# **Contents**

|**Executive Summary........................................................................................................................1**|
|---|
|**1.** **Introduction..............................................................................................................................3**|
|**2.** **Background ..............................................................................................................................4**|
|2.1. Developing reading skills..................................................................................................................4<br>|
|a. What are the main early-reading skills?.........................................................................................5|
|b. Why are reading comprehension and fluency related? ..................................................................6<br>|
|c. What strategies work best for teaching reading? ...........................................................................7|
|2.2. Assessing reading skills ....................................................................................................................9|
|a. Common measures of early reading skills.....................................................................................9|
|b. Silent “pencil-and-paper” measures of reading comprehension ..................................................11<br>|
|c. Oral measures of reading fluency................................................................................................12<br>|
|d. Correlations between reading fluency and “pencil-and-paper” comprehension measures ..........13|
|<br>e. Choosing between oral and written reading tests.........................................................................15|
|f. Keeping in mind tests sometimes behave differently with certain groups...................................20|
|2.3. Linking reading development standards with measures: the case of Peru.......................................21|
|2.4. Research in context .........................................................................................................................25|
|**3.** **Fieldwork methodology.........................................................................................................25**|
|3.1. Participants......................................................................................................................................26|
|3.2. Instruments......................................................................................................................................27|
|a. Oral test .......................................................................................................................................27|
|b. Written Test (ECE)......................................................................................................................28|
|**4.** **Findings...................................................................................................................................29**|
|4.1. How accurately do oral and written tests assess reading skills?......................................................30|
|a. Capacity to discriminate between lowest and highest performers...............................................31|
|b. Differential behavior of the tests across social groups: the case of Ashaninka students .............33|
|4.2. What is the relationship between fluency and comprehension?......................................................35|
|a. Correlation between fluency and comprehension measures........................................................35|
|b. Relation between fluency and comprehension when social factors are taken into account.........37|
|c. Is the fluency-comprehension relation non-linear or discontinuous? ..........................................39|
|d. A new way to look at the fluency-comprehension relation: application of Rasch scores............42|
|**5.** **Discussion ...............................................................................................................................44**|
|5.1. Scope and limitations of the two tests to measure reading ability...................................................45|
|5.2. Nature of the relationship between oral fluency and written comprehension .................................46|
|5.3. The Ashaninka case: a look at measuring reading with disadvantaged students.............................49|
|5.4. The multiple uses of reading tests: policy recommendations..........................................................50|
|**6.** **References...............................................................................................................................55**|
|**7.** **Annexes...................................................................................................................................60**|
|7.1. List of Available Reading Assessments ..........................................................................................60|
|7.2. Summary of fluency-comprehension correlation studies ................................................................63|
|7.3. Random selection of schools, classrooms and students ..................................................................65|
|7.4. Population and sample description..................................................................................................66|
|<br>a. Population description: Sample framework.................................................................................66|
|<br>b. Sample description ......................................................................................................................67|
|c. Adjustment factor ........................................................................................................................68|
|<br>7.5. Psychometric analysis of the ECE test with Raw vs. Transformed Rasch scores ...........................68|
|a. Calculating Raw and Rasch scores..............................................................................................68|
|<br>b. Item analysis................................................................................................................................69|