A commonly held belief about reading instruction in the elementary grades is that students must first learn to read so that they will then utilize their reading skill to learn from written language and to acquire new ideas. Consequently most of the instructional time in the primary grades is spent in teaching students how to recognize words and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of study guides on content retention and reading achievement among community college freshmen; (2) the effects of schemata and text structure on…

Characteristics and reading performance of students who have a dominant language other than English are examined and compared with those of English-dominant students, based on the results 1979-1980 National Assessment of Educational Progress (reading and literature). Responses were obtained from 9-year-olds, 13-year-olds, and 17-year-olds. The…

Focusing on research about children's acquisition of reading and spelling skills, this paper discusses the larger picture of reading acquisition, issues addressed by research, and results of this research. The paper cites numerous studies on the subject, including studies on whether environmental print experiences enable young children to process…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 6 titles discuss the following topics: (1) the effects of comparison/contrast writing instruction on the reading comprehension of tenth-grade students; (2) an exploration of the role of language awareness in high school students'…

In this report, basic skills areas for three grade levels are covered, along with average grade equivalent scores on the California Achievement Tests for the 1981-1982 school year. Included are reading comprehension, language, and mathematics scores for grades 3, 5, and 8. The major findings from analyses of the statewide results indicate that…

In this report, basic skills areas for three grade levels are covered, along with average grade equivalent scores on the California Achievement Tests for the 1982-83 school year. Included are reading comprehension, language, and mathematics scores for grades 3, 5, and 8. The major findings from analyses of the statewide result indicate that the…

The first part of this document presents the results of a survey of early entrance testing procedures in 25 Florida districts and details teacher ratings of 486 first-grade and 154 kindergarten students whose entrance test results had permitted them to enter kindergarten a year earlier than other students with birthdays between October and…

A study of the requisite processes for establishing diagnostic validity in reading was conducted in a seventh grade remedial reading classroom. The study's objectives were to (1) collect reliable diagnostic data on each student's performance in word recognition, oral reading, silent reading comprehension, and listening comprehension before and…

Intended for teachers and students, this document presents updated information about the design, the sections, and the scoring of the Grade 12 diploma examinations in English 30 and 33 for the 1985-86 school year in Alberta, Canada. It contains blueprints illustrating the relationship between the content and scoring of writing and reading test…

A research project was designed to determine whether eleventh and twelfth grade students of carpentry possess the reading skills necessary to comprehend instructional materials used in the field and classroom. A sample population of ninety-two students from twenty-seven school districts was selected for testing from three facilities. Three hundred…

The effectiveness of "preferred interest" materials in adult reading classes was tested by comparing pretest and posttest scores for the silent reading subtest of the Standard Reading Inventory. The study collected data for 20 adults that received reading instruction by traditional teaching methods (large group arrangement and commercial…

Resulting from a project involving district, state, and federal educational agencies, the papers in this, the second of two volumes, are intended to provide information from research and practice that can help school districts in their efforts to make decisions about goals and methods of basic skills instruction. The topics of the papers in the…

Through readings and activities contained in this booklet, which is part of the "What If...Series," secondary students and adults learn about how a bill becomes a law and at the same time acquire effective coping skills. By using the materials, students will learn who makes laws, what laws are about, when and where laws are made, and how an idea…

A reading ability test is described in terms of its purpose, its outline, its reliability, and judgments about the relevance of its content. Copies of the two forms of the test and the answer key are appended. A review of some of the literature on literacy indicates the difficulty of reaching consensus in its definition or in the setting of…