Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to determine students’ early reading profiles at the beginning and end of kindergarten using existing school-based measures with a sample of Spanish speaking, Latinx students. Using latent profile analysis, a multivariate analytic technique that empirically identifies profiles based on student responses to multiple measures, students’ performance was compiled using typical universal screening measures of reading, a formal measure of English language development, and information regarding referral for special education evaluation and grade retention. At the beginning of the year, students demonstrating greater English proficiency also had increased ability on initial sound fluency and letter naming fluency tasks in English. By the end of the year, students demonstrating continued deficits in early literacy skills (phoneme segmentation fluency, letter naming, and nonsense word fluency) included students referred for special education or grade level retention than students who demonstrated greater proficiency in these skill areas. Recommendations for research and school-based practices are provided.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge that the current project was an extension of Dr. Diane Haager and Dr. Michelle Windmueller’s PLUS research while at California State University, Los Angeles. We would also like to thank Dr. Haager and Dr. Emily Solari for their initial feedback to earlier drafts of this manuscript and Dr. Higareda for his earlier contributions to the methodology for this project’s proposal.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Database material preparation and analyses were led by Dr. Ryan Grimm, with initial work by Arturo Garcia. The manuscript was written by Dr. Aceves, Dr. Fritschmann, and Dr. Grimm. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of Loyola Marymount University. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.
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Data from the school-site’s existing early screening procedures was obtained directly from the district in electronic format with masked student identification numbers to protect the personal identification of individual student information. Given the use of masked data, obtaining individual informed consent was not required.
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Aceves, T.C., Fritschmann, N.S., Grimm, R.P. et al. Developing Early Reading Profiles for Latinx Kindergarten Students Using Typical Universal Screeners. Contemp School Psychol 25, 595–607 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-020-00288-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-020-00288-8