Evaluating Competence in Functional Reading: Grades VI - XII

This paper describes a research project which was designed to analyze the extent of functional literacy at different grade levels in Sweden. Functional literacy is defined here as the use of the mechanics of reading for different information purposes. A test battery was administered to 2600 students in grades six through twelve. The test battery was intended to represent a sample of important skills needed for functional literacy in a modern industrial society. The battery included comprehension tests of normal prose, tables, forms encountered in everyday life, difficult prose such as text from a home insurance policy, and a reading rate score. The tests were administered twice with an interval of one year between testing. Some results were an increase in reading comprehension from grade to grade at all levels, with the exception of the highest percentiles in grades eleven and twelve, and wide overlapping of scores between grades. Questionnaires were sent to 950 head teachers asking for their opinion of the value of the skills measured by the test battery and asking them to indicate a minimum score for satisfactory ability. Partial data results are discussed. A majority of the teachers who responded indicated that they felt the skills measured were important. (MKM)