The Dimensionality of Reading Self-Concept: Examining Its Stability Using Local Structural Equation Models

For results from large-scale surveys to inform policy and practice appropriately, all participants must interpret and respond to items similarly. While organizers of surveys assessing student outcomes often ensure this for achievement measures, doing so for psychological questionnaires is also critical. We demonstrate this by examining the dimensionality of reading self-concept—a crucial psychological construct for several outcomes—across reading achievement levels. We use Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 data ( N = 529,966) and local structural equation models (LSEMs) to do so. Results reveal that reading self-concept dimensions (assessed through reading competence and difficulty) vary across reading achievement levels. Students with low reading achievement show differentiated responses to the two item sets (high competence–high difficulty). In contrast, students with high reading achievement have reconciled responses (high competence–low difficulty). Our results highlight the value of LSEMs in examining factor structure generalizability of constructs in large-scale surveys and call for greater cognitive testing during item development.

Beyond Knowledge

Our nation is experiencing a “student achievement crisis” in literacy. Some of the blame for the current crisis in literacy education has been laid at the feet of teacher education programs and their professors. Many pundits of teacher education and literacy education suggest that the solution to increasing reading achievement is simple: Emphasize and teach science of reading (SOR) principles in teacher education programs. In theory, this approach is reasonable; however, the purpose of this chapter is to examine some of the challenges in making the complex content of the SOR accessible to preservice teachers. The authors will also offer possible solutions to help make the SOR more comprehensible so that preservice teachers can increase their transfer of technical and pedagogical knowledge to authentic classroom contexts.

Are Social and Ethnic Reading Inequalities Increasing During School Closures?—The Mediating Role of Parental Involvement in Distance Learning

From spring 2020 many countries throughout Europe and beyond temporarily closed schools to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. First studies indicate that these school closures resulted in lower learning gains compared to learning gains in preceding years and widened social and ethnic disparities by affecting disadvantaged students more strongly than their more advantaged peers. Moreover, during school closures, parental involvement in distance learning is regarded as crucial for successful learning, especially for younger children. In the current study, we examine whether social and ethnic disparities in the reading achievement of primary school students widened during COVID-related school closures in spring 2020 and whether increased disparities are mediated by parental involvement in distance learning. We use data from 409 Austrian 2nd graders, whose teachers participated in an ongoing study on the use of learning progress assessment. Adopting a within-subject design, we first compare the effects of social and ethnic family background on reading achievement during a pre-lockdown period with the respective effects during a lockdown period of similar length. Controlling for pre-lockdown reading differences, we found that low socioeconomic status and non-German language use at home negatively predicted post-lockdown reading achievement, indicating that post-lockdown disparities were larger than expected due to disparities at pre-lockdown. In contrast, we found no such effects during the pre-lockdown period. Second, a series of mediation models did not provide any support for the hypothesis that parental involvement accounted for family background effects on reading achievement during the lockdown period.

Developing students’ reading achievement using PORPE Technique

The purpose of this study was to examine the application of the PORPE technique in enhancing the eleventh-grade students’ reading achievement of SMAN 3 Unggulan Kayuagung. Since there were five classes with 157 students, the samples were selected using purposive sampling. As a result, there were 62 students who took part as the sample. This study used a quasi-experimental design with nonrandomized pretest and posttest control groups. The data was gathered employing a written test, which was a multiple-choice reading test. The data was analyzed using the t-test. The results revealed that students who were taught through PORPE technique scored higher on reading tests. Besides, PORPE technique could improve the eleventh grade students’ reading achievement of SMAN 3 Unggulan Kayuagung. Hence, students could understand the information form the text and were confidence in answering the questions.

Did States’ Adoption of More Rigorous Standards Lead to Improved Student Achievement? Evidence From a Comparative Interrupted Time Series Study of Standards-Based Reform

This study was designed to assess the effects of states’ adoption of more rigorous standards as part of the current wave of standards-based reform on student achievement using comparative interrupted time series analyses based on state-level NAEP data from 1990 to 2017. Results show that the effects of adopting more rigorous standards on students’ mathematics achievement were generally small and not significant. The effects on students’ reading achievement were also generally small, but negative and statistically significant for Grade 4. The study also revealed that the effects of states’ adoption of more rigorous standards varied across NAEP subscales and student subgroups.

