The Effects of Instruction and Practice in Nonsubstantive Test-Taking Techniques upon the Standardized Reading Test Scores of Selected Second Grade Students.

Two hypotheses were tested in this study: that second grade students who receive instruction and practice in nonsubstantive test taking techniques will achieve higher standardized reading test scores than second grade students who do not receive this instruction and practice both immediately following treatment and four months after treatment. The students were ranked according to total raw scores recorded on the pretest, the Stanford Reading Test, Primary I, Form X and alternately assigned from the ranking of raw scores and each classroom to the experimental and control conditions. The report describes the details of the testing procedures for both the experimental and control groups, and provides data supporting the contention that test wiseness is a potential source of variance in standardized test scores. The test-naive second graders receiving instruction and practice in nonsubstantive test taking techniques achieved significantly higher scores on the standardized reading tests. (Author/DI)