Non-Cognitive Characteristics in the Prediction of Reading Readiness

Abstract

The Lowenfeld Mosaic Test (LMT) was compared with the Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) and with teachers' ratings to predict school readiness. The subjects consisted of three groups: (a) children enrolled in a federally funded neighborhood center, (b) middle-class black children, and (c) middle-class white children. The children were pretested with the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT), the LMT, and the MRT. The teachers and examiner made their predictions of each student's readiness; the teachers' predictions were based on observation and MRT scores, and those of the examiner, only on the LMT. At the end of the first semester the children were administered the Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT) and the students' grades were compiled. An analysis of results revealed the single best predictor of reading success to be the examiner's rating based on the LMT.