Provides several lists of effective teachers' characteristics. Urges that reading teachers keep these characteristics in mind to improve the learning environment and thus help students become better readers. (RL)

Describes a study that measured student attitude toward reading and reading-related concepts to determine the effects of grade level, reading achievement, sex, race, and social status upon reading attitudes. (Author/GW)

Attempts to ascertain whether small group, individualized instruction based upon an identified reading weakness was more effective than regular classroom instruction in terms of student reading achievement scores and in terms of student attitudes toward reading. (Author/RK)

The study compared the performance of severe and mild learning disabled children to normal children on a problem-solving task. The three types of children were assessed on the Matching Familiar Figures task. Results indicated that on the MFF, LD children, as a group, were more impulsive than normal children. (Author)

Notes that the Cuban method of teaching reading is similar to the Soviet approach but also has much in common with the mastery-oriented strategies of North America. Examines similarities and differences. (FL)

Discusses the evaluation and testing procedures schools use to evaluate and test reading achievement. Identifies three major categories of tests: achievement/survey, diagnostic, and informal reading inventories. (AEW)

Describes a study of the effect of incongruent prior knowledge on fifth- and sixth-graders' text comprehension, indicating that text structures that explicitly contrasted the reader's misconception with the correct information were more effective than those that simply gave correct information. (HTH)

Three types of metalinguistic awareness and their relation to socioeconomic status, vocabulary, reading readiness skills, and reading acheivement were longitudinally studied in a sample of 40 kindergartners and 43 first graders. The three metalinguistic tasks were highly interrelated until the effects of oral language comprehension or vocabulary…

Research data is presented to support special education approaches to personal and social development. Seventy-eight fourth- to sixth-grade handicapped students and 82 first-grade nonhandicapped students participated in the project. Promising research results suggest many questions to be addressed in future study. (JS)

Sixty-five Hispanic students (average age 9.9 years) were evaluated for placement in a gifted/accelerated program. Of the five standardized tests administered, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) identified the highest proportion of gifted/accelerated students; the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test and reading achievement scores…

National Assessment of Educational Progress reading data were scaled using a unidimensional item response theory model. Bock's full-information factor analysis and Rosenbaum's test of unidimensionality were applied. Conclusions about unidimensionality for balanced incomplete block spiralled data were the same as for complete data. (Author/GDC)

The predictive validity of the California Achievement Test, Reading (CAT-R) was examined for 480 Hispanic and Anglo pupils in Grades 2 and 3. The validity of the CAT-R as a predictor for reading for combined groups of Hispanic and Anglo pupils appeared to be limited. (Author/LMO)

This study compares the reading achievement of beginning readers in kindergarten who were assigned to two reading groups: (1) cipher readers and (2) phonetic-cue readers. Results showed that the first group did better in both reading and spelling. The importance of beginning readers advancing beyond cue reading to cipher reading is emphasized.…

The reading accuracy of seven-year-old children was found to be significantly better with the installment rather than the whole method of oral reading. In addition, word complexity, extraversion, and sex interacted in their effects on reading accuracy. The results are discussed in terms of their implication for classroom practice. (Author/RM)

Two studies examined second- through fifth-grade children's negative-item bias with responses to the Self Description Questionnaire and how it is related to cognitive development and reading achievement. Results showed that younger children and poorer readers responded less appropriately to negative items, thus biasing the interpretations of their…