Poster #78 - Longitudinal Reading Achievement Trends Between Children With Reading Disorder and Children With Low Reading Achievement

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Objective: Learning to read is a crucial developmental process, yet 20-30% of children struggle to read even after a year of reading instruction (Shaywitz, 2003). Some struggling readers are identified to receive special education services due to a reading disorder (RD), while others never receive services but continue to have low reading achievement (LRA). Comparing the longitudinal reading growth trajectories between children who do and do not receive special education services but both face reading challenges can help inform identification processes as well as prevention and intervention efforts. However, limited research has compared the reading growth trajectories of children who struggle to read using special education eligibility to define the groups. Therefore, the current study tested a longitudinal model to examine differences in reading growth trajectories from kindergarten through eighth grade between children with RD who received special education services and non-identified children with LRA.

Method: Data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) dataset, which sampled approximately 21,410 children who entered kindergarten in 1998. The final sample contained 300 children with RD and 780 children with LRA. Primary analyses utilized multiple group latent growth modeling (LGM), where reading achievement was measured by the ECLS-K direct reading assessment. A non-linear latent basis model was employed to test for differences between the RD and LRA groups’ reading achievement scores at the start of kindergarten, in their patterns of reading growth over time, and at the end of eighth grade. Gender, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and age were controlled in the analyses.

Results: Based on the Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square difference test, multiple group LGM analyses revealed no significant differences in reading achievement between the RD and LRA groups in the fall of kindergarten (p>.05), but there were significantly different patterns of reading growth over time (p<.01). The RD group experienced steady increasing growth from kindergarten through eighth grade, with about 42% of their total growth occurring between fifth and eighth grade, while the LRA group experienced growth greater than 100%, between first and fifth grade, with a decline in growth from fifth through eighth grade. By the spring of eighth grade, a Wald test revealed the RD group significantly outperformed the LRA group in reading (p<.05).

Conclusions: Differing growth patterns and outcomes may be explained by differences in the types of reading deficits students in each group had and the influence of differing instructional supports and accommodations. Students in the RD group may have had phonological-based deficits that were accommodated in the classroom, which allowed for continued growth in reading comprehension skills, whereas those in the LRA group may have had comprehension-based deficits, which were not accommodated in the classroom and ultimately led to a lack of growth in such skills in later elementary/middle school grades. Future research should apply sampling weights to create a nationally representative sample and use more advanced statistical modeling (e.g., multi-level LGM; growth mixture modeling [GMM]).

Authors

• Danielle Wexler, Michigan State University
  Presenting Author

• Jodene G. Fine, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ryan P. Bowles, Michigan State University
  Non-Presenting Author