This study examined whether boys and girls in the early school years differed in reading and related skills, and their rates of progress. Gender ratios were calculated to ascertain whether there were more boys than girls who struggle with different facets of reading, and whether the variability of boys' scores resulted in more boys being…

An analysis of large and influential published reviews of research pertaining to the reading acquisition of young struggling readers in the early years of schooling was undertaken. The reviews were selected on the basis that they either had been commissioned by federal governments or had been conducted by reputable research institutions and had…

This rejoinder provides comment on issues raised by Schwartz, Hobsbaum, Briggs and Scull (2009) in their article about evidence-based practice and Reading Recovery (RR), written in response to Reynolds and Wheldall (2007). Particular attention is paid to the processes and findings of the What Works Clearinghouse evaluation of RR. The suggestion…

Identifying low-progress readers easily and quickly is an essential prerequisite for effective literacy intervention in schools. In this study, teacher judgment of reading performance is compared with a curriculum-based measurement procedure. This study involved 33 teachers and their Year 3 to Year 5 classes. Twelve students were randomly selected…

A significant amount of literature has been published on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in the last decade. Much of the conceptual work on CBM was done in the 1980s and early 1990s. This review concentrates on the large body of research published within the last 10 years on CBM of reading, including further research demonstrating its technical…

Results are presented from two studies involving 190 primary and high school students and 146 primary students with reading difficulties. These studies contributed toward the development of five 200 word standardized passages which may be employed interchangeably to monitor the performance of students with reading difficulties towards achieving…

Discusses curriculum-based measurement as an alternative to both standardized and teacher-developed reading tests. Oral Reading Fluency, a curriculum-based measure of reading is presented as an accurate indicator of both general reading ability and reading comprehension, and as a means of monitoring reading progress towards functional literacy.…