A Cognitive Approach to Word-Reading for First Nations Children

Abstract

This study sought to examine the relationship between cognitive processing according to the PASS model, assessed by the Cognitive Assessment System, and to determine the relationship between CAS and reading of a sample of First Nations children. Forty nine First Nations children participated in this study. The students were in Grades 3 and 4 from a southern Saskatchewan First Nations school. The Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) (Naglieri, & Das, 1997), and the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) (Woodcock, et aI., 2001) were employed in order to address the research questions posed. Also included in the study was a teacher rating scale for student reading. The First Nations sample CAS scores were slightly lower than the standardization sample. There was a significant relationship between the CAS factors and the reading measures. Letter-Word Identification was most highly correlated with Planning and Successive processing. Word-Attack was significantly correlated with Planning, Successive processing, and also Attention. The statistical tests to detect differences between the three teacher rated groups, on the WJ III ACH and CAS factors, were deemed inappropriate because of a very small 'above average' group. Therefore, all results involving this sample must be interpreted with caution due to small sample size. There are many factors that may have accounted for the outcome of the scores in this study; such as the testing situation, the sample size, the uniqueness of the sample, the measures themselves when used with First Nations children. A mixed methods approach to further research examining reading and cognitive processes in First Nations children may shed even more light on this complex issue.