An Investigation of the Effects of Passage Difficulty Level on Outcomes of Oral Reading Fluency Progress Monitoring

Abstract

This study examined the differential effects of using grade versus goal level reading material on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) progress-monitoring procedures. Participants included a total of 80 students, 20 each from grades 1 through 4. CBM reading passage probes from both grade and goal level material were administered to all students, twice weekly during an 11-week period. Students' rate of progress in each level of materials was indexed using the slope of their data series calculated by ordinary least-squares regression. Results indicate that the amount of progress observed (i.e., slope of improvement) varied as a function of grade and whether student progress was monitored in grade or goal level material.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John M. Hintze

John M. Hintze is currently Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology in the School Psychology Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his doctorate in school psychology from Lehigh University in 1994. Prior to that, he was a practitioner for 10 years. His research interests include curriculum-based measurement, academic and behavioral interventions and applied measurement methodology.

Edward J. Daly

Edward J. Daly III is Assistant Professor of School Psychology at the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. His research interests include intervention design for academic performance problems.

Edward S. Shapiro

Edward S. Shapiro received his doctorate in school psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. He has been the Coordinator of the School Psychology Program at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he has served as Professor of School Psychology since 1980. Previously, he was Editor of School Psychology Review, official journal of the National Association of School Psychologists, and has numerous publications in the areas of curriculum-based assessment, behavioral assessment, behavioral interventions, and self-management strategies for classroom behavior change. Currently, Dr. Shapiro is the co-principal investigator of a Leadership Training Project from the U.S. Department of Education designed to train doctoral school psychologists as pediatric school psychologists, a model of training that attempts to train students to integrate health care, psychological, and educational needs for children within school settings.