Standardised reading tests used across the primary school system are possibly inaccurate, a leading expert claimed yesterday.
The tests, which are used to provide information to parents, may exaggerate the performance of pupils, said Mr Matt Melvin, a school principal who has done research in the area for Dublin City University.
Mr Melvin, writing in the INTO journal In Touch, claimed the main test administered in schools, the Micra-T, tended to skew the performance of pupils towards the upper range of scores.
He declined to describe the tests as inaccurate, but said there were "serious question marks over them".
Mr Melvin carried out a survey of 847 pupils drawn from 19 co-educational primary schools. He also talked to a large number of teachers and principals involved in administering the tests.
Drawing on this information, an uneven distribution of scores was revealed, which could not be put down to an improvement in reading standards, he said.
The test results meant the performance of pupils could be "possibly exaggerated", he added.
"The size of the sample gathered and the diversity of schools involved suggests that similar doubts may be expressed regarding test results obtained in schools across the Irish primary sector," he added.
His discussions with primary teachers also revealed doubts about the tests.
"Doubts were expressed about the ability of a single test to give an accurate assessment of reading performance."
Another worry was whether pupils were being "coached" to do well in the tests.
"Familiarity with reading tests was acknowledged by most teachers as a problem.
"This tended to undermine the validity of results, since both teachers and children were aware of the content and procedures involved in test."
Mr Melvin, who is a principal at Scoil Mhuire, Coolronan, Ballivor, Co Meath, said his concern about the tests was that weaker children might appear to be performing well but, in reality, were not.
There was a danger they could leave primary school with weak reading skills, even though tests appeared to show they were performing well, he said.
However, Mr Melvin said international organisations such as the OECD did their own tests and did not use the internal school reading exercises.