Horton, S. V., & Lovitt, T. C. (1994). A comparison of two methods of administering group reading inventories to diverse learners . Remedial and Special Education , 15 (6), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1177/074193259401500606

Two modes of test administration were used: pencil-and-paper, computer-delivered.

Participants included 72 middle and high school students, 38 males and 34 females. Thirteen of the participants had learning disabilities, 16 were remedial students, and 43 were normally achieving. Of the 29 students with learning disabilities or identified as remedial, 19 were Caucasian, 8 were Asian, and 2 were Hispanic. All were classified as middle class. Three teachers with at least 8 years of experience also participated.

The measure consisted of nine multiple choice tests, each with 15 questions, 12 factual and 3 interpretive. All questions had four possible answer choices.

Six findings were reported: (a) 7% of the students scored substantially higher on the computerized group reading inventory, and 4% performed substantially higher with the pencil-and-paper method. Only three students with learning disabilities displayed a substantial difference, all favoring the pencil-and-paper method on interpretive questions. (b) Overall on interpretive questions, the students with learning disabilities scored slightly higher with pencil-and-paper, and the normally achieving students scored marginally higher on the computer assessments. (c) On factual questions, the results marginally favored the computer assessments for both the students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving peers. The students with learning disabilities in middle school social studies, however, scored markedly better with pencil-and-paper. In high school social studies, both groups scored marginally higher on the computer assessments. (d) Results indicated that students with learning disabilities generally comprehend information as well when questions are presented on computer as when presented from a textbook. (e) 70% of the students favored learning information from a computer rather than from a textbook. (f) Each teacher preferred using the computer to evaluate their students' levels of independent interaction with the textbook.