Two NIU psychology professors received a $1.5-million grant to develop an online test that could change how reading comprehension is assessed.

Professors Keith Millis and Joe Magliano are developing the “Reading Strategy Assessment Tool,” which will measure how well college and high school students understand the text they read. The test will also pinpoint areas where comprehension breaks down, even as students are reading the material.

“Most tests of comprehension, such as the SAT, are multiple-choice based, but they have limitations because they don’t really tap deeper into the comprehension processes,” Millis said.

By having test subjects answer impromptu questions or think aloud while reading, the researchers identify strategies that indicate deep or superficial comprehension, he said.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Educational Sciences is funding the four-year project to produce a Web-based comprehension test that eventually could be used worldwide.

The online test will build upon research that analyzes student responses at critical points during the reading process, Magliano said.

“Good students are active readers, and our goal with this test is to identify the processes that readers use to gain a sense of what they’re reading,” Magliano said.

They hope to have the Web-based prototype up by 2007 and will assess readers in their late adolescence and initially test students at NIU.