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

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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.