The Delton Silent Reading Test, Forms A and B, was developed as an alternate test for the Schonell Silent Reading Test which is currently used for screening the reading comprehension of special students. The aim of the Delton Silent Reading Test is to achieve greater consistency in mid-year and mid-program assessments for special students who were originally assessed with the Schonell Silent Reading Test. This study reports the development of the Delton Silent Reading Test and the validation process undertaken to determine the equivalence of content, readability levels, comprehension strategies, questioning strategies and student test scores on the Delton and Schonell tests. Results indicate that there is no significant difference between matched test items on the Delton and Schonell Silent Reading Tests for item content, readability levels and reading and questioning strategies. Results from correlations of student test scores indicated that test scores did not differ significantly. (r=.93,p<.000001) Results of correlations of teacher ratings of students' reading ability and student achievement on the Schonell Silent Reading Tests were inconsistent.(r=.76,r=-.09) / Graduation date: 1994

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive validity of formal and informal measuring instruments as related to reading achievement test scores at the end of first grade, in sixth grade, and in ninth grade. Second, relationships between first grade reading achievement test scores and those at sixth and ninth grades were sought. Third, the relationships between two visual motor coordination subtests and between the scores of two mental maturity tests were examined. Finally, the relationship between reading test scores for boys and girls was determined at each of these intervals.The initial population consisted of 195 first grade students in Mount Pleasant Community School System in Yorktown, Indiana. The first data were compiled in the Fall of 1968; a second collection was April, 1969; the third June, 1977, at which time 113 of the initial population of students were still enrolled.Instruments used included: (1) a teacher opinion rating scale of student reading potential (TRSS); (2) a form for documenting dates students began formal reading (DBRF); (3) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Readiness Test (GMRRT); (4) Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT); (5) Good-enough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT), Draw-A-Man subtest; (6) Marianne Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception (MFDTVP); (7) Evanston Early Identification Scale (EELS); (8) Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (GMRT); (9) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), Level 12, Form 5, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension subtests; (10) Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED), Grades 9-12, Form X5, Reading subtest. All of the formal instruments were group-administered to the students by classroom teachers.Variables analyzed included twenty-one scores from the tests and subtests of the above measures. Statistical procedures used to analyze the data were the Pearson product-moment correlations, multiple regression correlations, and the t test. The .05 level was accepted as basis for statistical significance.The variables measured by the readiness test (GMRRT), visual perception test (MFDTVP), intelligence tests (CAT & GH DT), screening test (EELS), and teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities (TRSS) were related to reading abilities after eight months in school. The variables designated as listening comprehension, auditory discrimination, visual discrimination, following directions, word recognition, intelligence (CAT), teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities, and first grade reading achievement tests were related to reading abilities after five years in school. The variables identified as listening comprehension, auditory discrimination, visual-motor coordination, intelligence (CAT), position in space, teachers' opinions of students' potential reading abilities, and first grade reading achievement tests were related to reading abilities bf students after nine years in school.The intelligence test (CAT) had a high correlation with the sixth grade reading achievement test; the correlation with the first grade achievement test was not as high; the correlation was lowest with the ninth grade achievement test.There was a low, but statistically significant relationship between the two visual, motor coordination subtests (GMRRT & MFDTVP), and between the two inte71lectual measures (CAT & GHDT). Girls scored higher than boys on the first grade reading achievement tests, but the differences were not statistically significant after six and nine years in school.Of the formal and informal instruments administered prior to beginning formal reading only three subtests, Letter Recognition, Word Recognition, and Visual Discrimination, of the GMRRT and the Teacher Rating Scale of Students demonstrated predictive validity as to first grade reading ability. Two subtests, Auditory Blending and Listening Comprehension, of the GMRRT, Cognitive Abilities Test, Figure-Ground subtest of the MFDTVP, and the TRSS demonstrated predictive validity as to reading ability after five years in school. Two subtests, Following Directions and Listening Comprehension, of the GMRRT, TRSS, and DBRF demonstrated predictive validity of reading ability after nine years in school.In predicting first grade reading ability the instruments which were most effective were recommended to be included in a screening procedure. Using the conclusions of this study, the screening procedure should include the Letter Recognition, Word Recognition, and Visual Discrimination subtests of the GMRRT, and the Teacher Rating Scale of Students.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1939 M312 / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of written prequestioning on the reading comprehension scores of fifth graders in Orleans County, Vermont. To evaluate the effect of prequestions, the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress - Reading, Form 4A was adapted into two different forms, one with questions and/or incomplete statements before and after the passages of the test and one with only questions and/or incomplete statements at the end of each passage. The questions and/or incomplete statements placed before the passages were the same questions and/or incomplete statements placed at the end of passages on both forms.

The major purpose of this study was to determine which subtests of the Gesell School Readiness Screening Test are the best predictors of reading achievement. The procedure used was a stepwise multiple regression to determine which subtests were the best predictors of achievement for each reading section of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. Seventy-two students from four schools were evaluated for this study. Three testing instruments were administered to these students. They were the Gesell test, the Otis-Lennon test, and the reading subtests of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. The Gesell test consisted of eight subtests: Cubes, Name, Copy Forms, Numbers, Incomplete Man, Interview, Animals, and Interests. The best single predictor subtest was Interview. Four separate regression analyses were computed, one for each of the subtests of the reading section of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. In each case, the Gesell subtest Interview entered the stepwise regression at step one. After the information for Interview was entered into the regression equation, the remaining seven subtest scores added very little to the prediction. In summary, although there was some predictive ability in the Gesell test, the level of predictability was not strong. Post factum interpretation of the low predictability was presented as were recommendations for Volusia County in the use of the Gesell test for placement of students in the kindergarten-first grade transitional class.