The Meosurement of Reading Skills

Abstract

The Prescriptive Reading Inventory was compared with the California Achievement Test, Wide Range Achievement Test, and a Teacher Rating Scale through the use of a multitrait-multimethod matrix. The measures were broken down into specific traits involving Word Recognition Skills, Literal Comprehension, Interpretive Comprehension, and Total Reading. Eighty-seven third graders (47 boys and 40 girls) completed the battery. Examination of the data revealed high intercorrelations for each of the traits except in the case of Literal Comprehension. Also, the tests administered in this study correlated well with Total Reading scores, but the data did not indicate they were capable of accurate differential measurement of specific diagnostic reading skills.

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