Linking the WRMT-R/NU to Reading First

The items listed below will help you match the WRMT-R/NU to the Reading First criteria. Use the information and sample wording within your grant application. You can highlight and then cut and paste the text directly into your grant application document.

This proposal for Reading First funding includes the use of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised, Normative Update (WRMT-R/NU). This individually administered, diagnostic reading assessment, published by Pearson Assessments, has a proven record of accuracy with the Reading First target grade levels K-3. Based on scientific research and tested with years of actual use, the WRMT-R/NU provides thorough coverage of reading readiness, basic skills, and comprehension. The normative update, completed in 1998, is based on a national sample of 3,184 students in kindergarten through grade 12, with fall and spring data sets. A demographic distribution based on Bureau of Census statistics for sex, race/ethnicity, geographic region, parental education, and educational placement was established for each grade, for the sample as a whole, and for the joint distribution of race/ethnicity and parental education, ensuring a nationally representative sample.

The WRMT-R/NU includes two psychometrically parallel forms to allow for accurate retest information. Combining the results of both forms provides an even more comprehensive assessment. The WRMT-R/NU offers a wide array of scores and excellent diagnostic ability. It helps identify a child's specific strengths and weaknesses in reading skills. The test also helps determine the exact nature and the root causes of students' difficulties, and provides a direction for targeted remediation. Additionally, the WRMT-R/NU helps define reading strategies for students with special needs.

Beyond the rigorous reliability and validity research done during the initial development process and the normative update, the validation of the WRMT-R/NU has been documented in the WRMT-R/NU Bibliography (see below). The WRMT-R/NU Examiner's Manual provides in-depth data on its theory, content and interpretation, test construction design, and experimental methodology. The WRMT-R/NU meets and exceeds the definition of "sufficient statistical rigor" required for instruments used under Reading First.

WRMT-R/NU subtests and clusters address the identified essential components of reading instruction in the following ways:

Readiness Cluster (Form G only): Visual-Auditory Learning measures the subject's ability to form associations between visual stimuli and oral responses. Letter Identification measures the subject's ability to identify upper and lower case letters in different type styles. These subtests address the principles of phonics, and form the foundation for discovering the student's knowledge of the bridge between sounds in speech and letters in print.

Basic Skills Cluster: Word Identification requires subjects to identify isolated words, which increase in difficulty and become less familiar as the test goes on. Word Attack measures the subject's ability to apply phonic and structural analysis skills in order to pronounce nonsense words. Both subtests address some fluency issues, since reading words accurately and automatically is a precursor to reading fluently.

Reading Comprehension Cluster: Word Comprehension measures students' vocabulary knowledge in four different subject areas: General Reading, Science-Mathematics, Social Studies, and Humanities. Vocabulary subtests in Antonyms, Synonyms, and Analogies measure reading vocabulary at different levels of cognitive processing. Passage Comprehension requires subjects to study a short passage and identify a key word missing from it. The items are constructed in such a way that subjects cannot supply a correct response without understanding the passage as a whole. Students demonstrate their text comprehension ability through the use of reading comprehension and vocabulary skills.

As a rigorously scientific, individually administered, diagnostic reading assessment, the WRMT-R/NU is ideally suited to the task of establishing a research-based reading program in our state.

Reading Component	Supported by WRMT-R/NU?	Explanation
Phonics		The Readiness Cluster (Form G only) subtests in Visual-Auditory Learning and Letter Identification demonstrate the student's ability to connect sounds in speech and letters in print.
Vocabulary		The Word Comprehension subtest within the Reading Comprehension Cluster measures students' vocabulary knowledge in the subject areas of General Reading, Science-Mathematics, Social Studies, and Humanities.
Text Comprehension		The Passage Comprehension subtest within the Reading Comprehension Cluster measures students' ability to read and comprehend a sentence or short passage.