In the early 1960s, researchers began to conduct content analyses of core reading programmes/basal readers. Although these researchers often adopted a critical perspective, and examined the ideological underpinnings of the texts, they failed to make an explicit connection between ideologies and reader access to the text. The study described here…

The purposes of this study were to examine the diversity of the authors and illustrators in core reading series and to evaluate the opportunities and limitations of these texts in relation to the goals of multicultural education. The authors began their research concerned about whose stories are told in core reading series, and who gets to tell…

This paper reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study that explored the perceptions of and approaches used by UK school librarians and teachers in the design and use of reading lists. The research question was: "What is the best way to construct reading lists to maximize their benefit in the school library or classroom?" The…

The aim of this study was to carry out action research to investigate reading comprehension skills when using the SQ3R reading comprehension strategy. To that end, this strategy was used for improving the reading comprehension skills of 7 primary school 4th grade students who had problems with these skills. An action plan was prepared for 3hours a…

The purpose of the study was to address possible text complexity shifts across the past six decades for a continually best-selling first-grade core reading program. The anthologies of one publisher's seven first-grade core reading programs were examined using computer-based analytics, dating from 1962 to 2013. Variables were Overall Text…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the types and occurrences of explicit instructional moves recommended for teaching five essentials of effective reading instruction in grades 1, 3, and 5 core reading program teachers' editions in five widely marketed core reading programs. Guided practice was the most frequently…

English-Spanish cognates are words that are spelled similarly or identically and possess the same or nearly the same meanings in both languages. Many cognates are academic vocabulary words and are very common in content area textbooks. The primary purpose of this investigation was to obtain an estimate of the number of different cognates in…

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts (CCSS-ELA) will have a significant impact on what teachers teach and what primary students are supposed to be able to do (Bomer & Maloch, 2011). By the end of fourth grade, reading instruction should be evenly balanced between literary text and informational text (NGA Center and CCSSO,…

Reading Recovery (RR) is a short-term, one-to-one intervention designed to help the lowest achieving readers in first grade. This article presents first-year results from the multisite randomized controlled trial (RCT) and implementation study under the $55 million Investing in Innovation (i3) Scale-Up Project. For the 2011-2012 school year, the…

Classroom teachers are provided instructional recommendations for teaching reading from their adopted core reading programs (CRPs). Explicit instruction elements or what is also called instructional moves, including direct explanation, modeling, guided practice, independent practice, discussion, feedback, and monitoring, were examined within CRP…

This article reports on Nevada's Reading First program and positions it as a source of reflection for future worldwide literacy reform efforts. Qualitative methodology was used for this analysis. Students' literacy achievement improved throughout the program until the last year of implementation. Students who remained at a Reading First school…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a formative program evaluation of a school district's multisensory reading initiative. The mixed methods study involved semi-structured interviews, online survey, focus groups, document review, and analysis of extant special education student reading achievement data. Participants included elementary…

Research supports using research-based comprehension strategies; however, comprehension strategy instruction is not highly visible in basal reading programs or classroom instruction, resulting in many students who struggle with comprehension. A content analysis examined which research-based comprehension strategies were presented in five…

Multicultural education is a term with a variety of definitions growing from a number of different disciplines. These authors conducted a content analysis of the Pearson reading program "Good Habits, Great Readers" for grades four and five. The qualitative approach of content analysis allowed researchers to examine text "through the…