This study investigated the impact of a computer-adaptive reading program, Waterford Early Learning (WEL), in an elementary school in Indiana. The study investigated how educational technology, specifically computer-assisted instruction (CAI), would impact the literacy scores of kindergarten students when paired with traditional instruction:…

New technologies have had a large and transformative impact on education. This study explored the benefits of a comprehensive, computer-adaptive reading program for the literacy skills of young learners. Second grade students enrolled in a public school district used a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program and were evaluated at the beginning…

The Waterford Early Reading Program is a computer-assisted instruction program that ensures individualized learning for kindergarten through second grade students. The Waterford curriculum was assigned to kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students in a school district in South Carolina for the 2015-2016 school year. The Developmental…

This research study examined two intervention programs, Read Naturally (computer-assisted) and The Six-Minute Solution (teacher-guided), for the purpose of finding their effects on reading fluency with 3rd grade students at an elementary school. The participants were from two separate third grade classrooms, randomly assigned to one of the two…

This paper summarizes the successes and failures of the Plato Elementary Reading Curriculum Project, a computer-assisted instructional system funded by the National Science Foundation from 1971 to 1976. The paper discusses what the project did, the types of hardware that were used, how lessons were designed, the two approaches that were taken…

A software application called HyperStory is a reading program for short fiction which has proved to be effective in the classroom. In 3 years of use, over 300 students have tried it out. Part of the reason for its suitability for helping students develop short story reading skills lies in the relationship between the computer technology known as…

This study summarizes recent achievements in the expanding development of man/machine communications and reviews current technological hurdles associated with the development of artificial intelligence systems which can generate and recognize human speech patterns. With the development of such systems, one potential application would be the…

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a systematic teaching approach known as the General Teaching Model for instructing college students in reading. The model consists of identifying appropriate objectives for the student, pre-assessment prior to beginning instruction, instructional procedures designed to help the learner achieve the…

A study examined whether there was any difference in student achievement if students used computer-assisted instruction or traditional reading lab activities. Subjects, 42 students enrolled in 1988 in a 5-week summer early enrollment program, were placed in a reading improvement class based on performance on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. Subjects…

Uniting two areas of current interest in educational research, a project tested the effectiveness of computer software in observing the process of comprehension monitoring. Passages with embedded comprehension obstacles were presented to two groups of fifth grade students. Identical in content to those of the controls, the experimental subjects'…

A year-long study examined the effects of a computer-based reading project on students' attitudes and performance in reading and writing. Subjects (73 "at-risk" eighth-grade students in an inner-city school in Paterson, New Jersey) were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group used a software package…

Many reading teachers, cognizant of the creative opportunities for skill development allowed by new reading-writing software, are choosing to use microcomputers in their classrooms full-time. Adventure story creation programs capitalize on reading-writing integration by allowing children, with appropriate assistance, to create their own…

This paper presents a discussion of several factors which influence evaluation utilization. Its purpose is to propose to Alkin's utilization framework the addition of one factor: multiplexity of data gathering methods. Two distinct discussions comprise this paper. First, supportive arguments for the assumption that this factor substantially…

Evaluation studies conducted in 1978 at three sites yielded encouraging results regarding the ability of the Basic Skills Learning System (BSLS) to achieve the goals of adult basic education and demonstrated that effective curriculum models utilizing well-designed instructional paradigms can offer high quality instruction in the basic skills when…