A1 Journal article (refereed)
Teachers’ Ability to Identify Children at Early Risk for Reading Difficulties in Grade 1 (2018)
Virinkoski, R., Lerkkanen, M.-K., Holopainen, L., Eklund, K., & Aro, M. (2018). Teachers’ Ability to Identify Children at Early Risk for Reading Difficulties in Grade 1. Early Childhood Education Journal, 46(5), 497-509. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0883-5
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Virinkoski, Riitta; Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina; Holopainen, Leena; Eklund, Kenneth; Aro, Mikko
Journal or series: Early Childhood Education Journal
ISSN: 1082-3301
eISSN: 1573-1707
Publication year: 2018
Volume: 46
Issue number: 5
Pages range: 497-509
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Publication country: Netherlands
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-017-0883-5
Publication open access: Not open
Publication channel open access:
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/59229
Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate what kinds of assessment practices classroom teachers and special educational needs (SEN) teachers use in assessing first grade students' pre-reading skills (letter knowledge and phonological skills). Further, we investigated to what extent teachers were able to identify difficulties in pre-reading skills of the children with the lowest achievement scores. The accuracy of teacher ratings of students' pre-reading skills was studied by comparing teacher ratings to actual test scores. The data from two Finnish longitudinal studies were used: JLD sample (class teachers, n = 91; SEN teachers, n = 51; 200 students) and First Steps sample (class teachers, n = 136; SEN teachers, n = 34; 598 students). Results showed first, that most classroom teachers used qualitative assessment and SEN teachers also relied on tests. Secondly, although teacher ratings correlated with the test scores, closer investigation of sensitivity and specificity of the teacher ratings revealed that a number of children in need of extra support for their early reading development according to test scores remained unidentified. Moreover, there were some students identified by the teacher to have difficulties despite test scores not confirming that. The findings underline the importance for developing more specific and reliable assessment tools for teachers to use for pedagogical purposes, and respectively, the need to pay more attention to early identification of reading difficulties in teacher training program curricula.
Keywords: learning difficulties; sensitivity (psychology); reading disorders; recognition; risk assessment; teachers; special education (teaching)
Free keywords: assessment; teacher; pre-reading skills; at-risk students; specificity
Contributing organizations
Related projects
- Competitive funding to strengthen universities’ research profiles. Profiling actions at the JYU, round 1
- Hämäläinen, Keijo
- Research Council of Finland
- Luokkahuoneen vuorovaikutusprosessien
- Lerkkanen, Marja-Kristiina
- Research Council of Finland
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2018
JUFO rating: 1