This study evaluated the efficacy of the Word Learning Strategies (WLS) supplementary program designed to develop upper-elementary students' vocabulary skills in order to improve reading comprehension. The study used a true, group-randomized, experimental design, which randomly assigned 46 4th grade classrooms (n=1324 students) from 12 districts…

This study investigated the impacts of "INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament" on instructional support and math and reading skills in kindergarten and first grade classrooms with high levels of student shyness. "INSIGHTS" is a temperament-based intervention with teacher, parent, and classroom programs. 22 urban elementary…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) has widely been used in university classrooms around the world. However, many obstacles face SI -- including low student attendance, lack of faculty support, and recognition of today's online generation. This research helps to fill the gap in SI by posing to solve the problems mentioned above by extending SI into the…

This collection of PowerPoint slides describes the Reading Excellence Program, a $260 million federal grant program that will competitively award grants to states to improve reading. It begins with a reference to the book "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," then presents a graph indicating percentage of fourth graders not able to…

This is a description of the evaluation of Reading Recovery (RR). RR is an early reading intervention serving about 125,000 children every year in about 8,000 U.S. schools. Its 15,000 teachers submit data on every child to the National Data Evaluation Center, which produces a report for each school, district and university involved with RR.…

The purpose of this diagnostic-prescriptive reading system (DPRS), proposed by Palm Beach County and the Florida Atlantic University and sponsored by the Florida Department of Education, was to provide classroom teachers with resources which would enable them to more effectively meet the individual reading needs of their students. This report…

Focusing on the change in instructional emphasis from remedial (re-teaching) to developmental (pre-teaching), this paper describes the Chapter 1 reading program in the Wichita (Kansas) Public Schools during the school years 1990-1991 and 1991-1992. This paper includes: diagrams describing the new agenda for an integrated language arts curriculum;…

A pilot project in Eastern Lancaster County School District, Pennsylvania, will use portfolio assessment in a Chapter 1 program. Based on test data and the input of classroom teachers, Chapter 1 tutors and classroom teachers will collaborate to identify two or three goals for each individual student, who will be asked to commit to them and add one…

The innovation of an instructional program utilizing "The New York Times" to teach reading skills to an ethnically and educationally diverse group of sixth graders resulted in an overwhelmingly positive response from students. The wide range of subject matter in "The Times" had something for every student, regardless of…

An elementary school in Texas has developed a program of reading instruction that immediately provides early readers with ample reading opportunities and materials rather than constraining them with "reading readiness" assessment. Initially, the absence of sufficient reinforcement material in the basal readers required increased amounts of reading…

The manner in which a classroom teacher frames questions or directions to the students reveals his or her philosophy of reading and determines what the teacher does in the classroom. A written philosophy about reading for elementary schools can provide a sense of direction in making all kinds of important decisions, and can also furnish the…

Newspaper media provide one way to motivate students' parents to be in tune with the whys, the hows, the wherefores, and the importance of reading. For example, in the Phoenixville Area School District (Pennsylvania), the reading department writes a monthly column for parents in the local newspaper. The column's topics are based on data gathered…

Intended for educators involved in developing secondary school reading programs, this paper describes a carefully balanced program implemented in the Wisconsin public school system for grades 7 through 12. Following a brief introduction to and rationale for the concept of a reading program that balances instruction in reading for skill…

The college of education at a midwestern university has designed a program for training senior citizen volunteers to tutor elementary school students in reading and language arts. Development of the Time Of Our Lives for Service (T. O. O. L. S.) program included establishing goals and objectives for the program that were subject to administrative…

The minimum competency goal that now dominates college basic skills instruction is not adequate to prepare the student for success in and beyond college. More can be accomplished within basic skills courses than the mere acquisition of literal information from a reading selection. The use of thematic unity can impose meaningful organization on the…