The Relationship of Time Spent on Reading Instruction to Reading Gains as Measured by Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests.

This paper reports findings of research done concerning the productivity of types of classroom reading instruction in a sample of New York State elementary classrooms. Data was gathered from approximately 5,800 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students in five New York State school districts during the spring semester of the 1974-75 school year. The main design of the analysis is based upon the "production function" paradigm used by economists, in which attention is paid to how the inputs of "ingredients" to a production process are mixed together to produce outcomes. To pinpoint instructional resources going into reading, teachers, aides, and specialists were asked to supply figures for minutes per week of reading instruction in each of four instructional modes: whole group, small group, individualized instruction, and individual help. Outcomes were measured by a standardized achievement test and a set of criterion-referenced tests. An important finding was that minutes of classroom teacher instruction seem to be related to student performances when measured by the criterion-referenced tests but not when measured by the standardized test. (MKM)