Can We Measure the Transition to Reading? General Outcome Measures and Early Literacy Development From Preschool to Early Elementary Grades

Abstract

This study evaluated the extent to which existing measures met standards for a continuous suite of general outcome measures (GOMs) assessing children’s early literacy from preschool through early elementary school. The study assessed 316 children from age 3 years (2 years prekindergarten) through Grade 2, with 8 to 10 measures of language, alphabetic principle, phonological awareness, and beginning reading. We evaluated measures at each grade group against six standards for GOMs extracted from earlier work. We found that one measure of oral language met five or six standards at all grade levels, and several measures of phonological awareness and alphabetic principle showed promise across all five grade levels. Results are discussed in relation to ongoing research and development of a flexible and seamless system to assess children’s academic progress across time for effective prevention and remediation, as well as theoretical and empirical analyses in early literacy, early reading, and GOMs.

Assessing Early Literacy Growth in Preschoolers Using Individual Growth and Development Indicators

“…These findings have at least three implications for assessment and intervention in early childhood education. First, seasonal growth for all IGDIs is consistent with at least one criterion for general outcome measurement, sensitivity to change (Fuchs & Deno, 1991; McConnell & Wackerle-Hollman, 2016). Earlier versions of the measures evaluated here demonstrated empirical relations to elementary-grade reading outcomes (Missall et al, 2007), and similar evidence for revised tools used here will be important for future research.…”

“…Table 2 provides means, standard deviations, skew, kurtosis, and standard error of student scores by measures and seasons in Rasch score units, or logits . With the exception of First Sounds, measure means change by .5 to more than 1.5 logits across seasons ( M = .974), standard deviations are relatively stable at or near 1.5 logits, and skew and kurtosis measures are within limits for MTSS decision making (McConnell & Wackerle-Hollman, 2016).…”

Oral Language and Reading Among Bilingual Students Preprint

“…First, in the current study, the majority of the participants were in kindergarten with a minority in first grade; however, van den Bosch and colleagues' (2020) sample solely consisted of second grade students. Children in kindergarten and first grade are typically at the start of transitioning from pre-literacy to literacy, while children in second grade are firmly in the literacy stage, assuming the children are typically developing (McConnell & Wackerle-Hollman, 2016). As children get older, decoding skills become relatively automatized, which provides children the opportunity to focus on more complex skills such as comprehension.…”

Curriculum Based Measurement Maze: A Review

“…In SSMMs, reading is "divided" into specific sub-skills, which are prioritized and for which individual tests are formed consisting of both the teaching goal and specific subskill measurement for monitoring progress (Hintze, Christ, & Methe, 2006). These measurements may emphasize a lot on a specific skill and not on the overall students' skills (Fuchs & Deno, 1991;McConnell & Wackerle-Hollman, 2015). As initially reported by Fuchs and Deno (1991) but also more recently by Ball and Christ (2012), these measurements are more suitable for short-term interventions, as they are not appropriate for generating the students' general overview and developmental level.…”