Gina Biancarosa

This project will develop and refine a computer-adaptive version of MOCCA (Multiple-choice Online Cloze Comprehension Assessment), an existing reading comprehension measure for third- through fifth-grade readers. MOCCA helps distinguish between students who make one of two common comprehension errors. Students with weak comprehension skills tend either to paraphrase (rephrase prior information from the text but do not generate missing information) or to make lateral connections (make an elab...

Numerous children struggle with reading comprehension and previous research shows that a subset of these children struggle with higher level reading skills, such as maintaining causal coherence while reading. Causal coherence is created through inferences that require the reader to synthesize why an event occurs based on relevant goals previously identified in the text and to generate missing information from background knowledge. Students who struggle with causal coherence typically fall in...