The Validity of Two Tests of Silent Reading Fluency: A Meta-Analytic Review

Figures & data

Table 1. Tests, subtests, and administration type.

Comprehension		Decoding/encoding
GRADE reading comprehension	I	WJ-III Word Attack	I
WRMT-R Passage Comprehension	I	TOWRE Decoding	I
GORT-5 Comprehension	I	WIAT-III Pseudoword Decoding	I
WIAT-II Reading Comprehension	I	WJ-III Spelling	I
TOSREC Reading Comprehension	G	WIAT-III Spelling	I
Fluency		KTEA-II Spelling	I
DIBELS ORF	I	KTEA-II Nonsense Word Decoding	I
GORT-5 Rate	I	KTEA-II Decoding Composite	I
GORT-5 Accuracy	I	KTEA-II Decoding Fluency	I
GORT-5 Oral Reading Index	I	WRAT-3 Spelling	I
TOSCRF Fluency	G	CTBS Spelling	I
WJ-III Writing Sentence Composition	I	Composite scores
KTEA-II Reading Fluency	I	ERA Reading Index	I
WJ III Reading Fluency	I	TOWRE	I
Vocabulary		GMRT	I
WIAT-III Picture Vocabulary	I	GORT-5	I
WIAT-III Rapid Picture Naming	I	KTEA-II	I
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4	I	NDRT General reading ability	G
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4	I	TERA-4 General reading index	I
Word and letter identification		KBIT nonverbal	I
KTEA-II Letter and Word Recognition	I	Test of Orthographic Competence	I
Rapid Automatic Naming	I	KTEA-III Reading	I
WJ-III Letter Word Identification	I	WIST Fundamental Literacy Index	I
TOWRE Sight Word Efficacy	I	TWS-5 Standard Score Form A	G
WIAT-III Word Reading	I	WRAT-3 Reading	I
WJ-III Word Identification	I	CTBS Reading	I
TOWRE Word Reading Efficiency	I	WJ III Broad Reading	I
WIAT-2 Word Reading Accuracy WIAT-2 Nonword Reading Accuracy	I I
KTEA-II Word Recognition Fluency	I

Note. CTBS = Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills; DIBELS = Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills; ERA = Early Reading Assessment; G = group administered; GORT = Gray Oral Reading Fluency; GRADE = Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation; I = individually administered; KBIT = Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test; KTEA = Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement; NDRT = Nelson-Denny Reading Test; RAN = Rapid Automatic Naming; SAT = Stanford Achievement Test; TERA = Test of Early Reading Ability; TOAL = Test of Adolescent and Adult Language; TOC = Test of Orthographic Competence; TOSCRF = Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency; TOSREC = Test of Silent Reading Efficacy and Comprehension; TOSWRF = Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency; TWS = Test of Written Spelling; WIAT = Wechsler Individual Achievement Test; WIST = Word Identification and Spelling Test; WJ = Woodcock-Johnson; WRAT = Wide Range Reading Achievement Test; WRMT-R = Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics, Weighted Mean Scores, and Effect Sizes for the TOSCRF, TOSWRF and Standardized Tests of Reading Competence.

Test		N		Mean (SD)		95% CI	TOSWRF		TOSCRF		Combined
Silent reading fluency							r	magnitude	r	magnitude	r	magnitude
TOSWRF		75		96.83 (8.43)		[94.89, 98.77]	.00	***	.29	Small	–.13	Small
TOSCRF		58		91.56 (8.52)		[89.32, 93.80]	–.29	Small	.00	***	.15	Small
Weighted mean score		133		94.53 (8.84)		[93.02, 96.05]	–.13	Small	.15	Small	.00	***
Tests of reading competence
Subtests
Decoding		22		97.74 (6.57)		[94.25, 101.22]	–.05	Trivial	–.32	Moderate	–.13	Small
Word-Letter ID		37		95.14 (9.57)		[89.95, 100.32]	.09	Trivial	–.19	Small	–.03	Trivial
Fluency		22		91.14 (14.40)		[84.76, 97.52]	.23	Small	.02	Trivial	.12	Small
Vocabulary		3		96.25 (1.95)		[84.76, 97.53]	.01	Trivial	–.12	Small	–.03	Trivial
Comprehension		16		95.90 (6.81)		[92.27, 99.54]	.04	Trivial	.12	Small	–.05	Trivial
Composite scores		30		99.60 (5.97)		[96.62, 102.57]	–.16	Small	–.44	Moderate	–.23	Small
Weighted mean score		130		96.05 (11.78)		[94.01, 98.10]	.04	Trivial	–.18	Small	–.07	Trivial

Note. SD = standard deviation; CI = confidence intervals; TOSCRF = Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency; TOSWRF = Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency; r = correlation coefficient effect size; Magnitude = effect size differences based on Hopkins (2002).

Table 3. Meta-regression of Moderating Variables.

Moderator	β	SE	95% CI	p
Intercept	–.018	0.06	[–.13, .09]	.744
Type of Learner
English Language Learner	–.261	0.09	[–.43, −09]	.002
Average	.012	0.04	[–.06, .09]	.733
Above Average and/or Gifted	.392	0.21	[–.02, .81]	.064
Test of Silent Reading Fluency
TOSWRF vs. TOSCRF	.228	0.04	[.16, .30]	.000
Administration Format
Group vs. Individually Administered	–.114	0.05	[–.21, −.02]	.016
Type of Test Used for Criterion Validity
Decoding	–.090	0.06	[–.21, .03]	.133
Word-Letter ID	.050	0.06	[–.07, .18]	.439
Fluency	.064	0.06	[–.06, .19]	.304
Vocabulary	–.011	0.12	[–.25, .23]	.927
Composite Score	.018	0.06	[–.10, .13]	.762

Note. All moderators were entered in one model. Several models were run for thorough subgroup comparisons for moderators with more than 2 categories. For the convenience of presentation, comparisons for all moderators are all listed in one table. Between-study sampling variance (${\tau }^2$) for this model is .03.