Then have students practice using this strategy when they read on their own — especially as they prepare
for reading comprehension tests or work on math story problems.
«The achievement gap is visible by the time children are four years old, as revealed in differential performance on assessments of vocabulary and emergent literacy skills,» Snow says, explaining that these are the skills that predict performance on conventional literacy assessments in first grade, and
on reading comprehension tests later on.
For students in North Carolina in 2010 — 11, it was 79 percent accurate in predicting performance on the state's End of Grade
Reading Comprehension Test in third grade.
Recent assessments of school - based pre-K programs in Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia indicate that they substantially raise children's vocabulary, math, and
reading comprehension test scores at the end of one year.
As a result, our analysis included State C's fourth - grade reading standards, the state - developed
reading comprehension test given in the third grade, and the reading portion of the norm - referenced test given in the fourth grade.
Now consider building knowledge: Individual teacher accountability on a fourth -
grade reading comprehension test, for instance, is unfair because children's comprehension depends on what they've learned every year, in school and out (a reading test is a de facto test of background knowledge); it's also unproductive because it lets the early - grade teachers off the hook if they don't contribute by teaching the knowledge - building subjects.
It took results for eleventh graders on an
established reading comprehension test and assessed their correlation to several measures of their general knowledge, not knowledge specific to the passages on the test as the baseball study had done.
We conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 59 elementary schools, 463 classrooms, and 6,383 second and third graders and examined outcomes on the North Carolina End - of - Grade (EOG)
reading comprehension test administered nine months after the intervention, in the children's third - or fourth - grade year.
On most
major reading comprehension tests, you'll see a question or two related to figuring out the author's tone along with other reading comprehension skills such as finding the main idea, understanding vocabulary in context, determining the author's purpose and making inferences.
In such studies, it is important to recognize that the performance of Science IDEAS students on nationally -
normed reading comprehension tests is, in itself, a significant transfer effect (i.e., students have no prior exposure to test content).
Considering the obvious fact that children who don't read will not make significant gains in reading ability, many felt that digital reading was contributing to a lowering of
reading comprehension test results, due to the availability of other forms of entertainment to be had through the device.
Allowing students to observe real - life examples of making inferences and routinely asking practice questions that require them to make educated guesses using specific examples will help improve their ability to make inferences, which can go a long way to ensuring they pass
standardized reading comprehension tests.
Wexler goes on to explain
why reading comprehension tests are really «knowledge tests in disguise,» why the new Common Core - aligned tests are shining a brighter light on gaps in knowledge, and why we may see continued growth in schools embracing «content - rich» curricula like E.D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge.
Reading Comprehension Tests: Poetry (prepare and practice for standardized tests) ANSWERS: (Page 80) 1.
As Mr. Willingham has argued,
all reading comprehension tests are really «knowledge tests in disguise.»
The latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)--
a reading comprehension test given to fourth graders in 58 countries and regions around the world — showed that U.S. performance is sliding in both absolute and relative terms.
Although State C has not included
its reading comprehension test in an alignment study, we believe that a consideration of its alignment is critical.
The State B reading test is
a reading comprehension test.
The reading comprehension test is a «student - level» test, and although the results are published and distributed throughout the state, the state has not analyzed the test's alignment with the standards.
If all testing companies would clearly explain that
their reading comprehension tests are tests of knowledge, and if they would explain — as the ACT's Chrys Dougherty does — that the only way to prepare for them is to build broad knowledge, then we could begin to create a fair and productive assessment and accountability system.
(For more on
reading comprehension tests, see «What Do Reading Comprehension Tests Mainly Measure?
States that want to go further could specify a grade - by - grade core of topics to be taught in elementary school, and then ensure that the passages on
the reading comprehension tests in grades 3 — 5 were on those topics — and only those topics.
The point of this example is that knowledge of content and of the vocabulary acquired through learning about content are fundamental to successful reading comprehension; without broad knowledge, children's reading comprehension will not improve and their scores on
reading comprehension tests will not budge upwards either.
How many years of systematically teaching «common» knowledge are needed before
a reading comprehension test that is not tied to the curriculum is fair, especially for a student whose opportunities to learn outside of school are minimal?
A few years ago, a researcher at one of the big testing companies told me that when developing
a reading comprehension test, knowledge is a source of bias....
But testing companies» silence about what
their reading comprehension tests actually measure is not.
As schools across the country anxiously await the results of their new Common Core — aligned assessments, there's one thing I wish all policy makers understood:
The reading comprehension tests are valid, reliable, and unfair.
Scores on «common knowledge»
reading comprehension tests would be recognized as useful indicators of where students are in their journey toward broad knowledge — they would not be mistaken for indicators of teaching quality or children's capacity.
Before the end of high school, all students should have broad enough knowledge to perform well on
a reading comprehension test.
On
the reading comprehension test, student scores improved from 48 % correct on the pretest to 55 % on the post-test.
(«I believe the best way to prepare students for
a reading comprehension test,» she writes, «is to teach them how to comprehend what they are reading.»)
The worksheets will help your students prepare for
a reading comprehension test, or even the critical reading section of any standardized test like the SAT, PSAT, GRE and more!