Effects of task training on kindergarten students' performance on early literacy measures

The use of early literacy screening measures helps determine which students are at risk for future reading difficulties. However, there has been some recent concern related to the classification validity of screening measures (Hintze, Ryan, & Stoner, 2003; Nelson, 2008). Low classification validity results in the identification of a large number of false positives, students who are falsely identified as being at risk. Task training may help to address false positive rates by providing brief instruction focused on helping students understand demands and expectations of the measure. This true experimental study investigated the effects of task training for three DIBELS subtests (i.e., Initial Sound Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency) in order to differentiate the need for supplemental instruction from task misunderstanding for students in kindergarten. Participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group and change in instructional status recommendation between pretest and posttest were examined along with the change in score on the individual subtests. Results indicated that students in the treatment group (n=20) were significantly more likely to move up in instructional status. On the pretest, all students in both groups demonstrated the need for supplemental instruction. Based on results of the posttest, only 35% of the treatment group still demonstrated the need for supplemental instruction while 82% of students in the control group still demonstrated the need for extra support. Additionally, students in the treatment group outperformed the control group (n=22) when a combination of subtest performance was examined.