Comparing Options for Screening of Reading Difficulties in Middle School: Do Teacher Ratings Improve Accuracy?

Reading problems may emerge beyond the primary grades when the linguistic and cognitive demands of reading comprehension increase in middle school. The accurate identification of students requiring supplemental reading instruction is critical to provide remediation and decrease the prevalence and likelihood of reading problems in secondary settings and beyond. Nevertheless, research guidance on middle school reading screening is scarce. This study analyzed data from 193 sixth-grade students across 12 classrooms to examine (a) how well various reading screeners predicted proficiency on the year-end state assessment, (b) what combinations of reading screeners were most accurate, (c) the extent to which a brief teacher rating improved classification accuracy, and (d) the agreement rates between the most accurate combinations of screeners. Screeners included the Sight Word Efficiency, oral reading fluency (ORF), maze, and a multiple-choice reading comprehension (MCRC) assessment. Results from logistic regressions and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses suggested that no single screener was appropriate for use and that combinations of two or three screeners assessing different reading skills improved classification accuracy (i.e., ORF + MCRC, ORF + maze + MCRC). Moreover, teacher ratings further improved classification accuracy but its predictive value depended on the combination of screeners. Finally, there was a high agreement regarding which students were identified as needing intervention between these combinations of screeners.