SOFTWARE TO MONITOR GROWTH OF K-1 READING SKILLS

The objective of this project is to design, develop, and validate a computerized assessment tool of early reading development called Continuous Monitoring of Early Reading Skills (CMERS). CMERS will foster a healthier society by enhancing kindergarten and first-grade teachers abilities to provide quality early reading instruction. CMERS will assist teachers to better determine instructional needs of specific children on an ongoing basis, and to monitor individual growth as instruction is delivered. Presently, no software is available for continuous monitoring of early reading skills. In Phase I of this Fast- Track application we will (a) develop a bank of items assess each of three critical domains of early reading -- phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge and skills, and fluency in reading connected text; (b) develop software for the test of reading fluency; and (c) conduct 2 experiments to assess psychometric qualities of the measures. Data collected will be analyzed to establish item difficulty; confirm that each item is significantly related to the construct being assessed; and to confirm that the multiple-choice format required by computer administration ranks children in the same way as standard examiner- administered assessment in both absolute level of performance, and in rate of growth over time. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The CMERS product will be published by Pro-Ed, an internationally recognized publisher of testing materials. Pro-Ed anticipates that the CMERS product will become an important tool for monitoring K-1 reading development, used by professionals both nationally and internationally. Skills tracked by CMERS are ones identified as critical in the report "Teaching Children to Read" which is being disseminated by the NICHD and USOE.