Abstract
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We investigate the hierarchical contributions of subsets of cues to the judgment of children's early achievement in reading. Twenty student teachers judged 118 profiles of actual kindergarten children on two related ecological criteria: end-of-year achievement on measures of vocabulary development and reading comprehension. Each profile contained five cues: two cues were demographic in nature (socioeconomic status and teaching curriculum); the remaining three cues concerned various cognitive abilities of the child (knowledge of books and print conventions, knowledge of names and sounds of the alphabet letters, and oral language comprehension). Using the hierarchical multivariate lens model, the unique contribution of the cognitive cue subset over and above the demographic cue subset to achievement in the judgment task was assessed. Results showed a substantial contribution of the cognitive cue subset to multivariate judgmental achievement beyond the demographic cue subset alone. Additional diagnostic indices from the multivariate lens model analysis (i.e., various intercriterial and interjudgmental correlations) are discussed. Conclusions are drawn with respect to the overall adequacy of the multivariate judgments and to the potential impact of temporal sequencing of cue perceptions on subsequent judgmental processes. �� 1987.