Another g+specific abilities and rdg. ach. study

Yet another g+specific CHC-to-rdg achievement study has been published. This Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment "in press" article, by Nick Benson, also uses the WJ III norm data [conflict of interest disclosure - I'm a coauthor or the WJ III]. This research differs significantly from most all prior g+specific abilities causal SEM modeling investigations by including not only effects between CHC cognitive abilities and reading, but causal effects among specific subskills of reading (reading fluency, basic reading skills, reading comprehension). The abstract is below.

Blogmaster comment - the evidence continue to mount that indicates, when using a comprehensive cognitive ability taxonomy (CHC theory), construct valid measures from the major broad CHC domains, and methodology that allows the simultaneous effects of both general intelligence (g) and specific cognitive abilities in the analysis, that some specific cognitive abilities are important in understanding school achievement above an beyond the influence (effect) of g. Other studies that support this position are listed below the current featured article abstract.

Abstract

• Structural equation modeling procedures are applied to the standardization sample of the Woodcock–Johnson III to simultaneously estimate the effects of a psychometric general factor (g), specific cognitive abilities, and reading skills on reading achievement. The results of this study indicate that g has a strong direct relationship with basic reading skills until about sixth grade. Also, g is found to have a strong indirect effect on reading fluency and comprehension across grade levels. Basic reading skills has a strong direct effect on reading fluency across grade levels. The effect of cognitive processing speed (Gs) on reading fluency increase with age. Reading fluency initially has a strong direct effect on reading comprehension, but this effect is reduced with age. Conversely, the direct effect of crystallized intelligence or knowledge (Gc) on reading comprehension increase with age.

Other supporting g+specific abilities research studies.

• Bensen, N. (2007, in press). Cattell-Horn-Carroll cognitive abilities and reading achievement. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment (this is the article featured above)
  

• Flanagan, D. P. (2000). Wechsler-based CHC cross-battery assessment and reading achievement: Strengthening the validity of interpretations drawn from Wechsler test scores. School Psychology Quarterly, 15(3), 295-329.

• Floyd, R. G., Keith, T. Z., Taub, G. E., & McGrew, K. S. (2007). Cattell–Horn–Carroll cognitive abilities and their effects on reading decoding skills: g has indirect effects, more specific abilities have direct effects. School Psychology Quarterly, 22, 200-233.

• Keith, T. Z. (1999). Effects of general and specific abilities on student achievement: Similarities and differences across ethnic groups. School Psychology Quarterly, 14(3), 239-262.

• McGrew, K. S., Flanagan, D. P., Keith, T. Z., & Vanderwood, M. (1997). Beyond g: The impact of Gf-Gc specific cognitive abilities research on the future use and interpretation of intelligence tests in the schools . School Psychology Review, 26(2), 189-210.

• Taub, G., Floyd, R. G., Keith, T. Z., & McGrew, K. S. (in press). Effects of general and broad cognitive abilities on mathematics achievement from kindergarten through high school. School Psychology Quarterly.

• Vanderwood, M. L., McGrew, K. S., Flanagan, D. P., & Keith, T. Z. (2002). The contribution of general and specific cognitive abilities to reading achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 13, 159-188.

Technorati Tags: psychology, school psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, education, achievement, intelligence, IQ tests, IQ scores, g, general intelligence, specifc abiliites, domain specific, SEM, WJ-R, WJ III, CHC theory, Cattell-Horn-Carroll, Gf-Gc

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