Performance in Reading From Content Area Text as an Indicator of Achievement

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between basic reading literacy and student academic success, extending the work on curriculum-based measurement to examine the validity of a simple and direct measure of reading proficiency for students at the secondary level. Participants were 121 10th-grade students from a rural high school in a small midwestern community. Samples of student reading were obtained by having students read aloud from multiple English and science textbook passages. In addition, student scores on a standardized reading test were collected. The relationships between reading measures and performance on a classroom study task, grade point average, and a variety of achievement test scores were examined. To investigate differential effects related to content area and achievement levels, data were collected in English and science for low- and high-performing students. Results of correlational analyses revealed low-moderate to moderately high correlations between reading measures and scores on a classroom study task, grade point average, and achievement test performance. Reading aloud from text was more strongly related to academic success for students at the lower end of the grade-point distribution than for students at the upper end. Recommendations are made for the use of reading aloud measures in program planning and implementation for students at the secondary level.