Publications & Resources

Analysis of Reading Skills Development From Kindergarten Through First Grade: An Application of Growth Mixture Modeling to Sequential Processes

Oct 1998

Bengt Muthen, Siek-Toon Khoo, David Francis and Christy Kim Boscardin

In this study, the researchers investigated the use of a growth mixture model to measure reading progress of kindergarten and first grade students. Using this model they found that kindergarten children with slow growth in phonemic awareness performed poorly in word recognition through the end of first grade. Children who started lower in kindergarten but grew rapidly in phonemic awareness performed significantly better than children did with low phonemic awareness. The authors believe that the model may be useful in identifying children at risk of reading failure.

Muthén, B., Khoo, S.-T., Francis, D., & Boscardin, C. K. (1998). Analysis of reading skills development from kindergarten through first grade: An application of growth mixture modeling to sequential processes (CSE Report 489). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).