Psychometric Analysis of the Elementary Experience Scale and Its Predictability of Elementary Literacy Scores

Abstract

This research highlights the importance of promoting appropriate family literacy practices to avoid barriers between the home and school lives of students. The development of an Elementary Experiences Scale (EES) was necessary to predict the parent’s perception of their own school experiences in comparison to their students’ literacy achievement scores. Parents of elementary students were asked to complete a survey about their personal school experiences and the responses were compared to their student’s Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) scores. Results found that the parent survey predicted student reading achievement variance for correct letter sounds and whole words read in nonsense word fluency. The survey did not predict any of the reading fluency outcomes for the mid-year assessment; however, the survey did predict composite scores of the first grade students. These findings suggest some validation of the scale’s use in predicting the effect of parents’ elementary experiences on that of their students’ early reading progression. This research also helps to support the need for family literacy practices in the schools.