Can teachers discriminate low‐progress readers from average readers in regular classes?

Abstract

This paper reports a study on teacher judgment of reading ability. 38 Sydney teachers were asked to identify four average readers and one low‐progress reader from their class. A passage reading test was then administered to the 190 participants from Years Three to Seven. A comparison of the rankings based on the passage reading test within each class, with the teacher's classification of readers as either ‘average’ or ‘low‐progress’ indicated that most teacher identification was in agreement with the passage reading test results. Of particular concern, however, were the 10% of low‐progress readers who were not identified as such by their classroom teachers, and the 18% of teachers who identified, as low‐progress readers, students who were not, in fad, very different from the lowest of the readers regarded as average.