Early Reading Diagnostics for Precision Literacy Support in Key Stage Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22927719Keywords:
decoding, diagnostic assessment, early literacy, Key Stage 1, precision literacy support, reading profilesAbstract
This study addressed the need for more precise identification of early reading difficulties among Key Stage 1 learners by determining distinct literacy profiles and translating diagnostic results into targeted instructional support. A cross-sectional person-centered diagnostic mapping design was employed among 150 Grade 1 to Grade 3 learners in Santa Maria, Isabela, selected through grade-balanced stratified random sampling. Data were gathered using an Early Reading Diagnostic Battery covering phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Descriptive statistics, Latent Profile Analysis, and Classification and Regression Tree analysis were applied. Results revealed that reading comprehension registered the lowest overall percentage performance at 63.53%, while substantial variability was observed in oral reading fluency. Latent Profile Analysis produced four distinct groups: Foundational Support, 23.3%; Fluency Support, 28.7%; Meaning-Making Support, 20.7%; and Consolidated Readers, 27.3%. Overall, 72.7% of the learners belonged to profiles requiring targeted literacy assistance. The four-profile model demonstrated strong classification quality with an entropy value of .91. CART analysis achieved 87.3% classification accuracy, with decoding emerging as the strongest distinguishing variable, followed by comprehension and oral reading fluency. The findings indicate that early reading difficulties cannot be adequately addressed through uniform remediation. Skill-specific diagnostic information can provide a stronger basis for matching learners with appropriate foundational, fluency, or comprehension interventions and for strengthening precision literacy support during the early years of schooling.
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