DRP DRP Assessment Principles 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: On what theoretical model of reading is the DRP assessment based?
- Bottom-up phonics-only model
- Interactive compensatory model
- A comprehension-focused model emphasizing meaning construction from prose (Correct answer)
- A strictly behaviorist stimulus-response model
Correct answer: A comprehension-focused model emphasizing meaning construction from prose
The DRP is grounded in a comprehension-focused view of reading that emphasizes a reader's ability to construct meaning from continuous prose text.
Question 2: Which psychometric property ensures that the DRP consistently measures reading comprehension across administrations?
- Content validity
- Test reliability (Correct answer)
- Face validity
- Concurrent validity
Correct answer: Test reliability
Reliability ensures that DRP scores are consistent — a student taking the test twice under similar conditions should receive similar scores.
Question 3: What evidence supports the DRP's validity as a measure of reading comprehension?
- Its correlation with other established reading comprehension measures (Correct answer)
- Its attractive test booklet design
- The fact that it has been published for many decades
- Teacher opinions about its usefulness
Correct answer: Its correlation with other established reading comprehension measures
DRP validity is supported by studies showing strong correlations between DRP scores and other validated measures of reading comprehension.
Question 4: Why does the DRP use authentic prose rather than specially written passages?
- Authentic texts are cheaper to produce
- They ensure the assessment reflects real-world reading demands (Correct answer)
- Specially written texts are always easier
- Authentic texts are less likely to contain errors
Correct answer: They ensure the assessment reflects real-world reading demands
Using authentic prose ensures the DRP measures comprehension of the kind of text students actually encounter in school and daily life, enhancing ecological validity.
Question 5: What term describes the DRP's ability to measure what it claims to measure — reading comprehension?
- Reliability
- Validity (Correct answer)
- Standardization
- Norming
Correct answer: Validity
Validity refers to the degree to which a test measures the construct it intends to measure; for the DRP, this means accurately assessing reading comprehension.
Question 6: How does the DRP's use of a cloze format support the assessment of genuine comprehension?
- It allows students to skip difficult sections
- It requires students to use context from the whole passage to identify the correct word (Correct answer)
- It measures memory rather than understanding
- It reduces the time needed for administration
Correct answer: It requires students to use context from the whole passage to identify the correct word
The cloze format requires readers to integrate meaning across sentences and paragraphs to identify the correct word, making it a direct test of passage comprehension.
DRP DRP Assessment Principles 1
On what theoretical model of reading is the DRP assessment based?