Representative research studies of the interference of Vernacular Black English (VBE) on beginning reading of VBE speakers at the phonological, grammatical, and lexical and content levels are examined. The following conclusions emerge: (1) phonological interference in learning to read has not been established; (2) VBE does not clearly interfere…

More than 1,800 Philadelphia fourth grade students were involved in a study of reading instruction in the Philadelphia elementary schools conducted during the school year 1975-76. Four critical factors were noted as improving reading achievement in the district's elementary schools: the use of the linguistic basal approach to reading instruction,…

This study examines the relationship between the interactive influences of two environmental settings--the home and the school--and three measures of student growth--reading, mathematics, and self-esteem. Each setting was measured along three dimensions of influence--attitudinal, process, and structural. A three stage, multivariate regression…

The New York State Preliminary Competency Test in Reading is designed to measure a student's ability to understand written material of varying levels of difficulty. Results are used to evaluate a student's current level of achievement in reading and to indicate the extent of compensatory or remedial help which may be necessary to pass the final…

During its fourteenth year, the Hartford (Connecticut) school district's Higher Horizons 100 Program (HH100), a supplementary program providing groups of 100 educationally disadvantaged students with an integrated academic, cultural, and counseling program, produced a series of substantial student gains. In all but one instance, fall to spring…

Data collected during the standardization of the 1976 Metropolitan Readiness Tests (MRT) were examined to provide information on sex differences in prereading skills. The MRT are designed for administration either at the beginning of kindergarten or between kindergarten and first grade. Performance on the six subtests and the total test on both…

A volume of "The Dimensions in Early Learning Series," this monograph explores beginning reading. The introduction defines reading, and chapters I and II review reading development and discuss theory and hierarchy of reading development. How to evaluate reading achievement, ways to teach reading, and what parents can do to help are subjects…

A study to determine the effects of oral-aural teaching (intensive language instruction) techniques on pupils' gains in reading proficiency involved 1418 pupils. A sample of first graders and a sample of second graders were each subdivided into four groups. Group one was exposed to oral-aural teaching methods in English for the presentation of…

This report describes comparative evaluations of the Distar I (first grade) and Distar II (second grade) programs which were carried out in 1972-1973. Results showed: (1) the Distar program for first grades had no conclusive advantage over traditional instruction for the development of oral language or reading achievement; and (2) second grade…

This pilot study investigated the projected long-term economic effects of using the Edison Responsive Environment (ERE) machine in teaching 3- and 4-year-old preschool children. The ERE can be programmed in a variety of ways (to talk , play games, read aloud, show pictures and take dictation). The program developed for this study had four phases:…

The stated purpose of this report is to locate the scattered pieces of information concerning adolescence and compensatory education in order to assess whether these pieces form any coherent pattern, and determine the possible implications of any such pattern for federal policy in education. Four principal sources of information were available for…

The focus of this study is on the possible effects of phonological interference on the reading achievement of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican first graders. Specifically, the study explored the relationship between standard English auditory discrimination and first-grade reading achievement. Subjects for the study were 32 female and 20 male students…

Fifteen tables present data on Texas Title I programs. Information provided includes basic statistics for 1965-75, Title I programs for 1974-75, participants in ESEA Title I funded programs by grade level, expenditures and participation in instructional activities, noninstructional support services, personnel salaried through Title I, statistical…

This selective bibliography is one of nine documents compiled to provide titles and descriptions of useful and informative reading documents which were indexed into the ERIC system from 1966 to 1974. The 131 entries in this section of the bibliography concern reading readiness and are arranged alphabetically by author in one of the following eight…

The major issue investigated in this paper is whether or not any change appears over a five-year peiod in the differences in performances between minority and non-minority students in that district. Since the relative performance advantage of non-minority students is frequently ascribed to their better backgrounds, socio-economic factors are held…