| The purpose of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of two book and print awareness tests, the Concepts About Print test (CAP) and the Screening of Reading Readiness (SORR) - Book and Print Awareness portion. The variables of gender, family income, parents' education levels, and age were also examined to determine the effect that they have on performance on these measures. Both tests were individually administered to 120 participants, ages 4 and 5 Pearson Product Moment Correlations were calculated to determine the concurrent validity of the CAP test and the SORR - Book and Print Awareness portion. There was a significant positive correlation between the CAP test and the SORR Book and Print Awareness Total score. Additionally, there were intercorrelations found between the SORR Book and Print Awareness portion and between each SORR Book and Print Awareness portion and the SORR Book and Print Total score. A One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was computed to determine the differences in the performance scores of males and females on both tests. The results yielded no significant differences between the performance of males and females on the CAP test however, there were significant differences found between the performance scores of males and females regarding all three of the SORR scores. An ANOVA was also conducted to determine the effects of family income level on the participants' performance scores on the CAP test and the SORR - Book and Print Awareness portion. There were significant effects found for family income level on both tests. However, there was no linear relationship found when examining the means of the income level groups. The highest income level group actually had the lowest mean score on both measures, which is contrary to the expected results. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was computed to analyze the effects of the parental (mother, father) education levels on the participant's performance on the CAP test and SORR Print and Book Awareness portions. No significant effects were found regarding the mother's education level or father's education level on either of the tests. Initially an ANOVA was computed to test for mean differences on the CAP and SORR Print and Book Awareness portion based on two age groups (four year olds and five year olds). This analysis determined that the five year old participants in the study yielded significantly higher performance scores than the four year olds on both tests. The age groups were then further divided into four groups and these results showed that at each six month age difference, the mean scores increased. Additionally, a stepwise linear regression was computed to determine the best predictors of performance on the CAP Test score, the SORR Book and Print Awareness portions, and the SORR Print and Book Awareness portion Total score. The independent variables included were age, gender, family income level, mother's education level, and father's education level. The results indicated that out of the four variables examined, the best predictors of performance on the CAP test are the child's gender and age. Regarding the SORR Book and print Awareness portion, the results demonstrate that the best predictors of the child's performance are age, gender, and father's level of education. |
