Richard L. Allington

Content Coverage and Contextual Reading in Reading Groups

Teacher logs for 600 reading group sessions from grades 1, 3, and 5 were analyzed in an effort to identify whether the amount and mode of assigned contextual reading differed systematically between reading groups. Analyses indicated that groups designated as good readers read more total words and more words silently than groups designated as poor readers (p < .01). There were, however, no significant differences in the number of words read orally by the two groups, which indicated that the greater amounts of silent reading done by good reader groups account primarily for differences in amount of contextual reading noted. These data reinforce and extend the findings of other research on differences in content coverage and the pacing of students through reading materials.

Unintended Effects of Educational Reform in New York

Trends in the incidence of retention, remediation, and identification of students as handicapped were examined in 12 elementary schools across a period of increased high-stakes assessment and public accountability (1978-1979 to 1988-1989). At the primary grade levels there was a significant increase in the incidence of identification of students as handicapped and a significant increase in the proportion of children retained in grade or identified as handicapped. The increases occur before the administration of the first mandated high-stakes assessments. The implications of these trends for understanding reports of school effectiveness and statewide student achievement in reading are discussed Finally, suggestions for the redesign of large-scale high-stakes assessment reports are offered.

Flunk’em or Get Them Classified The Contamination of Primary Grade Accountability Data

The authors argue not only that high-stakes primary grade testing increases the pressure on low-achieving schools to improve their test performance but that these assessment mandates also increase the chances that low-scoring children will be retained in grade or classified as handicapped. Placement practices such as handicapped classification, flunking, and developmental classes remove low- achieving children from the assessment stream and, in the authors’ view, constitute not just pollution of assessment data, but outright contamination of the reported results. The authors regard decisions to classify or fail low-achieving children as egregiously unethical if such decisions are motivated by pressure to increase the school’s publicly reported test performance, and they suggest that current high-stakes testing programs be modified to eliminate any incentives to engage in such placement practices.

What's Special about Special Programs for Children Who Find Learning to Read Difficult?

Teachers of reading comprise a most sinister political group, whose continued presence and strength are more a cause for alarm than celebration. (Postman, 1970, p. 244) In American elementary schools today we can find a variety of special teachers whose primary responsibility lies in fostering the language and literacy development of children considered at risk of school failure. Although reading teachers, many funded from the federal Chapter 1 program, are the most obvious group, it is difficulty with language and literacy learning that most commonly leads to identifying children as learning disabled and language impaired, the two handicapping conditions that account for well over half of children served through special education programs. School psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, and speech and language pathologists are also occupied primarily with evaluating or providing services to children exhibiting language and literacy learning difficulties. In fact, the most direct route to being identified as at risk or handicapped in schools today is to arrive at school with few experiences with books, stories, or print and then exhibit any sort of difficulty with the standard literacy curriculum. Across the past 25 years, American schools have added an array of special teachers and special programs primarily targeted at enhancing literacy learning. Today, many readers of this journal are involved in programs preparing the special teachers that will staff these special programs. Many readers also have a professional history that includes a stint as a special teacher. Yet for all the familiarity so many of us have with special programs for children who find learning to read difficult, our journals have carried relatively few articles about these programs or the impact they have on schools or children who participate in them.

The Misreading of High-Frequency Words

While the misreading of visually similar words has been thought to lie in a visual-perceptual deficit, recent research has seriously undermined such hypotheses. This study suggests that such errors are more typically a function of a lack of effective and efficient integration of semantic and syntactic cues with visual information.

EFFECTS OF CONTEXTUAL CONSTRAINTS UPON RATE AND ACCURACY

Several researchers have demonstrated various effects of syntactic and context constraints upon reading (2, 4) . However, utilization of syntax by normally achieving and underachieving readers has seldom been reported. This study examined accuracy of word recognition and rate of reading for two groups of readers of materials with and without syntactic, or contextual, constraints. These fourth grade subjects were randomly selected from students reading above and one or more vears below grade level as determined by an individual achievement test ( 5 ) . The 12 better readers had a mean reading grade equivalent of 4.9, the poorer readers 2.8. Experimental materials included a second grade basal reader story of 175 words, which was presented in two conditions, original and random word order. The latter condition presented the words from the original passage randomlv ordered in horizontal strings. All subjects orally read both passages in random order. Scoring for accuracy was done from audbtaped recordings and considered any disagreement between print and utterance as an error. A 2 x 2 analvsis of variance on accuracy of words recognition indicated significant effects for groups ( P = 10.2. df = 1/22, P < .Ol ) . condition of resent at ion (P = 30.8. d f = 2/44, p < .01), and the interaction ( P = 15.9, d f = 2/44, p < .01). A second analysis of variance on rate of reading indicated significant effects for grouvs (P = 8.7. df = l(22, p < .01), for conditions of presenration (P = 9.9, d f = 2/44, P < .01), but no ~nteraction. The table includes a summary of the data for each group on both measures.

Sensitivity to Orthographic Structure as a Function of Grade and Reading Abilitya

Good and poor readers at two grade levels were presented with zero-order and fourth-order approximations of English words. They were directed to select the one item in each pair that was most wordlike. Results show significant differences were found between older poor readers and younger good readers whose reading ability was equivalent. These results were interpreted as providing support for the hypothesis that orthographic sensitivity is a direct function of reading achievement level, not age or school experience in general.

Word Identification Abilities of Severely Disabled Readers: A Comparison in Isolation and Context:

Examines the strong vs. weak relationships between word recognition in isolation and in context hypotheses. Reports a lack of specific relationships for a group of severely disabled readers. Although the performance on these tasks was correlated at .68, a detailed analysis of individual performances demonstrated the inconsistent and idiosyncratic nature of the responses. The data, while not as clearcut as some reported earlier, seem nevertheless to support the weak relationship argument. In addition, two distinct types of disabled readers emerged from the analysis (those whose word recognition was superior in isolation and those whose word recognition was superior in context). Examination of individual response patterns suggest many traditional diagnostic assessment procedures may provide little useful information for instructional decisions.

Sensitivity to Orthographic Structure in Educable Mentally Retarded Children.

Abstract Thirty educable mentally retarded (EMR) children were presented an item selection task to assess their sensitivity to orthographic structure in printed English words. Analyses of performance indicated that EMR children do acquire implicit knowledge of orthographic rules and that this ability is related to the development of reading skills.

A Note on the Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test:

Richard L. Allington, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Reading Department, School of Education, State University of New York at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222. THE 1973 EDITION of the Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test (JLRRT) was designed to measure letter and number reversals in children’s visual receptive functioning.’ The author suggests that the JLRRT will be a useful addition to the clinician’s test