This article describes a cross-age peer tutoring program in reading developed and implemented at a special school for students (ages 8-18) with moderate learning difficulties in Ireland. Evaluation studies indicate multiple benefits accruing to both the learners and the helpers including progress in reading, enhanced feelings of self-worth, and…

In developed countries like the United States and Britain, the continuing challenge for educators is to sort through the choices of an all-you-can-eat school system and teach the basic skills. Despite so-called universal education, an alarming number of people still fail to reach even basic levels of literacy. The "literacy hour" was…

Using authentic materials, this study compared the oral reading miscues of 20 university students with reading related learning disabilities to 20 controls matched for age, gender, ethnicity, college GPA, reading achievement score, and college of major. All participants orally read two passages with different text structures from a college…

The notion that parent involvement impacts student learning outcomes for children who are at risk for failing academically has been supported by prominent early childhood education experts. Recent attention has been given to specific ways parents can help increase student learning through their interactions with children as they complete home…

Apart from the annual returns to the Ministry of Education of Reading Recovery (RR) data (and to a lesser extent, the four-yearly National Education Monitoring Project cycle data), there is currently no national data sets of reading achievement information for New Zealand primary school children. This article uses the national RR data for 2002 as…

Components of the School Renaissance[R] program, including Accelerated Reader and Reading Renaissance, have been implemented in more than 65,000 schools in the United States. Despite the program's popularity, there have been no published, well-controlled evaluations of its effectiveness. This randomized field experiment was designed to gauge…

This study examines the role of curriculum as a vocabulary learning environment by comparing teacher's Large Group Time instruction in two curricula--Creative Curriculum (Dodge, Colker, & Heroman, 2000) and the Doors to Discovery program (2002). Discourse samples were retrieved from the video data of the Large Group Time activity in five Head…

In this article we examine student performance on mandated tests in grades 3, 4, and 5 in one state. We focus on this interval, which w e term "the fourth grade window," based on our hypothesis that students in grade four are particularly vulnerable to decrements in achievement. The national focus on the third grade as the critical…

The majority of youth in corrections have had negative school experiences and below average academic achievement. Longitudinal research indicates that both academic failure and a negative life-long trajectory are a probability for many youth confined to correctional facilities. Given the high number of youth from ethnic and cultural minority…

The current study examined the influence of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on student academic achievement in reading and in mathematics in a sample of 146 first- through fourth-grade students, 103 of which were identified as having ADHD and academic problems in reading and/or math. A theoretical model was examined…

This paper uses the SACMEQ II data to carry out an analysis of classroom context factors that accounted for student scores in reading and mathematics as well as a review of methods used to derive policies in Kenya in order to emphasise the need for evidence-based research for the derivation of policies for the leadership and management of primary…

We examine the effects of family structures and processes on student achievement in Hong Kong. Specifically, we show that the negative effects of single parenthood in past studies are not universal. In Hong Kong, 4,405 15-year-old students completed a questionnaire, and tests in reading, mathematics and science. We analysed the data using…

This study outlines a formative assessment system using a consistent set of cut scores on Curriculum-Based Measurement-Reading (CBM-R) probes and investigates four statistical methods for establishing cut scores. Cut scores were established using the Minnesota statewide achievement test in reading at grade 3 as the criterion for a successful…

The aim of this study was to develop a means of tracking the reading performance of low-progress readers on a weekly basis, so as to inform instructional decision-making. A representative sample of 261 primary school children from Years 1 to 5 were tested on 21 different text passages taken from a developing passage reading test, the Wheldall…

"Education Week" provides a weekly review of state and federal K-12 education policy news. This special issue of "Education Week" includes the following articles: (1) Below the Surface; (2) School Leaders Seek Innovative Solutions to Improve Student Performance (Steven Dowling); (3) A Decade of Effort (Lynn Olson); (4) A Small Wonder (Debra…