A Curriculum-Based Measure of Language Comprehension for Preschoolers - Reliability and Validity of the Assessment of Story Comprehension

Oct 15, 2026

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Despite research showing language comprehension as essential for later reading, curriculum-based tools to assess these abilities in preschoolers remain limited. The Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) uses brief child-relevant stories and literal and inferential questions targeting causal and predictive inference skills, main story grammar components, and a novel vocabulary word. Pilot and iterative development precede evidence on administration fidelity, scoring reliability, alternate-form reliability, and validity from 237 children aged 3–5; results show strong reliability and strong correlations, but alternate-form reliability indicates further refinement.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Background: Literacy and Language Comprehension

Rationale for Early Intervention and Assessment

Inferential Language and Story Understanding

Assessing Inference Skills in Preschoolers

Purpose and Evaluation Focus

A Curriculum-Based Measure of Language Comprehension for Preschoolers: Reliability and Validity of the Assessment of Story Comprehension Assessment for Effective Intervention 2017, Vol. 42(4) 209–223 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2017 Reprints and permissions: [sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[ ](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[DOI: 10.1177/1534508417694121](DOI: 10.1177/1534508417694121)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/1534508417694121)[aei.sagepub.com](aei.sagepub.com) Trina D. Spencer, PhD 1, Howard Goldstein, PhD2, Elizabeth Spencer Kelley, PhD3, Amber Sherman, MS4, and Luke McCune, MA5 Abstract Despite research demonstrating the importance of language comprehension to later reading abilities, curriculumbased measures to assess language comprehension abilities in preschoolers remain lacking. The Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) features brief, child-relevant stories and a series of literal and inferential questions with a focus on causal and predictive inference skills surrounding the main story grammar components and a novel vocabulary word. Following an overview of the iterative development process and pilot studies, this article presents preliminary evidence of the fidelity of administration, reliability of scoring, alternate form reliability, and validity of the ASC. In all, 237 preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, participated in this study. Fidelity of administration and scoring reliability averaged over 90%. Concurrent validity with two established language measures revealed correlations ranging from .67 to .81. Test–retest reliability and internal consistency also indicated high levels of reliability for this new tool; however, alternate form reliability results suggest further work is needed. Preliminary results indicate that the ASC holds promise as a viable curriculumbased measure that early childhood educators can use for monitoring preschoolers’ progress in language comprehension. Keywords language, early childhood, curriculum-based measurement, comprehension Functional literacy is arguably the most important skill for academic success. Unfortunately, developing literacy skills is difficult for many students. More than 60% of fourth graders read below grade level, and for culturally and linguistically diverse subgroups, the proportion of students performing poorly on national reading tests is closer to 80%(National Center for Education Statistics, 2015) . Reading comprehension relies on both decoding and language comprehension skills (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover & Gough, 1986; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002; Tunmer & Hoover, 1992) . There is considerable research on early interventions to promote the development of decoding (e.g., Bailet, Repper, Murphy, Piasta, & Zettler-Greeley, 2013; Haager, Klingner, & Vaughn, 2007; Hurry & Sylva, 2007; Koutsoftas, Harmon, & Gray, 2009; VanDerHeyden, Snyder, Broussard, & Ramsdell, 2008), but there is limited research on early interventions designed to promote language comprehension (e.g., Spencer et al., 2012; Spencer, Petersen, Slocum, & Allen, 2015; Zucker, Solari, Landry, & Swank, 2013) . Effective intervention to promote oral language development, including language comprehension, is as important as decoding interventions. Early language experiences are important for later reading comprehension (Dooley & Matthews, 2009), making a focus on oral language an important component of early childhood education (Dickinson, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2010; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998) . Because preschool children are not yet readers, language comprehension, rather than reading comprehension, is the focus of instruction, intervention, and assessment. Skilled language comprehension as it relates to stories is linked to school achievement (Bishop & Edmundson, 1987; Feagans & Appelbaum, 1986) and specifically predicts later reading comprehension (Catts, Fey, Tomblin, & Zhang, 2002; 1 Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ

FAQs

What problem does the article address about assessing language comprehension in preschoolers?

It notes that curriculum-based measures for assessing language comprehension abilities in preschoolers are still lacking despite evidence that language comprehension strongly supports later reading.

How does the Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) work?

ASC uses brief child-relevant stories followed by literal and inferential questions designed to tap causal and predictive inference skills, main story grammar components, and a novel vocabulary word.

What reliability and validity evidence does the study report for the ASC?

Across 237 preschoolers, administration fidelity and scoring reliability averaged above 90%, and concurrent validity showed correlations with established language measures ranging from .67 to .81; however, alternate-form reliability suggests further work is needed.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McGucket