Poor literacy achievement among English learners has contributed significantly to their high dropout rates, poor job prospects, and high poverty rates. The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth has suggested that English learners benefit from the same direct, systematic instruction in the five essential components of…

"Success for All" ("SFA"®) is a whole-school reform model (that is, a model that integrates curriculum, school culture, family, and community supports) for students in prekindergarten through grade 8. "SFA"® includes a literacy program, quarterly assessments of student learning, a social-emotional development program,…

A study examined the effectiveness of the Writing-to-Read Computer Program in elementary school language arts education. The program is designed to teach children to read through interacting with a computer by learning sound/symbol relationships and by composing stories. First through fourth graders from predominantly black, urban schools and from…

Procedures and results of an evaluation of the Choctaw Bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL) Program, conducted in east central Mississippi, are discussed. The program, which is in its fifth year, is implemented using Title VII funds in three of the six Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary schools on the Mississippi Choctaw Reservation. The…

The purpose of the study reported here was to investigate the effectiveness of the language experience approach to beginning reading instruction when used with pupils described as culturally deprived. Ten teachers of first grade classes in inner-city schools in Indianapolis volunteered to participate. Five teachers agreed to continue using a…

The effects of "bona fide" homogeneous grouping of students in grades 4 through 8 in a southeastern school system on the students' subsequent academic achievement were studied. These effects were studied for black students as well as for all students regardless of race, across 2 years. The student population was composed of over 4,800…

Problems involved in reducing the achievement gap among ethnic groups in the Seattle (Washington) public schools were studied. An 11-member team selected 25 elementary schools and 216 classrooms for the study, which included classroom observations, teacher questionnaires, and measurement of ethnic achievement gap reduction through California…

The relationship between type of reading instruction (whole language or basal) and reading comprehension as measured by the California Achievement Test (CAT) was investigated. Nineteen third- and fourth-grade teachers from school 5 districts in North Carolina took part in the project with 215 students in the basal group and 200 students in the…

The Elementary School Curriculum Efficacy Program (ESCEP) of the Detroit (Michigan) Public Schools is intended to improve the academic performance of students through the development of positive attitudes toward learning. The ESCEP introduces students to a process of self-exploration that better enables them to understand their personal…

To fulfill the mandates of the State Legislature, a battery of national and statewide standardized norm-referenced tests has been administered in the spring of each year to North Carolina's students in grades 3, 6, and 8 to measure skills in reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies. This report presents summary results of…

The North Carolina Annual Testing Program, established by the 1977 General Assembly to assess the effectiveness of the educational process in North Carolina, involves the administration of a battery of norm-referenced tests to students in grades 3, 6, and 8 to measure skills in reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies. This…