Achievement data from national assessments have highlighted that many students in the United States are still failing to meet proficiency standards in reading (U.S. Department of Education, 2011). Many school districts are using curriculum-based measurements (CBMs) in reading, such as Oral Reading Fluency, to collect data on student progress to help guide the use of evidence-based instruction and intervention (Dorn, 2010). These data are shared with school staff, and even parents, but are not necessarily shared with students directly. Sharing these CBM data with students would easily fit in with current school procedures, and research shows that some types of performance feedback can be motivating for students (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). The motivation of students who are struggling in reading is especially important to consider. Students who experience reading failure early may be less motivated to read and may develop negative attitudes towards reading (Oka & Paris, 1986). Students' beliefs and attitudes, especially those regarding their own skills, can influence their future behavior and performance. Self-efficacy, or a student's self-perception of competence, can affect a student's motivation and subsequent performance (Bandura, 1982). Students who lack confidence in their reading abilities put forth less effort and concentration (Dweck & Bempechat, 1983), and engage in less reading (Cox & Guthrie, 2001). Interventions designed to promote learning may be particularly successful if they address the low self-efficacy of students struggling in reading in addition to students' reading skills. One way to improve students' self-efficacy is to provide performance feedback. The current study focused on what type of CBM feedback might improve students' reading skills and their self-efficacy. Performance feedback can help improve the reading achievement of students, but the research on CBM feedback is more limited (Alber-Morgan, Matheson Ramp, Anderson, & Martin, 2007; Chafouleas, Martens, Dobson, Weinstein & Gardner, 2004; Eckert, Ardoin, Daly, & Martens, 2002), and has not explicitly considered student self-efficacy. Understanding the effects of certain types of CBM feedback on students' self-efficacy and reading skills could inform current school practices and potentially maximize the effects of evidence-based reading interventions on student learning. The oral reading fluency and self-efficacy of six struggling second grade students was functionally analyzed using a multiple-baseline-across participants design. Students participated in a baseline and two intervention phases in which they received a repeated readings intervention and either self-referenced or peer-referenced feedback. It was hypothesized that self-referenced feedback would be related to greater growth in oral reading fluency as well as higher reported self-efficacy. Visual analysis and effect size calculations were used to examine the effects of the different types of feedback. Students generally made progress in oral reading fluency rates over the intervention sessions, but this progress was most apparent for the majority of participants in whichever intervention phase occurred first. There was also a considerable amount of variability in student oral reading fluency performance in each phase. Data were insufficient to support functional relations between self-referenced feedback and greater growth in oral reading fluency or higher self-efficacy ratings and scores. Results are discussed in terms of the current literature on performance feedback and CBMs, and the applied implications are provided.
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