Greater Validity for Oral Reading Fluency: Can Miscues Help?

Abstract

Oral reading fluency (ORF), or number of words read correctly per minute, is well researched as a reliable and valid reading index for use in remedial and special education. However, widespread use has been limited, apparently by its lack of face validity as a measure of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to examine the criterion-related validity of traditional ORF and two miscue-based assessment types: (a) modified ORF, based on only meaning change miscues (ORF-M), severe meaning change miscues (ORF-S), and uncorrected miscues (ORF-U); and (b) modified oral reading accuracy (ORA), based on the same miscue types, to produce ORA-M, ORA-S, and ORA-U. Four external criteria were used to judge criterion-related validity: (a) teacher judgments of student reading ability, (b) the Analytical Reading Inventory (ARI) (Woods & Moe, 1985), (c) a maze procedure (multiple choice cloze), and (d) reading group placement (special education/Chapter 1 pull-out groups vs. lowest regular classroom reading group). Results did not favor any modifications of traditional ORF. A modified ORA (ORA-S) demonstrated predictive power comparable to traditional ORF, but with reduced interscorer accuracy. The study confirmed the strength of traditional ORF, but pointed out the potential for the practical use of selected miscue types as accuracy indices, if reliability problems can be overcome.

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