More than five years of research offers little evidence that students who attend federally funded remedial and learning disabled reading programs improve their reading skills. The three assumptions underlying these programs are discussed. Ways teachers and schools can evaluate their programs are listed. (MT)

Entry-level kindergartners in classrooms from five middle class school districts were given a test of letter identification and children who scored at or below the 30th percentile on the test were classified as "at risk" for early reading difficulties. Half of these children were randomly assigned to a project-based intervention condition where…

Eleven shortcomings of remedial reading programs are delaying the program; analyzing word identification skills; teaching phonic skills systematically; avoiding having students read; using controlled-vocabulary reading materials; disregarding student background knowledge; encouraging readers to sound out unfamiliar words; insisting upon accuracy…

Examines Title I (now Chapter I) programs, specifically their problems, the reasons for those problems, and their future. (FL)

The Chapter 1 reading and math program in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, is designed to meet the needs of educationally disadvantaged kindergarten through eighth-grade students at 11 project sites. Each of the identified 1,972 participating students receives approximately 50 minutes of direct supplemental reading and/or math instruction 5 days…

The effect of reading remediation that emphasized phonetic decoding was investigated in 61 children with pure reading disorders, controlling for the influence of nonspecific treatment effects. The children were randomly assigned to receive instruction in reading or in other subjects for four months; and they were reevaluated immediately after, two…

This report examines the cost effectiveness of reading programs, as part of a large-scale evaluation of compensatory reading programs. Results from a cost analysis of these programs and from an examination of the cost-assessment model used are presented in two other reports. No conclusive relationship was found between the cost of a program and…

This report describes the results of a study of the cost and cost effectiveness of 27 summer reading programs, carried through as part of a large-scale evaluation of compensatory reading programs. Three other reports describe cost and cost-effectiveness studies of programs during the regular school year. On an instructional-hour basis, the total…

Selected results from a study of compensatory reading programs sponsored by Title I and by other sources are presented and discussed. Various phases of the study included a questionnaire survey of a nationally representative sample of elementary schools, pre- and posttesting of students in grades two, four, and six of a subsample of the original…

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Borg-Warner System 80 in seven Washington, D. C., schools, interviews, pupil progress records, questionnaires, and observational data were gathered on 103 students and their teachers. Two Borg-Warner programmed series, "Learning Letter Names" and "Reading Words in Context," were used in…

This report describes the results and methods of analysis in a study of reading program costs undertaken as part of a large-scale evaluation of compensatory reading programs. Using a resource approach to program-cost analysis developed for this study, costs were estimated for over 2,000 classes. The cost model provided a convenient and consistent…

Shows how a structured tutoring program helped increase both student and tutor reading scores. (JT)

This discussion of the sources of "Reading Recovery" presents the results of an investigation into whether or not this relatively costly, tutoring remedial reading program, designed for primary-grade students, is based on relevant experimental evidence as to how these students best learn to read. The general finding of the study was that Reading…

This report summarizes a study conducted by Educational Testing Service and RMC Research Corporation, of compensatory reading programs sponsored by Title I as well as those supported solely by state and local funds. The results show that in schools which received compensatory funds, the students most in need of it received additional help in…

This report evaluates a summer program funded under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) and administered by the Division of Special Education of the New York City Board of Education. The 1989 Chapter 1 Reading and Mathematics with Athletics summer program served 1,537 students with mild to moderate handicaps in…