An Investigation into Factors that Differentiate Reading Comprehension Skill Profiles of Young Adolescent Students

Provincial literacy scores in Ontario provide results of academic achievement but little is known about achievement gaps between groups of students. This study focused on better understanding studentsâ reading comprehension skill profiles based on whether they met the provincial standard or not using data from a provincial reading achievement assessment. The study examined the differences in reading skill mastery among Grade 6 students, using Cognitive Diagnostic Modeling (CDM) that provided a much finer grained representation of studentsâ reading comprehension skills than traditional aggregated-test scoring (Jang, 2009). The responses of 122,269 Grade 6 Ontario students who wrote the 2012 English version of the provincially mandated reading achievement test developed by EQAO in 2012 were considered. This study examined differences in reading profiles among struggling adolescent readers based on their status of either Learning Disability (LD), participation within an English as a Second Language/English Literacy Development (ESL/ELD) program, as well as having both an LD and participation in a ESL/ELD program. Based on the findings, this study discusses how achievement groups show different patterns of mastery. Students who met or exceeded the provincial standard showed a strength in implicit understanding of text whereas struggling readers, that is, those who did not meet the provincial standard, most often mastered vocabulary, explicit understanding, and inference making over implicit understanding and making inferences. Overall, students most often mastered the skills of understanding vocabulary, explicit understanding, and making inferences over implicit understanding and textual organization. However, when studentsâ skill mastery profiles were considered according to LD, ESL/ELD, and a combined LD-ESL/ELD status, distinctive patterns of mastery were not evident as had been hypothesized. Put together, students achieving a Level 1 and Level 2 and students achieving a Level 3 and Level 4 showed similar skill master profiles, regardless of their status. The study further discusses how intervention focusing on building implicit understanding of text may help struggling readers increase their reading comprehension.Ph.D