An investigation of executive function impact on reading assessment performance in online versus in-person administration
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Citation
Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this analysis was to determine if executive function affected reading assessment stability variably in online and in-person administration formats. Method. Participants (n = 67, ages 7-9) completed executive function assessments and then completed reading assessments at two different time points in order to establish pre- test/post-test assessment validity. Participants completed reading assessments in one of three conditions: all in-person, in-person and subsequently online, or all online. Executive function performance was categorized as “good” or “poor” and pre/post reading assessment correlations were calculated. Data was subsequently grouped into four general areas of reading: rate, accuracy, comprehension, and phonological awareness. Analyses were carried out to determine if pre/post reading component correlations were significantly predicted by executive function performance and assessment administration group. Additional variables included in analysis were age, gender, and study group. Results. Linear regression models and subsequent one-way analysis of variance (ANOVAs) did not indicate that pre-test/post-test reading component correlations were significantly predicted by executive function within the context of administration groups. Age, gender, and study group were also not found to significantly predict the correlation values. However, phonological awareness correlations were shown to be significantly
predicted by administration group. Wherein participants in the in-person administration group tended to have higher correlation values compared to the online administration group. Reading assessment correlation to executive function was then confirmed to be in-line with current literature.
Conclusion: Analyses of executive function categorization across administration group was not shown to be a significant predictor of pre/post reading component correlations. This suggests that online administration of behavioral assessments exhibits similar stability to administration of assessments in-person. Moreover, this also suggests that individuals who struggle with executive function deficits are not significantly more likely to have their performance negatively impacted on these assessments. Limitations and future study directions are also discussed.