Students transitioning from middle school to high school face a range of academic and social challenges. Academic content is more diverse and challenging, and its delivery is increasingly text based, requiring competence in literacy and problem-solving skill areas. Students entering 9th grade often struggle to find an appropriate peer group and…

Reading instruction often does not focus on appealing to student interests, offering choice, or responding to the needs of advanced readers. In this experimental study, we examined the effects on achievement of an instructional approach involving choice, differentiated instruction, and extensive, supported, independent reading, with corresponding…

We tested whether urban middle-school students from mostly low-income homes had improved academic vocabulary when they participated in a freely available vocabulary program, Word Generation (WG). To understand how this program may support students at risk for long-term reading difficulty, we examined treatment interactions with baseline…

The study evaluates the efficacy of an intensive, reading intervention, a dropout prevention intervention, and an intensive, reading intervention plus dropout prevention on high school students' reading achievement and rates of dropout/school engagement. This paper focuses on the reading intervention and on reading outcomes. Data on the drop out…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two methods--individualized approach and small groups--in the teaching of reading to juvenile delinquents. Fifteen-year-old delinquent youths, classified as uncontrollable children whose academic performance was equivalent to tenth grade level, were assigned randomly to three groups.…

Compares two methods of teaching reading, concluding that junior college reading lab students benefit more from individually prescribed than from self-selected programs. (RB)

This investigator found and reviewed fifty-one studies reported in the literature on individualized reading between 1937 and 1971. Of this number, forty of these studies were controlled at least to the extent of using control groups. In twenty-four cases the results favored the individualized reading group. Only one author reported higher reading…

The long term effects of the Individually Guided Education (IGE) program on elementary school grade equivalent reading achievement scores were investigated using cohort analysis in four elementary schools. Results indicated that local attributes affected reading scores more than the IGE program. (JKS)

Discusses individualized reading instruction in the United States in its historical context. States that effective, child-centered, individualized reading programs are guided by three principles: the desires, needs, and motives of each child; individual abilities, interests, and instructional needs; and opportunities for social interaction. Points…

The act of reading is holistic and involves acquisition of facts, concepts, and generalizations. With Instructional Management Systems (IMS) and state mandated testing, however, reading too frequently becomes a means of appraising the achievement of students in acquiring word recognition skills as well as diverse comprehension abilities. School…

This booklet describes a junior high school reading laboratory located in Urbana (Illinois) Junior High School, Fisher Campus. The student population in the school numbers approximately 950. Students have individual schedules, with six instructional classes of fifty minutes per day. Students enrolled in the lab attend each day for a regular…

Discusses various issues surrounding inability of individualized reading approach to improve reading ability of poor readers at elementary level. Suggested reasons for failure include school environment, peer pressure, self-concept, and individual reading difficulties. Teachers' role in addressing reading failure in children is considered. (DST)

Teachers, principals, and supervisors must become thoroughly familiar with innovations in the teaching of reading, and these new approaches should be evaluated thoroughly before being introduced in an elementary school. A quality reading readiness program might include the use of experience charts in which students propose experiences from a…

The purpose of this study was to compare student reading and vocabulary achievement of classes using a standard basal-reading series with the achievement of a class using the same standard basal-reading series and a computer-managed, teacher-support system in reading. The reading and vocabulary achievement growth of a sample of 40 classes of…

WHEN THEY INDIVIDUALIZE READING INSTRUCTION, TEACHERS SHOULD REALIZE THAT CHILDREN ARE VERY DIFFERENT AND THAT CONTINUOUS APPRAISAL OF EACH CHILD'S ATTRIBUTES AND NEEDS IS IMPERATIVE. TEACHERS SHOULD UTILIZE INFORMAL EVALUATIVE TECHNIQUES FOR APPRAISING GROWTH IN READING SKILLS. READINESS FOR BEGINNING READING IS DETERMINED BY OBSERVING PERSONAL…