This paper will explain what a reading teacher learned from working with a group of first-grade struggling readers in a series of shared-book experience classes. The shared-book experience approach used a variety of science-themed books that were aligned with the first-grade curriculum and appropriate for beginning readers. Considering the…

Selected possibilities for improving the listening of kindergarten children were investigated. Seven experimental teachers, seven control teachers, an experimental group (125 kindergarten children), and two control groups (127 and 122 children, respectively) took part in the study. Twenty listening lessons and a Listening Response Test, composed…

This study was designed to determine (1) if there are significant differences in kindergarten reading readiness scores among children taught by traditional means versus those exposed to multimedia methods, and (2) to determine if children in one socio-economic group benefit more than others from multimedia methods of instruction. Three treatment…

Early reading instruction is important for all children, but especially for the disadvantaged, because the decision not to expose them to reading at an early age may result in an unrecoverable loss of intellectual potential. Reading readiness as an approach may exile children from literacy permanently because it is an abstract and alien process…

THE VIEW THAT READING IS A ROTE, AUTOMATIC, CONDITIONED, NONMEANINGFUL PROCESS WHICH PRECEDES (THUS IS SEPARABLE FROM) COMPREHENSION IS CORROBORATED IN A TWO-PART INVESTIGATION. IN PART I, EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED TO SUPPORT THE POSITION THAT READING IS A NONMEANINGFUL PROCESS. IN PART II, A STUDY OF THE EFFICACY OF AN AUDITORY APPROACH TO…

This study represents a segment of an evaluation of the effects of two diametrically-opposed instructional strategies on inner-city kindergarten children who had varying preschool experiences. The child- and parent-oriented "enrichment" approach was used in one school while the teacher- and goal-oriented "direct instructional"…

Summarizes and reviews six studies published in this issue. Emphasizes the teaching methods recommended by each study and the ways in which the studies affirm several assumptions that guide early childhood teaching practices. (MM)

Two studies of the effects of "Sesame Street" are presented. In the first case, the study tested two hypotheses: (1) "Sesame Street" can prepare poverty children for first grade; and (2) "Sesame Street" can narrow the achievement gap between the poor and the middle-class child. Twenty-four pairs of poverty children…

To improve the education of culturally disadvantaged children, this project focused on children's specific behavioral deficits, teacher preparation, parent attitudes, health and service agencies, and local school districts. The project was carried out in a rural Appalachian school with 122 children, 30 percent Negro and 70 percent white, and in an…

This descriptive study investigates the variability in the curriculum pacing decisions of classroom teachers. The effects on the reading achievement and performance gains of first and second grade students in a compensatory education program program are examined. Data were collected from: (1) the Metropolitan Readiness Test results used to select…