Edward J. Kameenui

The Importance and Decision-Making Utility of a Continuum of Fluency-Based Indicators of Foundational Reading Skills for Third-Grade High-Stakes Outcomes

Educational accountability and its counterpart, high-stakes assessment, are at the forefront of the educational agenda in this era of standards-based reform. In this article, we examine assessment and accountability in the context of a prevention-oriented assessment and intervention system designed to assess early reading progress formatively. Specifically, we explore the utility of a continuum of fluency-based indicators of foundational early literacy skills to predict reading outcomes, to inform educational decisions, and to change reading outcomes for students at risk of reading difficulty. First, we address the accountability era, discuss the promise of prevention-oriented assessment, and outline a continuum of fluency-based indicators of foundational reading skills using Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills and Curriculum-Based Measurement Oral Reading Fluency. Next, we describe a series of linked, short-term, longitudinal studies of 4 cohorts examining the utility and predictive validity of the measures from kindergarten through 3rd grade with the Oregon Statewide Assessment-Reading/Literature as a high-stakes reading outcome. Using direct measures of key foundational skills, predictive validities ranged from. 34 to. 82. The utility of the fluency-based benchmark goals was supported with the finding that 96% of children who met the 3rd-grade oral reading fluency benchmark goal met or exceeded expectations on the Oregon Statewide Assessment, a high-stakes outcome measure. We illustrate the utility of the measures for evaluating instruction, modifying the instructional system, and targeting children who need additional instructional support to achieve benchmark goals. Finally, we discuss the instructional and policy implications of our findings and their utility in an active educational accountability environment.

Teaching Vocabulary During Shared Storybook Readings: An Examination of Differential Effects.

A storybook intervention for kindergarten children that integrates principles of explicit vocabulary instruction within the shared storybook reading experience is described with findings from an experimental study demonstrating the effects of this intervention on the vocabulary development of kindergarten students at risk of reading difficulty. Results indicated that in comparison to students in the control group, students in the intervention with lower receptive vocabulary skills demonstrated greater gains in explicitly taught vocabulary than did students with higher receptive vocabulary. Findings suggest that the explicit teaching of word meanings within storybook readings may help to narrow, or at least halt, the widening vocabulary gap among students.

Vocabulary Tricks: Effects of Instruction in Morphology and Context on Fifth-Grade Students’Ability to Derive and Infer Word Meanings

This quasi-experimental study compared the effects of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction (MC) with the effects of textbook vocabulary instruction (TV) that was integrated into social studies textbook lessons. The participants were 157 students in eight fifth-grade classrooms. The results indicated that (a) TV students were more successful at learning textbook vocabulary; (b) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of novel affixed words; (c) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of morphologically and contextually decipherable words on a delayed test but not on an immediate test; and (d) the groups did not differ on a comprehension measure or a social studies learning measure. The results were interpreted as support for teaching specific vocabulary and morphemic analysis, with some evidence for the efficacy of teaching contextual analysis.

Indexing Response to Intervention A Longitudinal Study of Reading Risk From Kindergarten Through Third Grade

In this study, response to intervention and stability of reading performance of 41 kindergarten children identified as at risk of reading difficulty were evaluated from kindergarten through third grade. All students were assessed in the fall of each academic year to evaluate need for intervention, and students who fell below the 30th percentile on criterion measures received small-group supplemental intervention. Measures included a combination of commercial normative referenced measures and specific skill and construct measures to assess growth or change in reading risk status relative to 30th percentile benchmarks. Results indicated that consistent with the findings of prior research involving students with comparable entry-level performance, the majority of children identified as at risk in the beginning of kindergarten responded early and positively to intervention. On average, absolute performance levels at the end of kindergarten positioned students for trajectories of later reading performance that exceeded the 50th percentile on the majority of measures. Moreover, changes in risk status that occurred early were generally sustained over time. Only oral reading fluency performance failed to exceed the 30th percentile for the majority of students.

Effects of Text Construction and Instructional Procedures for Teaching Word Meanings on Comprehension and Recall.

