Can teachers discriminate low-progress readers from average readers in regular classes?

This paper reports on a study on teacher judgment of reading ability. Sydney teachers were asked to identify average and low-progress readers from their classes. A passage reading test was administered to the participants in years three to seven. A comparison of the rankings based on the passage reading test within each class, with the teacher's classification of readers as either average or low-progress, is included. The article discusses inaccurate predictions of the low- progress readers both in terms of not being identified and in terms of being wrong identified as low progress.