Written to focus attention on the emerging philosophy and practice of whole language, this book serves as a "portfolio" for the graduate or undergraduate student who is interested in pursuing ideas, considering issues, and thinking about problems related to whole language. The 48 selected articles from 24 major education journals presented in the…

Outlining how teachers can best support a literate community yet still meet the needs of individual readers, this book explains how to create a balanced literacy program for grades K-3 based on guided reading and supported by reading aloud, shared reading, interactive writing, and other approaches. The book also presents guidelines for observation…

A practicum was designed to increase the number of primary teachers who possess a more current reading and writing philosophy and would implement theory-driven teaching practices. The problem addressed in the practicum was that primary reading and writing instruction did not reflect current research, theory, and practices. Many classroom teachers…

A study examined a reading recovery program in Great Bend, Kansas. Subjects were 70 first-grade students divided into a treatment group and a control group. In the treatment group, 19 were Caucasian, 6 were Hispanic, and 6 were Vietnamese or Afro-American. In the control group, 31 were Caucasian and 8 were Hispanic. Independent variables were:…

This paper describes a strategy for teaching elementary students language arts that involves the collaboration of the regular education teacher and a speech therapist. The classroom teacher and speech therapist work together in providing lessons related to whole language, reading, parts of speech, semantics, and written expression. This allows…

Between April 1985 and January 1988, the Educational Testing Service evaluated Al Manaahil (The Sources), a television series in reading for Arab children. The series, produced and broadcast in Jordan, contained 65 half-hour shows in Modern Standard Arabic for children in grades 1 through 4. More than 5,000 children in Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia…

A major crisis facing urban education is the inability of predominantly white, middle-class college students to deal with the realities of the urban primary school. A program that brings education majors into the urban school is described. The idea of partnership is the guiding principle of this program, in which college students, local teachers…

Through a participatory approach to adult basic education, a project was conducted to break the debilitating cycle of illiteracy that passes from low-income parents to their children. The approach included a family literacy book club designed to encourage parents and children to read together and to improve parents' literacy skills, interests, and…

A study examined the hypothesis that learning strategy coupled with efficacy-building teaching interactions would lead to greater strategic learning than learning strategy instruction alone. A reading comprehension strategy was taught to 184 students from 4 Los Angeles County (California) public and independent schools. Included were 65…

Noting that an important trend in middle school reading instruction has been the increased use of literature and trade books, this paper suggests that using Caldecott Medal and Honor books in the middle school classroom is an effective way to expose students to high quality literature. The paper notes that promoting the use of such books also aids…

The National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) database was used as a data source to examine school and nonschool factors related to the educational attainment of African American students. The 1,868 African American students who participated in the NELS First Follow-up were the focus of the study. Five predictors of mathematics and reading…

A program was designed and implemented to improve student vocabulary and comprehension. The target population consisted of 59 students in grades 1, 2, and 3 in a low-income area of a large city in central Illinois. The problems of lack of prior knowledge, poor vocabulary, and insufficient comprehension were documented through data collected from…

Designed to offer a balanced instructional approach for language arts, this book combines a systematic phonics program with whole language. It teaches reading skills by using the children's own language, basal readers, poems, and songs, and by emphasizing writing, spelling, listening, and speaking skills. The book includes daily lesson plans,…

A national survey of programs (N=798) for deaf students examined: (1) the organizational frameworks (theoretical or methodological) that programs use for reading instruction; (2) the extent to which "Reading Milestones," a basal series developed for deaf/hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students is used; (3) respondents' satisfaction with "Reading…

A workplace literacy project was conducted cooperatively through the Minnesota Teamsters Service Bureau and Northeast Metro Technical College. Project objectives, which were met, included the following: (1) establishing a project steering committee; (2) developing workplace literacy curriculum materials and resources specific to commercial vehicle…