Comparing code-based and language-comprehension skill profiles across early elementary grades

• In Event: Assessment of Reading, Writing, and Language Skills Across Elementary and Middle Grades

Abstract

This study used confirmatory factor analysis and latent profile analysis to examine the associations between the code-based skills of decoding, encoding, and phoneme segmenting and the language-comprehension skills of passage comprehension and retell, and to identify combinations/profiles of those skills across a general student population (N = 43,151) in grades 1-3. We examined each of those grades separately to determine whether different profiles emerged for older versus younger students and found that while the overall themes remained consistent, there was a noticeable difference in how phonemic awareness related to the other constructs across grade levels.

Authors

• Veronica Mellado De La Cruz, University of Virginia

• Sarah Wellberg, University of Virginia

• Carlin Conner, University of Virginia

• Phoebe Leigh Kiekhofer Garfinkel, University of Virginia

• Emily J. Solari, University of Virginia

• James Soland, University of Virginia

• Latisha Hayes, University of Virginia