My Project

Children are typically asked to learn in rooms that exceed recommended noise levels. The impact of high noise levels on academic performance has not been well documented. This project includes a series of studies that use standardized psychometric measures to assess the effect of noise on the measurement of academic ability and achievement. Measures are made both in quiet and in noise on each child using alternate forms of each test. Abilities evaluated or to be evaluated include reading readiness, vocabulary, spelling, arithmetic, silent and oral reading comprehension, and oral reading rate, and accuracy. Children’s perceived difficulty working in noise may be an important factor in their attitudes toward learning and independent reading in the classroom. Interviews are therefore conducted at the end of test sessions to assess children’s perception of working in both situations. In future phases of the project children\'s ability to learn new information in quiet and in noise will be evaluated using dynamic assessment techniques. Collectively, these studies will suggest how noise impacts on the measurement of current skill levels and the learning of new skills, both of which have implications for long term achievement.