Project Activities
In this study, researchers will combine pre-existing datasets from three grants from the Reading for Understanding Initiative (Understanding Malleable Cognitive Processes and Integrated Comprehension Interventions for Grades 7–12; Examining Effective Intervention Targets, Longitudinal Intensity, and Scaling Factors for Pre-K to 5th Grade Student Comprehension; The Language Bases of Reading Comprehension). Researchers will use these data to build a model of how the interactions between reader, text, and activity develop over time from 1st through 12th grade. They will also examine how these interactions are related to how students perform on different kinds of reading tests.
Structured Abstract
Setting
Data that will be used in this study were collected in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Sample
Data from approximately 14,050 students in 1st through 12th grade will be used in this study.
In this exploratory study, the researchers are examining the effects of interactions between reader and text from 1st through 12th grade. Researchers will explore how these interactions affect performance on researcher-developed and standardized assessments, and how researcher-developed and standardized assessments compare in their sensitivity to these interactions. Additionally, because it is often the case that interventions aimed at improving reading comprehension outcomes show effects on researcher-developed assessments but not standardized assessments, the researchers will examine the extent to which interactions between reader, text, and activity help to explain the moderating effect of test type on the association between reading interventions and reading outcomes.
Research design and methods
In 2010, the Institute funded a number of teams under the Reading for Understanding Initiative. Each team was tasked with conducting basic/exploratory research on reading comprehension, developing interventions to improve reading comprehension, and testing those interventions for efficacy. Data from three of the teams will be used in the current study. These three teams each administered a number of standardized reading tests, including tests of reading comprehension, word reading, and reading fluency. The teams also administered tests of background knowledge, vocabulary, and working memory, though common measures were not administered in all three of the projects, and many of the measures were researcher-developed. In the present study, the researchers will begin by combining data sets from the three Reading for Understanding teams identified above.
Control condition
Due to the nature of the research design, there is no control condition.
Key measures
The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests–Reading Comprehension (GMRT-RC) will be used as the main standardized reading comprehension measure. This measure was administered to all students by the three Reading for Understanding teams whose data is being used in this study. Reading comprehension will also be measured using one researcher-designed reading comprehension measure from each of the three teams (The Assessment of Social Studies Knowledge-Reading Comprehension; Reading Comprehension Measure; LIM-CALI). Other measures include standardized and researcher-developed measures of background knowledge (Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests–Background Knowledge; The Assessment of Social Studies Knowledge–Background Knowledge), vocabulary (Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests–Vocabulary; Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fourth Edition–Word Classes), word reading (Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement–Letter Word Identification), reading fluency (Test of Word Reading Efficiency [TOWRE], and working memory (Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities–Numbers Reversed; Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing [CTOPP]–Memory for Digits Reversed).
Data analytic strategy
Researchers will use exploratory Item Response Theory (EIRT) models to investigate characteristics of reader-text interactions with the ultimate goal of creating a developmental model for students in 1st through 12th grade. Models will include both the GMRT-RC and researcher-developed measures, and will include interactions between grade, reader characteristics, and text characteristics. Discriminant analysis will be used to examine whether specific dimensions of comprehension are or are not common across assessments. Sensitivity analyses will be conducted to examine whether results hold depending on the software being used.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Products include evidence of the interactions between reader, text, and activity for students in grades 1 through 12. Peer reviewed publications will also be produced.
Publications:
Francis, D. J., Kulesz, P. A., Khalaf, S., Walczak, M., & Vaughn, S. R. (2022). Is the treatment weak or the test insensitive: Interrogating item difficulties to elucidate the nature of reading intervention effects. Learning and individual differences, 97, 102167.
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Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
