A Comparison of Reading Screeners in Kindergarten: The Texas Primary Reading Inventory and Acadience Reading With English Learners and Monolingual English Speakers

Abstract

Measuring and identifying risk for reading difficulties at the kindergarten level is necessary for providing intervention as early as possible. The purpose of this study was to examine concurrent validity evidence of two kindergarten reading screeners, Acadience Reading and Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI), as well as diagnostic accuracy at different performance levels on the Woodcock-Johnson IV (WJ-IV) Reading Cluster and across ( n = 96) emergent bilingual and monolingual English learners in kindergarten. Findings indicated moderate correlations between Acadience Reading and TPRI with the WJ-IV. Diagnostic accuracy results showed screening measures were inadequate when predicting WJ IV performance above 90 SS (standard score), but results improved for almost all measures and student groups when the threshold for performance was lowered to 80 SS. Acadience Reading Below Benchmark (AR BB) offered the lowest overall accuracy for emerging bilingual (EB) students. Implications for efficient and accurate use of reading screeners in schools are discussed.

Predictive Strength of Math Screening Across English Language Proficiency Scores in Third to Eighth Grade

“…Although academic screening among ELs within MTSS has been a popular topic of study (Brafford et al, 2023;Cho et al, 2020;Keller-Margulis et al, 2022;Hall et al, 2022;Seethaler et al, 2016), very little research has examined how math screening prediction may function across a wide range of ELP. The current study addressed this gap by examining whether and to what degree math screening (using MAP math) was differentially accurate across ELs' ELP scores, language of MAP Math administration (Spanish or English), and pre/post COVID-19 learning disruptions.…”

“…As a result, this gap is not unexpected, and alternative classification schemes for linguistically diverse learners often lead to different academic performance trends (e.g., multilingual learners versus only ELs; Kieffer & Thompson, 2018). The trend of much of the screening literature on ELs in particular focuses much on this achievement gap and how screening can assist in accurately identifying ELs' academic risk (Brafford et al, 2023;Keller-Margulis et al, 2022). The performance discrepancy between ELs and non-ELs, although often reinforced by inequitable access to instruction (Robinson-Cimpian et al, 2016), should not be the primary focus of screening because it overlooks the substantial variability within the EL group.…”