A study investigated the effect Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) has had on literacy at Estancia High School in California which recently implemented an SSR program. It also examined the role SSR has on language development, comprehension, vocabulary, student attitudes, and its corollary consequence on the development of reading habits. A survey of…

This book provides an explanation of sustained silent reading, why it is important, and how to implement it in school and classroom programs. The book presents an overview of underlying research and reviews eight essential factors ensuring a program's success, explicitly identifying them and explaining how they may be incorporated. The factors…

Describes a reading program which builds on the child's verbal skills. (RB)

Although a junior high school sustained silent-reading program showed no effect on student reading achievement, significant differences on four reading attitudes between students in that school and students in schools without such a program were considered tangible evidence supporting continuation of the program. (JT)

Because fluency instruction was identified, only recently, as a cornerstone literacy subject--it is still unfamiliar terrain for many teachers. This volume fills a crucial gap by offering a thorough, authoritative examination of what reading fluency is--and how it should be taught. Contributing authors, who include the field's leading authorities,…

Westerns Springs College in Auckland, New Zealand is an inner city coeducational secondary school of 670 multicultural and diverse students. Achievement test results in reading comprehension and vocabulary grouped students at the top and bottom of the scale. Reading was identified as a significant barrier to learning and in 1997 staff agreed to…

Suggests reasons why a sustained silent-reading program failed to work at a San Diego high school. (JT)

A study was conducted to determine the attitudes of teachers and students toward a program of uninterrupted sustained silent reading (USSR) operating in their school. The 14 teachers and 136 students in grades three through six were questioned about their attitudes toward the program. Teachers were also asked for opinions about USSR's effect on…

Recent research in the many aspects of reading is reviewed. (JH)

To understand the capacity of middle and high schools to support reading, a study examined two questions: (1) How do middle/high schools organize and allocate resources to support reading? and (2) How do middle/high schools respond to resource and structural challenges created by the multiple institutional actors that comprise the school system?…

A study examined the effect of sustained silent reading and writing on the reading achievement, writing, and reading attitude of students reading two or more years below grade level. Subjects, 97 seventh graders and 104 eighth graders enrolled in a semi-rural, predominantly black, lower socioeconomic status, Southeastern school district, were…

A personalized reading program for children in the elementary grades is described. The program consists of three interrelated parts: self-selection and sharing of books, skill development according to individual needs, and individual teacher-pupil discussion and evaluation conferences. Sustained silent reading, oral reading once a week to the…

Offers teachers and parents practical suggestions for helping children to begin reading naturally. Looks at specific strategies for helping young children to learn to read, particularly a built-in success procedure emphasizing nonvisual aspects of reading. (RWB)

Describes a sustained silent reading program in a 9th-grade reading class of 60 students, most of them at-risk students. Finds that, on average, students improved 3.9 grade levels in their reading. (SR)

A CONTINUATION OF A FIRST-GRADE STUDY OF THREE APPROACHES TO BEGINNING READING AND OF THEIR EFFECT ON GROWTH IN COMPREHENSION AND INTERPRETATION SKILL IS REPORTED. THE BASAL, THE MODIFIED LINGUISTIC, AND THE LINGUISTIC APPROACHES WERE STUDIED. TWENTY-ONE SECOND-GRADE CLASSROOMS IN THREE CENTRAL NEW YORK SCHOOL DISTRICTS PARTICIPATED IN THE…