To make this report more readable for teachers and still present all the data, it was compiled in two parts: (1) Report to Teachers and (2) Technical Report. The investigation was conducted (1) to compare the longitudinal effects of the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.) and traditional orthography (T.O.) beginning reading programs through and end…

FOR THE THIRD YEAR, THE FOLLOWING FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF TEACHING READING WERE CONTRASTED--(1) THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET, (2) A PHONIC, FILMSTRIP, WHOLE-CLASS APPROACH, (3) A WHOLE-WORD, ECLECTIC BASAL READER METHOD, AND (4) THE PRECEDING APPROACH SUPPLEMENTED BY A PHONICS PROGRAM. SOME 400 FIRST-GRADE PUPILS WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO…

A study conducted in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, elementary schools, the first schools to adopt the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) approach to teaching basic reading in this country, revealed that children who started with i.t.a. had significantly less reading failure than children with traditional orthography (T.O.) training. Although the i.t.a.…

FOUR DIFFERENT READING PROGRAMS WERE EVALUATED USING 302 SECOND-GRADE PUPILS WHO HAD PARTICIPATED IN THE SAME PROGRAMS IN GRADE 1. IN ADDITION TO THE STUDY CONDUCTED IN THE SECOND GRADE, A PILOT STUDY WAS CONTINUED INTO GRADE 3, AND A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE GRADE 1 STUDY WAS MADE AGAIN IN GRADE 1. THE FOUR READING PROGRAMS INVOLVED WERE (1) A…