The reading and writing characteristics of low achieving minority students in grades five, six, and seven

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide a description of the reading and writing characteristics of low achieving minority students in grades five, six, and seven. The 73 black and Hispanic subjects in the study were identified by the participating school district as performing in the lowest five percent in their grade levels on standardized achievement tests in reading. Analysis of the demographic data collected indicated that the fifth grade sample of students was different from the sixth and seventh grade samples in average IQ scores, ethnic distribution, free lunch eligibility, percentage of students previously retained, and special education placement. Reading performance in the study was measured by the Analytical Reading Inventory and the reading subtest of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, providing an instructional reading level and a word recognition score from the ARI and a total reading score from the CTBS. A rewriting of "The Bee" instrument developed by Hunt provided a writing sample which was analyzed for elements of syntactic maturity. Reading and writing performance was compared across grade levels and the relationship between variables was examined. Finally, the strength of association between various reading and writing variables was examined. Analysis of the data revealed that the ability to use less-than-clause transformations varied between fifth grade and the other two grades, with nine percent of the variability in Transformation scores being accounted for by difference in grade placement. Fifth grade reading comprehension levels averaged 0.9, which was significantly different from both sixth and seventh grade average reading levels of 2.4 and 2.3. Fifth grade word recognition scores were significantly different only from seventh grade scores. The linear relationship between word recognition and comprehension increased with each grade level. In all three grades, better writers tended to be better readers. Better readers also tended to be better writers.