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Replicating Decoding Threshold in ReadBasix: Impact on Reading Skills Development

Author(s):
Wang, Zuowei; O'Reilly, Tenaha; Sutherland, Rebecca
Publication Year:
2024
Report Number:
RM-24-06v
Source:
ETS Research Memorandum
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
30
Subject/Key Words:
ReadBasix, Reading Skills, Reading Development, Decoding Reading, Reading Measures, Literacy Skills, Reading Comprehension, Underserved Communities, Grades 4-8, Reading Inventory and Scholastic Evaluation (RISE)

Abstract

In 2022, Advanced Education Research and Development Fund’s (AERDF) Reading Reimagined launched the Equitable Foundational Literacy Research (EFLR) cohort, a group of four independently designed and researched instructional pilots aiming to support the foundational literacy skills of students from traditionally underserved populations in Grades 3–8. As part of the outcome metrics projects, EFLR used ReadBasix, an ETS-developed reading component skills assessment, as a common measure. To help inform the use of ReadBasix and the interpretation of its scores, AERDF contracted ETS to conduct new analyses to replicate previously published decoding threshold studies with ReadBasix data. This research memorandum summarizes the findings of two replication studies. Study 1 first identified the location of the decoding threshold on the ReadBasix scoring scale (Word Recognition and Decoding score = 225) and then demonstrated the impact of scoring below the decoding threshold on the growth trajectories of other reading component skills measured by ReadBasix, including vocabulary, morphology, sentence processing, basic reading efficiency, and reading comprehension. Students scoring below the decoding threshold had significantly slower growth rate in all these skills. Study 2 replicated the behavioral differences between students scoring above versus below the decoding threshold when they responded to different kinds of ReadBasix decoding items. Students with poor decoding skills spent less time than peers when encountering a word that they did not yet know, indicating a lack of phonological recoding effort. Collectively, these results replicated earlier published studies with ReadBasix data, thus providing more evidence supporting the validity of ReadBasix and the robustness of the decoding threshold findings.

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