Oral Reading Fluency and Prediction of Reading Comprehension in African American and Caucasian Elementary School Children

Abstract

This study examined the differential predictive bias of CBM in reading across African American and Caucasian students in Grades 2 through 5. Participants included 136 students who were administered CBM oral reading fluency passages and the Reading Comprehension subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery—Revised. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that CBM neither over-or underpredicted reading comprehension skills controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Results of this study suggest that CBM continues to appear to be a sensitive form of direct reading assessment in the local curriculum for both African American and Caucasian elementary-age students.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John M. Hintze

John M. Hintze received his Ph.D. in School Psychology from Lehigh University in 1994 and is an Associate Professor of School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His primary research interests are in the areas of school-based assessment, research design and methodology, and data analysis.

James E. Callahan

James E. Callahan III received his M.Ed. CAGS in School Psychology from University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1997 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in School Psychology at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His primary research interests are in the areas of school-based assessment, system-wide intervention and prevention programming, program analysis, and skill-based interventions for minority students.

William J. Matthews

William J. Matthews received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1980 and is a Professor in the School Psychology Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His primary research interests are in the areas of teacher expectancy, school-based behavioral and academic assessment, and research design.

Stacy A. S. Williams

Stacy A. Williams is a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology Program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her primary research interests are in the areas of African American identity development and methods to enhance the academic and social-emotional development of minority students.

Kevin G. Tobin

Kevin G. Tobin received his Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1988 and is a Clinical Psychologist with Pittsfield Public Schools in Pittsfield, MA. His primary research interests are in the areas of school-based assessment, the prevention of violence, drug use, and teenage pregnancy, and the effectiveness of different curricula and instructional methods on student learning.