Speech technology (automated speech recognition -- ASR and text-to-speech) offers great promise in the field of automated literacy and reading tutors for children. Students in third and fourth grades struggle with generating longer strings of text on a QWERTY keyboard because they still "hunt and peck" for AQ1 the letters and symbols…

This issue brief describes the programs and systems of the MDRC Center for Data Insights. Ranging from simple descriptive summaries to advanced machine learning algorithms, the Center's eight current projects aim to use institutions' increasingly rich data to provide new insights that can help refine and target their client's services: (1)…

In 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) completed data collection for its third-grade follow-up study of Head Start, a federal preschool program designed to improve the kindergarten readiness of low-income children. Four years later, just before Christmas, the agency finally published the results of the congressionally mandated…

This guide is designed to facilitate self-studies of planning and implementation of state-required summer reading camp programs for grade 3 students who scored at the lowest level on the state reading assessment. It provides a template for data collection and guiding questions for discussion that may improve instruction and increase the number of…

Project Linking Learning ("Link") was created to target the needs of gifted students in urban school districts with historically underserved populations. Project Linking Learning implemented a linking curriculum between in-class instruction and an afterschool enrichment program for selected students in second through fifth grade.…

This Technical Report is designed to provide technical detail to support the analysis and findings presented in the "Head Start Impact Study Final Report" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Head Start Impact Study and its findings. Chapter 2 provides technical information on the…

With increasing attention focused on comprehension, there is a need for research regarding how to implement comprehension instruction for struggling readers and assess its effectiveness. This article describes reading instruction as it occurred over two years with one struggling reader in third and fourth grade. A comprehension checklist provided…

Results of the academic achievement of American Indian students in the Robeson County, North Carolina School Administrative Unit are presented in this document. As part of an evaluation of an educational program funded under the Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance Act, this document reflects program impact upon the county, its Lumbee…

Describes the planning, implementing, and evaluating stages of "Choices," a theatre-in-education program on intrafamilial child sexual abuse produced by the Louisville Children's Theatre for third grade students in Jefferson County, Kentucky. (PD)

Junior Great Books Curriculum model uses interpretive discussion within the reading process to help students of all reading abilities understand literature, or construct inferential and thematic meaning from their reading. Program was piloted in third-grade classes in 13 Chicago schools between 1989 and 1991. The model's cornerstone is the…

The "skin, scale, feather, and fur" program was designed to provide children in the New York City public schools with knowledge about various animal species and their place in the animal world. Teacher and paraprofessional staff along with the Staten Island Zoo Personnel developed activities and instructed children at the zoo. They also…

Pre- and post-test evaluations indicate the success of a consumer education program developed to provide elementary grade students with learning activities and consequent attitudes and values in buying. (CM)

Describes a longitudinal study undertaken by the Everyday Mathematics (EM) program and presents achievement-test data results. Compares the performances of EM students to Japanese, Chinese, and traditionally taught U.S. children. (ASK)

This report is an evaluation of the Diagnostic Prescriptive Reading Services Program which was designed to increase reading ability of 134 second and third grade students in New York City. Students were referred to the program by teachers, guidance counselors, and the program coordinator. Children were then tested by the school psychologist and a…

This report evaluated a cooperative teaching program designed to provide supplementary diagnostic and prescriptive reading instructional services to New York City elementary school students who were more than one grade level behind in reading. Three hundred students in grades three through six received reading instruction in reading laboratories.…