Background: Large-scale randomised controlled trials are relatively rare in education. The present study approximates to, but is not exactly, a randomised controlled trial. It was an attempt to scale up previous small peer tutoring projects, while investing only modestly in continuing professional development for teachers. Purpose: A two-year…

Discusses the characteristics of three popular readability formulas: the Dale-Chall, the Fry Graph, and the Spache. Describes text based and reader/text based alternatives. Offers appropriate applications of each form of assessment. (FL)

One of the key requirements of the Common Core State Standards for Reading is that all students must be able to comprehend texts of steadily increasing complexity as they progress through school. By the time they complete the core, students must be able to read and comprehend independently and proficiently the kinds of complex texts commonly found…

Among the problems of using readability formulas in education are: reporting standardized scores as grade levels is often meaningless since in a single grade classroom there may be children reading two or three grades above or below grade placement; social mobility, busing policies, and changed patterns of living have increased the heterogeneity…

"This paper reports the use of readability analysis as an evaluative model of programming techniques, where program adaptations can be evaluated both in relationship to student performance and to the program structure (frame, response, content presentation and organization variables) of a computer-based system." (Authors)

Examines the arguments against the indiscriminate use of readability formulas. (FL)

Suggests thirteen diagnostic strategies by which teachers can examine students' abilities and implement appropriate learning activities. (RL)

Noting that traditional measures of textbook difficulty and traditional measures of student reading ability suffer from a lack of correspondence, this booklet deals with the problems of (1) identifying the levels of conceptual difficulty of text materials, (2) identifying students' abilities to understand text materials, (3) matching the…

An overview of some of the important developments in the psychology and teaching of reading during the past ten years is presented in this booklet. Four developments that are characteristic of the decade are described in an introduction: reading and social conscience, growth in reading research, increase in interdisciplinary advisory committees,…

The multicultural pattern in recent Australian immigration poses a pressing issue for reading instruction. Students coming from homes where only English is spoken, or English and a Northern European language are spoken, perform better on reading tests than do students from homes where other languages are spoken. There is also little reflection…

A school psychologist describes techniques and approaches to accurately assess students' reading skills and determine what materials and methods should be used for instruction. Among formulas considered for estimating reading expectancy are mental grade and years in school formulas. Research is described which indicates that school psychologists…

Three issues of a current awareness bulletin published occasionally by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies are combined in this document. The bulletins are designed for use by elementary and secondary social studies teachers. The various issues, written in 1976, deal with emerging topics of interest related to reading in the social studies,…

The nine articles presented in this yearbook were drawn from Arizona State University's Annual Reading Conference which focused on new directions in reading. Four of the articles deal with evaluation techniques in reading and include discussions of developing culture-fair informal reading inventories, what oral language tests really measure, and…