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This study investigated the reliability and structural validity of Elementary Reading Attitude Survey ([ERAS]; McKenna and Kear, 1990) scores in 575 academically talented students attending an academic summer program. Results indicated that ERAS Academic and Recreational scores had satisfactory internal consistency coefficients, and that participants' reading attitudes were near the top of the normative distribution of ERAS scores. Exploratory factor analysis of ERAS scores supported two factors measuring academic and recreational reading attitudes, and significantly higher scores on reading attitudes were found for girls at three grade levels, with medium to large effect sizes.
For some time, there has been an ssumption that the desire to read and reading achievement are related (Ley & Trentham, 1987), and several studies have indicated that attitudes toward reading are related to scores on reading achievement tests (Askov & Fishback, 1973; Diamond & Onwuegbuzie, 2001; Swanson, 1982; Walberg & Tsai, 1985). However, McKenna and Kear (1990) observed that recent research in reading assessment was more concerned with comprehension rather than attitude, and argued that reading researchers were ignoring an important aspect in the development of literacy. Attitude toward reading has been defined as students' feelings toward reading, which result in approaching or avoiding reading tasks (Cooler & Alexander, 1984). In this paper, we examined the reliability and structural validity of scores on the ERAS (McKenna & Kear, 1990), an instrument designed to assess reading attitudes in elementaryaged students. To date, there has been no examination of the psychometric properties of this instrument's scores in academically talented students.
The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
McKenna and Kear (1990, p. 626) reported developing the ERAS, "a public-domain instrument... [that would] enable teachers to estimate attitude levels efficiently and reliably" in an attempt to increase research on attitudes toward reading. Based on a standardization sample of over 18,000 students in grades 1-6 from 95 school districts in 38 states, the 20-item instrument yields three scores: a recreational reading score, an academic reading score, and a total score. McKenna and Kear reported moderate to high internal consistency coefficients for ERAS scores as well as evidence of structural validity, and they published normative standards on the three scores for the six grades they studied.
Allen, Cipielewski, and Stanovich (1992) examined the convergent validity...