Exploring the Relationship Between Language and Reading Skills and Ohio Graduation Test Performance

Download or read book Exploring the Relationship Between Language and Reading Skills and Ohio Graduation Test Performance written by Dawn M. Betts and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the relationship between high school students, language and literacy skills and their performance on state mandated assessments, specifically the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT). An additional goal of the research was to identify language/literacy skills that are predictive of OGT performance. A total of 96 Ohio public high school students were enrolled in the study and were placed in one of two groups based on their OGT results: Group 1- pass group (N= 56)or Group 2- fail group (N=40). The pass group passed all five sections of the OGT on their first attempt. The fail group failed one or more sections of the OGT on their first attempt. All participants were administered two language (CELF-4, TLC-E) and one reading assessment (GSRT-1) during a 180 minute time period. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze scores for group differences. As well, discriminant analysis and binary logistic regression were used to classify groups and to identify language/literacy predictors, respectively. Results of the analyses indicate that significant differences existed between the two groups on the measures of receptive, expressive and higher level language skills and reading ability. Furthermore, the discriminant analysis revealed that participants could be classified into their respective groups with 77.2% accuracy. Likewise, using the logistic regression function, it was determined that the measure of reading comprehension was the chief predictor of OGT success and could be used with 81.5% accuracy. School designation/rating appeared to have little bearing on how participants were prepared to take the OGT and subsequently, little to do with whether students were more likely to pass or fail.