Reading Readiness and Reading Achievement in First Grade
Recent studies have generally shown that placement in first grade is not advisable solely on the basis of a chronological age of six years. For example, Betts1 reports that investigators have found that a mental age of six to six and one-half is essential for suc cessful reading achievement. Hildreth2 states that children below the range from 6 yrs. 3 mos. to 6 yrs. 6 mos. do not succeed as well as older children. On the other hand Gates3 has presented data to indicate that children with a mental age of five can successfully be taught to read when the individual child's abilities are considered and adequate methods and materials are utilized. Furthermore, it has also been shown that children under six with above average intelligence can make satisfactory progress in first grade.4 In addition to the factors of age and intel ligence, other factors are undoubtedly related to reading success in the first grade. These factors have been incorporated into the con cept of reading readiness. These factors imply that the child has had a variety of visual, motor, auditory, and language (verbal) ex perience all related to reading. They include: acquiring a fund of information about objects and events common to childhood; building and making things; playing cooperative games; singing songs and reciting rhymes; listening to stories being told and read; tell ing stories and exploring pictures; drawing, tracing, painting, cutting, and pasting; con versing, talking, acting, and playing language games; etc. Tests have been designed to measure the development of reading readiness and these tests have been proven to be positively re lated to reading achievement. Wright5 found a correlation .44 and .61 between the Metro politan Readiness Tests and the Gates Pri mary Reading Tests and teacher's marks respectively. Monroe6 reported for her read ing aptitude tests a correlation of .75 with reading achievement measured by Gray's Oral Paragraphs and the Iota Word Test. Yet from Monroe's manual it is also brought out that even though children may be deficient in reading aptitude, they may attain average success in reading. Twenty-five percent of those who scored at the 20th percentile on the aptitude tests became average readers. Similarly, Grant7 wrote that "a high readiness score alone does not always assure success in reading; and a low readiness score does not always mean failure." Since children are nevertheless placed in first grade when they are six years of age, the problem facing schools is one of insuring reading success for as many children as possible; with whatever degree of intelligence or of reading readiness they possess. It is the problem of preventing the reported average failure of 20 to 25 percent of first grade children principally because of reading difficulty.8