This article presents summaries of research on 13 core understandings about learning to read, from "Building a Knowledge Base in Reading" (Jane Braunger and Jan Patricia Lewis). In the article, each core understanding is followed by activity ideas and strategies useful for tutors--these activities were created with one-on-one tutoring in…

Presents theoretical assumptions and a practical guide to creating a reading program based on thematic units. (FL)

Describes a 12-week peer tutoring reading program for primary students. Students showed significant reading gains when compared with a control group, but lost these gains when they returned to individual silent reading. Concludes that peer tutoring is an under-utilized but valuable teaching strategy. (Author/LS)

Intended primarily for teachers and administrators, this paper presents 20 guidelines as the basis for an evaluation procedure for workbook, skillbook, and ditto master components of basal reading programs. The paper begins with a discussion of how and why workbooks are used in the classroom, a description of the original study from which the…

Offers an outline of what research says about silent reading and comprehension. Presents suggestions to help children learn to read silently.

The final result of this inquiry study will be the compilation of a Literacy Portfolio on a targeted reader. The data included within the portfolio will come from strategies and tools teachers were introduced to in Year One of the Reading Initiative and for which teachers gathered data both on themselves and on younger learners. The study revisits…

Notes that brain research completed in recent years has shed light on the process of learning to read, then reviews that research and makes suggestions about what it means for instruction. (FL)

In a study of how primary teachers assign and monitor independent reading seatwork (workbook) activities, 12 first, second, and third grade teachers were observed during their scheduled reading periods. The seven major observation categories were (1) to whom assigned, (2) when assigned, (3) materials, (4) material focus, (5) instructions for…

Shows how retelling stories appears to be a strategy to improve comprehension, concept of story and oral language. (EL)

The understanding of "what works" in reading is dynamic and fluid, subject to ongoing review and assessment through serious research. While there are no easy answers or quick solutions for optimizing reading achievement, an extensive knowledge base now exists to show people the skills children must learn in order to read well. This guide, designed…

This book examines the studies of leading researchers who have testified in various hearings and promoted policy and legislation on behalf of skills-emphasis learning, especially those financed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The book not only identifies each claim, it also analyzes the research that backs…

Presents results of a study comparing self-correction rates among good and poor readers in a reading level design that controlled text difficulty. Reports no significant differences between the groups when reading identical passages at equivalent error rates. Concludes that self-correction rates correlate with reading accuracy but not…

Intended for practitioners, this is the first booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. The 31-page booklet summarizes research on fluency and fluency instruction and describes strategies for fluency instruction. It also explains…

This study compared the effectiveness of reading instruction at the onset-rime level, phoneme level, and whole word level with 48 first graders. Both phoneme and onset-rime groups were significantly more accurate than whole word groups, and there was a tendency for the onset-rime group to outperform all other groups. (Author/DB)

Creating meaningful links between home and school is a particular concern of teachers and families. As classroom teachers, Betty Shockley and Barbara Michalove heard their students talk often about home literacy events. They wanted to find a way to learn what families valued and practiced, and they wanted to communicate to families how their…