning matters. We respond by emphasizing three points. First, the purpose of early screening could be identifying students not at risk so that instructional objectives can be established for students potentially at risk. Second, monitoring progress in mastering the alphabetic principle is reflected in item-based learning. Third, response to instruction is multilevel and contextualized. These points are illustrated with data from an early reading assessment used widely in Texas and from high-performing/high-poverty schools in Texas that serve as models of multitiered instruction.