Reading is a vital skill for functioning in society. People need to read road signs, prescription labels, restaurant menus, and job applications just to make it through everyday life. Unfortunately, approximately 20% of the population (Washburn, & Joshi, & Binks-Cantrell, 2011) are said to be dyslexic which means they will struggle…

For decades there has been a divide between educational research and practice. Sometimes the blame is placed on teachers for not following research-based strategies or not being trained well enough to read the literature. Just as frequently the blame is placed on researchers for not (a) studying topics important to teachers, (b) writing them so…

Data based instruction has received much attention in educational literature. It relates well to measurement driven teaching and learning. Data may come from several sources including mandated tests, district wide testing, formative and summative evaluations, as well as teacher written tests. Objective information is intended for use in data based…

Discusses the potential consequences of conducting research in which the sample truly represents only a fragment of some theoretical population. Argues that most field-based reading research violates the assumption of representativeness and that this violation can result in severe misrepresentations of research results. (FL)

Reviews and synthesizes the major findings on reversal errors made by young readers. (FL)

Finds considerable instability across two administrations of Carbo's Reading Styles Inventory (RSI), for both the reading methods and the recommended adjustments for implementing the methods. Finds it unlikely that reported benefits from adjusting instruction based on the RSI derive from matching a method to assessed style. (SR)

Describes a study in a fourth grade class which investigated students' reactions to the literacy program, providing the teacher with information regarding students' attitudes toward types of materials and specific strategies used. (SR)

Examines the effects of students' access to print via a community library. Compares knowledge of authors, words, books, and magazines between the students who accessed the community library and students who used the school library. Indicates that the students who visited community libraries outperformed students who did not. (SG)

Addresses the need to include all available data (physical, environmental, language, cognitive, affective, and educational correlates of reading) to evaluate students' reading strengths and weaknesses. Argues that this holistic approach makes the assessment of reading skills efficient and avoids test replication. (RS)

Evaluates the syntactical features (readability) and demands placed on students' memory (number of steps) by basal reader worksheet directions in the three most common basal reading series. Concludes that, with the exception of one series' demand on memory, worksheet directions are not designed according to students' competency level. (RS)

Reveals that only three structures--confrontation, episodic, and plotless--accounted for 87 percent of the story selections in six basal reader series. (FL)

Reviews the literature pertaining to the relationship between textbook illustrations and reading comprehension in elementary school students and finds that the effects of the relationship have not been clearly established. Poses questions for future research. (FL)

Compares children's scores on a reading and language inventory to parents' responses to questions about the home literacy environment. Finds that some parents provided a positive literacy environment for their children. Notes that children with higher scores are more likely to have parents who provided their children with a rich literacy…

Examines teaching theories and classroom practices of elementary teachers regarding reading instruction. Finds that most held process theories about teaching, made untested assumptions to diagnose problematic classroom situations, and acted by retreating. (SR)