Readability formulas estimate how difficult text is to read. The resulting "readability level" helps teachers and school librarians match students to appropriate books. Guiding students to appropriate-level books is now easier and more accurate with the ATOS (Advantage-TASA Open Standard) Readability Formula for Books, the new…

Lists the dangers of readability formulas and concludes that while they may be a necessary evil, they should not be used as the underlying structure of a reading program. (FL)

The Fry Graph for Estimating Readability (Extended) and George Magginnis' formula for passages shorter than 100 words were used in an investigation of the reading levels of 18 mathematics textbooks produced for grades one through six by three major publishers. The results indicated that the readability levels of the textbooks were inaccurate. Few…

It has been customary to simplify texts to increase their readability for young readers. Recent studies suggest that it is the predictability of texts that is the key to their readability and that simplification may actually create problems for the reader. (RBW)

The passage comprehensibility of three diagnostic reading tests--the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales, and the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty--was evaluated using the following text variables: content familiarity, vocabulary, the number of idea units in the text, the number of text-based inferences…

As part of a continuing effort by the Indiana Department of Public Instruction to share practical, easy-to-implement reading techniques, this booklet offers a collection of teaching activities under various topics related to reading. Of the eight sections in the booklet, four deal with writing, because an anticipated outgrowth of improved skill in…

The reading achievement test scores of 239 low-income, southern, urban black students in grades three through eight were compared with their ability to comprehend the social studies books used in their classrooms. Achievement scores were obtained from the reading subtests of the Stanford Achievement Tests. A cloze passage was developed based on…

Describes how social studies teachers can help students interact with textbooks to promote better comprehension and retention of information. Suggests methods for linking existing knowledge to concepts in the text, for organizing information to encourage retention, and for making the expository style of texts more accessible. (LS)

The guide describes how to use a 9-point system to teach 11 high-interest, low-level novels about Indians and teenagers to students reading at levels 1-8. The nine steps are (1) determine student's instructional reading level, (2) determine level of novels to be read, (3) choose novel at student's instructional reading level, (4) introduce novel,…

Because of concern about the harmful effects of placing children in low reading groups, this study tested the following "sacred cows" in reading: (1) the use of informal reading inventories for grouping children in reading instruction, (2) the homogeneous grouping practices currently utilized in most classrooms in the United States, (3)…