Students with writing difficulties may have difficulty when writing informational text with source material due to (a) inexperience with such text and (b) difficulties reading and understanding source material. Teaching students to take notes related to informational text using text structures (e.g., description, compare/contrast) may help them…

We examined the effects of a professional development (PD) system designed to support teachers' use of data-based instruction (DBI) to improve early writing outcomes for children with intensive needs. The PD system, called DBI-TLC, provided "tools" for early writing assessment and intervention, "learning modules" including…

Gathers qualitative and quantitative measures in a formative analysis of the Writing to Read program. Finds that qualitative measures supported student, parent, and teacher satisfaction related to the program and that some statistically significant differences were found between first- and second-grade Writing to Read students and control…

Presents the results of a one-year study of the effectiveness of the Waterford Early Reading Program on kindergarten and first-grade children in a large urban school district in New York state. Concludes that the Waterford program failed to outperform non-Waterford classrooms in part because it did not simulate or encourage the social…

This report evaluates the Writing to Read (WTR) program instituted in 1988 in 13 West Virginia elementary schools as the result of a partnership between the IBM Corporation and the federal Appalachian Regional Commission. The WTR labs, also installed in 42 Kentucky and Virginia schools, use a computer-based instructional system to develop the…

Describes the successes of Writing to Read (WTR) program used with students in kindergarten and grade one as well as with two key subgroups (low-socioeconomic students and males who lag behind in reading and writing). Finds that with this program these subgroups can progress in reading and writing, and fewer students are recommended for remedial…

A study investigated whether the writing outcomes of first-grade pupils participating in the Writing-to-Read (WTR) program differed significantly from the writing outcomes of pupils in a traditional language arts curriculum (No-WTR). The study also investigated whether differences were attributable to gender, race, socioeconomic status, individual…

The goal of the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) is to improve elementary and secondary students' ability to use their language--to read fluently and with expression, to understand what they read and hear, and to use this understanding so they can communicate effectively. ECRI is a pre- and in-service program for teachers to learn…

During the 1988-89 school year, 55 Writing to Read (WTR) labs were installed in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia elementary schools, as the result of a partnership between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the IBM Corporation. This report evaluates the WTR program implemented in 13 southern West Virginia rural schools with poor,…