Is adolescents’ progress in reading comprehension served by particular attributional views in addition to learning the reading comprehension strategies of reciprocal teaching? A mixed-methods intervention study

<p>A mixed-methods quasi-experimental design was used to identify relationships between adolescent students’ attributions for their reading performance and their reading achievement by gathering baseline data from year 9 and 10 students (n = 175) and then investigating the effects of two stages of intervention on a treatment group (n = 22) and a comparison group (n = 16). The first stage of intervention used the instructional activity of reciprocal teaching to teach students cognitive strategies to improve reading comprehension. The second stage of the intervention combined on-going reciprocal teaching with attributional-retraining, aimed at to developing internal attributions for reading performance; specifically effort-related attributions rather than attributions focussing on ability. A baseline sample (which included the treatment and comparison samples as well as students from the wider year 9 and 10 cohort) completed a questionnaire about their attributions for their reading performance. There was no evidence of the hypothesised correlation between a measure of students’ incremental mindset (internal, unstable and controllable attribution) and standardised measures of reading comprehension. Analysis of the attribution data for the baseline sample showed evidence that internal and external attributions are not, as theorised, two ends of the same continuum, rather they are separate constructs, albeit negatively correlated. The treatment and comparison groups completed a standardised reading comprehension test and the attribution questionnaire at four time points: pre-intervention; between the two stages of intervention; post-intervention; and delayed post-intervention. A sub-sample of six students, representing a spectrum of reading achievement was interviewed to develop a better understanding of the responses provided in the questionnaire. The combined interventions had no significant effect on students’ attributions for their reading performance or on their reading comprehension achievement. Conversely, the first stage of the intervention, reciprocal teaching, did have a significant effect on the treatment group’s reading comprehension achievement immediately following the intervention and the group were observed eagerly participating in the activity with significantly increased engagement. The combined qualitative and quantitative data from the interventions provided evidence about the complexity of adolescents’ attributional beliefs. Students responded with a wide variety of beliefs that did not conform to the theorised pattern of attributional beliefs. The findings raise questions about how students form attributions for their successes and failures, in particular the direction of the causal relationship between achievement and attributional beliefs.</p>

Is adolescents’ progress in reading comprehension served by particular attributional views in addition to learning the reading comprehension strategies of reciprocal teaching? A mixed-methods intervention study

<p>A mixed-methods quasi-experimental design was used to identify relationships between adolescent students’ attributions for their reading performance and their reading achievement by gathering baseline data from year 9 and 10 students (n = 175) and then investigating the effects of two stages of intervention on a treatment group (n = 22) and a comparison group (n = 16). The first stage of intervention used the instructional activity of reciprocal teaching to teach students cognitive strategies to improve reading comprehension. The second stage of the intervention combined on-going reciprocal teaching with attributional-retraining, aimed at to developing internal attributions for reading performance; specifically effort-related attributions rather than attributions focussing on ability. A baseline sample (which included the treatment and comparison samples as well as students from the wider year 9 and 10 cohort) completed a questionnaire about their attributions for their reading performance. There was no evidence of the hypothesised correlation between a measure of students’ incremental mindset (internal, unstable and controllable attribution) and standardised measures of reading comprehension. Analysis of the attribution data for the baseline sample showed evidence that internal and external attributions are not, as theorised, two ends of the same continuum, rather they are separate constructs, albeit negatively correlated. The treatment and comparison groups completed a standardised reading comprehension test and the attribution questionnaire at four time points: pre-intervention; between the two stages of intervention; post-intervention; and delayed post-intervention. A sub-sample of six students, representing a spectrum of reading achievement was interviewed to develop a better understanding of the responses provided in the questionnaire. The combined interventions had no significant effect on students’ attributions for their reading performance or on their reading comprehension achievement. Conversely, the first stage of the intervention, reciprocal teaching, did have a significant effect on the treatment group’s reading comprehension achievement immediately following the intervention and the group were observed eagerly participating in the activity with significantly increased engagement. The combined qualitative and quantitative data from the interventions provided evidence about the complexity of adolescents’ attributional beliefs. Students responded with a wide variety of beliefs that did not conform to the theorised pattern of attributional beliefs. The findings raise questions about how students form attributions for their successes and failures, in particular the direction of the causal relationship between achievement and attributional beliefs.</p>