Early First-Grade Skills Related to Subsequent Reading Performance: A Seven Year Followup Study

Abstract

Reports seven-year followup study of 56 Ss to assess contributions of first-grade skills to subsequent reading performance. The Harrison-Stroud Reading Readiness Profiles and WISC were administered to Ss early in first grade to form a pool of 19 skill tests. Multiple regression analyses were used to screen the skill tests to arrive at a set of independent and significant reading predictors. Results showed that two slightly different sets of skills emerged as short- and long-term predictors. In grade one and two, the ability to understand that printed words stand for ideas and the ability to make visual discriminations were important. Information background and reasoning ability emerged as significant predictors for the long term beginning in second and third grades. The ability to name letters proved a significant and independent predictor at every grade level. An analysis of the relationship of letter naming to other skills revealed that letter-naming ability in early first grade was related to a variety of skills involved in the reading process including sensory and intellectual skills. Related research suggested that individual differences in letter-naming performance in kindergarten and early first grade may reflect, in part, maturational differences among children.