The three articles in this newsletter focus on ideas, programs, activities, and research concerned with reading in the content areas. The individual articles contain a discussion of the general approaches that characterize many successful content area reading programs, suggestions for educators who are considering establishing such programs in…

As the instructional leaders of the schools, principals have both the responsibility and the authority to bring about substantive improvements in their reading programs, their faculties, and ultimately in the reading achievement of the pupils in their charge. For this reason, they should seek constantly to upgrade their ability to supervise school…

The Swedish Basic Skills in a Long Term Perspective research project, which is described in this paper, was prompted by the belief that only a long-term perspective could reveal significant changes in schools and society at large. The general purpose of the described project is to endeavor, in historical and societal terms, to elucidate and…

This report focuses on techniques that can be used to learn more about the strengths and shortcomings of reading programs, of the teaching of reading, and of the students involved. The first article provides information about the "Handbook of Planning an Effective Reading Program," a guide published by the California State Department of…

This issue of "Progressions" shares the lessons learned by the Lilly Endowment's Education Division from partnerships with educators, librarians, parents, and community activists. The articles look at individual components of the endowment's overall plan to promote reading among youngsters in grades five through nine, and to introduce…

The theme for this focused journal issue is reading in the content areas. Articles discuss the following topics: (1) teaching reading strategies instead of skills; (2) teaching reading in elementary content areas; (3) metacognition and mapping; (4) a summer school program designed to appeal to poorly motivated junior high school students who are…

Practical ways principals can modify and monitor their school's reading programs are suggested in this report that also presents reading theory and research results. The bulk of the report focuses on the elementary school and is divided into a short section on theory and a longer section on practice. Suggestions are given about establishing…

The Multicultural Reading and Thinking (McRAT) Program of the Arkansas public schools is described, and results of a study of its effectiveness are reported. The McRAT Program is a process that empowers teachers to refocus instruction and restructure standard curricula for higher order thinking. The multicultural emphasis provides a meaningful…

The articles in this issue reflect the theme effecting change in reading programs. Titles and authors of the articles include the following: (1) "Commentary: Becoming a Nation of Readers--the Undergraduate's View" (Michael P. French); (2) "Implementing a Reading Curriculum for the 80s and 90s" (Doris M. Cook); (3) "Strategic Teaching/Strategic…

This journal issue contains six articles related to language-centered reading instruction, integrated language arts, and reading comprehension. The first article discusses the language experience approach (LEA) to developing comprehension skills in adult beginning readers. The second article describes examples of uses of LEA in such content areas…

This document consists of a selection of the best articles previously published in the "Harvard Education Letter." It contains the following articles (without citing the issue in which they originally appeared): (1) "School-Parent Relationships that Work: An Interview with James Comer"; (2) "Unpopular Children"; (3)…