Comparing Comprehension Following Silent and Aloud Reading across Elementary and Secondary Students: Implication for Curriculum-Based Measurement

In the current study, 42 secondary students (10th, 11th, and 12th grade students) and 51 elementary students (4th and 5th grade students) read 400 word passages silently and aloud. During aloud reading, words correct per minute (WCPM) were recorded. After reading each passage, students answered 10 multiple-choice comprehension questions. Results showed comprehension was significantly higher when students read passages aloud, as opposed to silently. No interaction was found between comprehension and grade level (elementary versus secondary). Discussion is focused on theories of reading comprehension and applied implications for assessing comprehension following the administration of Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) reading probes. Keywords: Reading comprehension, silent reading, oral reading, words correct per minute, curriculumbased measurement ********** Reading skill deficit are prevalent, common in most student refereed for special education services, and can hinder learning, skill development, and success across vocational, academic, and daily living tasks (Daly, Chafouleas, & Skinner, 2005; Lentz, 1998; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005; Winn, Skinner, Oliver, Hale, & Ziegler, in press). Although a variety of theories and procedures have been developed to remedy reading skill deficits, our science has not developed to the point where we can be assured that any specific intervention will remedy reading skill deficits for specific students. Thus, researchers and educators have developed various procedures and systems that allow educators to quickly assess the effects of various reading interventions on students reading skill development (i.e., progress monitoring or measuring responsiveness to intervention, see Fletcher, Coulter, Reschly, & Vaughn, 2004). Words Correct per Minute There are several common characteristics with various reading skill development progress monitoring systems. One is that they employ brief and sensitive measures that allow for frequent assessment of skill development. With respect to reading skills, one measure that is included in most systems is words read correctly per minute (WCPM). This measure which Deno and Mirkin's (1977) described in their curriculum-based measurement (CBM) system for progress and performance monitoring, is also used in the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS, Good & Kaminski, 2002) and AIMSweb (AIMSweb Progress Monitoring and Response to Intervention System, 2006) systems. To collect WCPM data, students are asked to read aloud, often for 1 minute, as the examiner scores errors. After students have finished reading aloud the examiner calculates both words correct per minute (WCPM) and errors per minute (Deno & Mirkin, 1977; Shapiro, 2004). WCPM is a measure of oral or aloud reading fluency or speed of accurate aloud reading. Many researchers have investigated the psychometric properties of WCPM and found that it is a valid (concurrent, construct, and criterion related validity), reliable, and sensitive measure of general reading skill development (Deno, Mirkin, & Chiang, 1982; Espin & Foegen, 1996; Fuchs & Deno 1991; Fuchs, Fuchs, and Maxwell, 1988; Hintze, Shapiro, Conte, & Basile, 1997). Although, WCPM has been shown to positively correlate with standardized norm-referenced measures of reading comprehension, (Deno et al., 1982; Fuchs & Deno, 1992; Fuchs et al., 1988; Marston, 1989; Shinn et al., 1992), because WCPM does not directly assess reading comprehension educators and research have expressed concerns about the face validity of the measure (Potter & Wamre, 1990; Skinner, Neddenriep, Bradley-Klug, & Ziemann, 2002). This limitation may be important as the primary function, goal, or purpose of reading is comprehension (2) (Rowell, 1976; Salasoo, 1986; Sindelar & Stoddard, 1991; Skinner, 1998). Thus, some may be concerned that WC/M will not detect comprehension deficits in students who can read aloud accurately and rapidly, but fail to comprehend what they are reading (Marston, 1989). …