Slaughter, H. B., & Gallas, E. J. (1978, March). Will out-of-level norm-referenced testing improve the selection of program participants and the diagnosis of reading comprehension in ESEA Title I programs? [Paper presentation]. Annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Toronto, Ontario (Canada). https://eric.ed.gov/?q=ED155213

Out of level testing, one or two grades below level. Locator tests were used to estimate the level students would have been assigned, however, locator tests were not used to assign students to levels.

101 sixth grade students in Title I schools. One group of students was administered a grade-level test and a test one level below grade level. Another group took the grade-level test and a test level two levels below grade level.

1977 Edition of the California Achievement Test, Reading Comprehension subtest.

Low achieving students tested two levels below grade level obtained statistically significant lower standard scale and NCE scores than they obtained on the in-level test. Results were in the same direction for students tested one level below, although not significant. Of 32 students whose locator tests placed them farther than two levels out, only 12 students actually required tests this far removed from grade level placement. Results suggest that the locator tests underestimated student abilities for almost two-thirds of these students.