Assigning a summer reading to entering freshmen is a growing trend at hundreds of American colleges and universities. Colleges typically pick one book and ask students to read it outside their courses. Many invite the author to help kick off the year by speaking on campus at convocation. Most colleges see the key purpose of a common reading…

A case is made for the assigned reading of ancient and modern literary classics, rather than modern essay collections, in college freshman composition classes. The effectiveness of a number of classics used for that purpose for 13 years in the freshman courses at Haverford College is discussed. Classwork in the Haverford program is described, and…

This article reports a six-month study that used a matched-pairs pre-test, post-test control group design to measure the relative effectiveness of extensive reading with remedial reading students in a Philippines secondary school (n = 60). Ninety percent of students at the school come from low-income homes where reading materials tend to be…