Reading strategies as a predictor of student scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Reading Exam at the eleventh-grade level

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student responses to survey questions regarding before, during, and after reading strategies administered as part of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) Reading Test to eleventh-grade students in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and school average scores on the 2002 PSSA Reading Test. Similar research in reading was conducted by J. Wells (2002) at the fifth-grade level and in the area of writing at the ninth-grade level by R. N. Shields (2000).; Multiple regression techniques were used to determine the correlation between school average scores and the predictor variables in this study. A correlation matrix of all variables demonstrated a modest but significant relationship between school scores and the majority of the 16 reading strategies. In terms of correlation between the dependent variable of school scores on the PSSA Reading Test and the independent variables in the study, the greatest correlation was derived from the strategy involving students rereading parts of the selection, and this variable provided the greatest predictive value of school scores. The examination of data led to the conclusion that the factors of socioeconomic status and ethnic background were moderating factors on the relationship between reading strategies and school scores.; This study contributes to the body of research on effective reading strategies utilized by good readers. With the state and national movement to academic standards and the high-stakes nature of large-scale testing, this study also informs those efforts of teachers to help students master the standards in reading as measured on the PSSA Reading Assessment.