Recent initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom have added greatly to the amount and quality of research on the effectiveness of secondary reading programs, especially programs for struggling readers. In this review of the experimental research on secondary reading programs, the authors focused on 69 studies that used random assignment…

Premier League Reading Stars (PLRS) is in its eighth year. To complement a pre-post quantitative survey, an impact evidence base was required to inform consideration of continued funding into 2011 and beyond. PLRS is very highly regarded among child participants, parents, and librarians. The structure of the scheme, its basis on football, and the…

The effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and the publication of the National Reading Panel (NRP) report profoundly affected how reading is taught in public schools as well as how program effectiveness is evaluated. The disequilibrium that resulted from state and federal mandates governing reading instruction set the stage for the…

"Reading Mastery," one of several curriculum components that constitute the "Direct Instruction" curriculum from SRA/McGraw-Hill, is designed to provide systematic instruction in reading to students in grades K-6. "Reading Mastery," which can be used as an intervention program for struggling readers, as a supplement…

This report presents early findings from the Enhanced Reading Opportunities (ERO) study--a demonstration and rigorous evaluation of two supplemental literacy programs that aim to improve the reading comprehension skills and school performance of struggling ninth-grade readers. focuses on the first of two cohorts of ninth-grade students who will…

State education departments, in discussions with Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast, identified low reading achievement as a critical issue for their students and expressed an interest in identifying effective strategies to promote the foundational skills in young students that might improve reading achievement. The Mississippi…

The "Little Books" are a set of books designed for interactive book reading between parents and children or teachers and students. The books use thematic topics familiar to children. They are written with high-frequency words and use simple phrases and sentences. They also have strong links between illustrations and text. One study of…

Describes the "Failure Free Reading Program," based on effective principles identified in research on successful reading programs. Key steps in teaching word recognition and comprehension skills include previewing, listening, presenting content from the story, reading, and reviewing the story. Significant differences in performance were found.…

Discusses how a program designed to teach children and youth to read was used in two classes for adults. Presents an explanation and description of the implementation, reports of learner progress, and the perceptions of the participants. Concludes that despite poor testing outcomes, the learners, instructors, and administrators believed in the…

"Reading Recovery"[R] is a short-term tutoring intervention program intended to serve the lowest achieving (bottom 20%) first-grade students. Students are chosen for "Reading Recovery"[R] by school staff, and selection is based on prior reading achievement, diagnostic testing (the Clay Observation Survey of Early Literacy…

"Waterford Early Reading Level One"[TM] is an emergent literacy curriculum that uses computer-based technology to prepare children for reading. It begins with a tutorial to familiarize the child with the computer and mouse and a reading placement evaluation to assess and determine whether a child should work on "Level One"…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Reading Recovery Pilot program of the school district of the city of Saginaw, Michigan. Thirty-five of the original 55 students in the program were successfully discontinued from the program--they read with a 90% or greater level of accuracy materials being used in the classroom and use the kinds of…

This study examined the impact of Chapter 1 Developing Language Arts Competencies through Literature (DLACL) program in Houston, Texas, in the academic achievement of students served during the 1988-89 school year. A total of 8,505 students in grades 1-5 were served by the program. The investigation was designed to provide answers to the following…

Although over 15 years have passed since Witt (1990) noted that no empirical evidence exists to support the contention that a collaborative approach to consultation leads to more positive outcomes than a hierarchical or expert driven approach, this issue generally remains unaddressed (Schulte & Osborne, 2003). While the literature documenting…

Determines effectiveness of the Four Block Literacy Model in increasing students' ability to read. Describes the model along with associated research; describes the methods used to gather data at Ferdinand Elementary School (Ferdinand, Indiana) to establish the effects and perceptions of the program; and reports the actual data collected. Finds a…