TWO SEPARATE EXPERIMENTS involving elementary students addressed the following comprehension issues: (1) whether substituting difficult words for easy words in a text make that text more difficult to comprehend, (2) whether learning the meanings of the difficult words facilitates text comprehension, (3) whether embedding redundant information specific to difficult vocabulary words significantly contributes to text comprehension, and (4) whether a passage integration vocabulary training strategy is more effective than a vocabulary training strategy that does not include passage integration. Measures included multiple-choice tests and retell scores. In both experiments, it was found that substituting easy vocabulary words for difficult vocabulary words in a contrived passage made the text significantly easier to comprehend, and that redundant information in a text significantly contributed to successful text comprehension except for the retell scores in the first experiment. Instruction on difficult vocabulary facilitated comprehension in both experiments. Differences between instructional procedures were significant for the multiple-choice test scores in Experiment 1 and for the retell scores in Experiment 2. Children receiving passage integration training scored higher than those who did not receive integration training.

Prevention and Intervention in Beginning Reading: Two Complex Systems

This paper addresses two sets of organizing principles to guide prevention and intervention in beginning reading: (a) the complexity in our alphabetic writing system, and (b) the complexity in our schools. The first set is related to instructional design, while the second set is related to a schoolwide model. Prevention and intervention efforts in beginning reading for students with learning disabilities must attend to 2 systems, our complex alphabetic writing system and our equally complex schools. In this article, we present 2 sets of organizing principles to guide prevention and intervention in beginning reading drawn from the substantial body of converging research evidence accumulated over the past 40 years. The first set consists of 6 instructional design principles focused on teaching reading in our alphabetic writing system. These principles include big ideas, mediated scaffolding, conspicuous strategies, strategic integration, primed background knowledge, and judicious review. The second set includes organizational principles designed to anchor effective reading practices at the school-building level. These principles are structured around 3 interrelated areas: (1) the schoolwide establishment of long-term reading goals and intermediate performance benchmarks, (2) the early identification and frequent monitoring of students experiencing reading difficulties, and (3) the development of coordinated and differentiated instructional interventions for the full range of learners.

Effects of Graphic Organizer Instruction on Fifth-Grade Students

Abstract This study was undertaken to examine two fundamental questions related to the use of graphic organizer instruction with fifth-grade, normal-achieving students: (a) Does graphic organizer instruction facilitate comprehension, recall, and transfer of information contained in an expository textbook? and (b) To what degree is explicit instruction necessary for independent generation and use of graphic organizers by students? In four experimental conditions, participants read social studies information with or without the graphic organizer. The conditions were further separated by the presence or absence of explicit instruction. Participants in the control condition received traditional basal instruction, as prescribed by the teachers manual of the district-adopted textbook. Participants in all groups performed comparably on acquisition and retention measures. However, when required to read and recall novel social studies content, participants receiving the graphic organizer and explicit instruction ...

Predicting Reading Success in a Multilevel Schoolwide Reading Model A Retrospective Analysis

Despite recent research findings that implicate a long list of student variables that predict reading success or failure, these predictor variables have not been considered in the context of contemporary models of multitiered schoolwide reading intervention. This longitudinal, retrospective study follows 668 kindergarten and first-grade students identified as at risk for later reading difficulties through third grade. Key predictor variables were examined to determine their validity for predicting initial status and growth on oral reading fluency, third-grade oral reading fluency, and third-grade performance on a standardized test of reading. Results are provided in light of the instructional model provided. Implications for instruction and assessment are discussed.

THE ROLE OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN CONTENT AREA INSTRUCTION

This study investigated the effectiveness of three techniques for informing sixth-grade students of content area information. Students were taught content area information through either a graphic organizer strategy, a directed reading strategy, or an SQ3R strategy. Students were also taught content area information in either a group social structure or an individual, independent work structure. The results of the study suggest that the use of a graphic organizer strategy in a group social structure is more effective in facilitating comprehension of content area information than a graphic organizer strategy used in an independent structure or a directed reading strategy used in a group structure. Results of a transfer test revealed that the graphic organizer and the SQ3R strategies were more effective than the directed reading approach.

Dynamic Assessment as a Compensatory Assessment Approach A Description and Analysis

Disenchantment with traditional assessment procedures has prompted an examination of alternative assessment procedures that accurately and adequately measure student learning (Cross, 1990). In view of this significant concern over better assessment approaches, the present article examines the effectiveness of dynamic assessment. First, we present the limitations of traditional assessment techniques and develop an argument for the importance of dynamic assessment. Second, we review five models of dynamic assessment and identify their critical features. Finally, we discuss the limitations of this procedure and propose guidelines that might assist in the more widespread use of dynamic assessment by practitioners.