Contains representative selections from issues of "Elementary English," a precursor to "Language Arts," from its fifth decade of publication. Includes articles, editorials, and ads reflecting contemporary concerns of English education still relevant today, such as literacy, the increasing interrelationship between politics and…

Longitudinal data on student absence rates from kindergarten through eighth grade were collected and analyzed. Absence correlated significantly with teacher-assigned reading grades and standardized test scores. (Authors/CJ)

Discusses a study in which learning disabled or educationally handicapped middle school students received a daily treatment of 20 minutes of phonics instruction and demonstrated gains on both the Wide Range Achievement Test and the Gray Oral Reading Test. (AEA)

Presents achievement scores of students in a replication school of the Northern Cheyenne Behavior Analysis Model of Follow Through. Reveals grade level or above achievement for kindergarten children in all subject matter areas tested and similar findings for first grade students, who scored below grade level only in spelling. (FL)

Concludes that a combination of two techniques--cloze and study guides--was a better instructional treatment than cloze instruction alone to improve inferential reading comprehension of content area materials, regardless of teacher or student achievement level. (FL)

Eighteen Mexican American pupils in the grades 1-3 from two urban Kansas schools were tested, using 18 pairs of sound contrasts, for auditory discrimination problems related to their language-different background. Results showed v-b, ch-sh, and s-sp contrasts were the most difficult for subjects to discriminate. (LC)

Impressive evidence shows individual bilingual Hispanic children from low-income backgrounds becoming biliterate in Spanish and English by first grade. Reading is presented to preschoolers as a game; they are first taught to read in Spanish and then in English. Parental participation is crucial. Impact differs according to starting age. (Author/CM)

Compared 52 girls and 42 boys in seventh grade on 3 intelligence measures, 4 achievement measures, and 20 affective measures. Girls outperformed boys on measures of language arts and spelling and on 6 affective measures. (Author/DB)

Reports that in a low-risk reading lesson activity, individual differences among students appeared as a function of the type of verbal interaction pattern or "register" with their teacher, while in a high-risk standardized test condition, individual differences appeared as a function of reading ability. (Author/MKM)

The effects of visual and auditory process training on reading achievement were explored with 24 learning disabled elementary age students assigned to three treatment groups (auditory training and reading group, visual training and reading group, and reading only group). (Author/PHR)

This article investigates the impact of assigning poor-prognosis first-grade students to separate transition rooms, and contrasts it with giving similar children (transition eligible) regular instructional settings and under an individualized program, the New Reading System. (Author/CP)

Fifth-grade boys of relatively good, average, and poor reading ability were assessed on tasks in which success and failure were manipulated. Consistent with predictions, poor readers displayed characteristics indicative of learned helplessness and low self-concepts of ability, including low expectations and less persistence. (Instructional…

A study conducted in Northern Ireland discovered differences in cognitive processing between average adult readers and adult literacy students. (MKM)

Cites ERIC materials describing how music in the classroom can help improve reading readiness, recall, and creative writing. (HTH)

Investigators observed time usage and teacher statements in 26 Chicago high schools and found a lower rate of time loss and a higher rate of positive comments by teachers in higher achieving schools. (Editor)