Examining variance in reading comprehension among developing readers: Words in context (CurriculumBased Measurement in Reading) versus words out of context (Word Lists)

Curriculum-based measurement in reading (CBM-R) is a widely used measure for identifying students in need of reading intervention and monitoring their progress. Despite a large base of research supporting the efficacy of CBM-R as a measure of comprehension, critics maintain that CBM-R is little more than a measure of word reading. The current study extends existing research by examining the extent to which CBM-R is a measure of student performance beyond word reading rate and accuracy as well as examining the benefits of administering a word list to early elementary students. Participants included 143 first-grade and 147 second-grade students. All students were administered a norm-referenced measure of reading achievement, two CBM-R passages, and two word lists. Results replicate and extend the literature by highlighting potential differences in the reading behavior of developing and fluent readers and demonstrating the potential need to administer measures of word list reading when conducting screenings in early grades.