IMPROVING TEACHER PREDICTION OF CHILDREN AT RISK FOR READING FAILURE

Whether screening tests or teacher ratings best predict children at ri sk for reading failure continues to be an area of disagreement in the early identification literature. Our early studies confirmed low posit ive identification rates (30%) when kindergarten teachers were asked t o predict future reading achievement using a traditional rating scale, while a project-developed, theory-based screening battery correctly i dentified 81% of poor readers. Construction of a teacher raring scale of current skill levels on research-validated precursors to reading im proved prediction in the current study, although results were still in ferior to the screening test (64% and 80% valid positives, respectivel y). Combining test results and teacher ratings resulted in 88% identif ication of those who failed in first, second, or third grade, suggesti ng that both teacher ratings and screening tests should be used to ide ntify the largest number of those who will later fail in reading. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.