Developing and Validating Progress Monitoring Measures

Currently there is a deficit of resources available to adequately monitor the developmental progress of a student's comprehension of expository language. Typically school districts administer benchmark assessments to students 3 times during the school year (fall, winter, and spring) to determine if students are on track for their age and educational level. Recently narrative language benchmark assessments have been developed (Petersen & Spencer, 2012), yet benchmark assessments for expository language may provide additional information on language and reading comprehension ability. My senior project aims to expand the current language benchmark assessments to include expository measures. The project will entail the creation and analysis of nine benchmark expository passages with parallel linguistic complexity and content. These expository passages, with my preliminary psychometric analyses, will be used in future large-scale psychometric studies, and additional progress monitoring passages will be developed. Expository measures in addition to the already created narrative measures may provide school districts with a more valid representation of their students' reading comprehension abilities.