Psychometric properties of the reading comprehension test ECOMPLEC.Sec

Background: ECOMPLEC.Sec is a reading comprehension test for secondary students, conceived from a multidimensional perspective in line with large-scale educational surveys such as PISA or PIRLS. The objective of this study was to validate the theoretical model of ECOMPLEC. Sec. A bifactor model that postulates the existence of a general reading comprehension factor and three specific factors provided a good fit to the data. Method: 1,912 adolescents (13-18 years) participated in this study. Data analysis included construct validity via confirmatory factor analysis, and factors were regressed onto observed covariates for the interpretation of the constructs. Reliability was calculated from a non-linear SEM in order to justify the interpretability of the observed scale and subscale scores. Results: The bifactor model exhibited a significantly better fit to the data than the second-order model. Furthermore, construct validity analysis suggests the existence of specific reading comprehension factors. Finally, the reliability study also supports the idea of using a total score to obtain a measure of reading comprehension. Conclusions: ECOMPLEC. Sec displays a valid parsimonious factor structure, as well as metric properties that make it a suitable tool to assess reading comprehension.