The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between working memory and text coherence in Chinese text comprehension. Eighty-six participants completed an operation-character working memory span task to be classified into low-span and high-span readers and a reading task to measure the time to detect inconsistency as well as the…

In this study it was hypothesized that field dependence or independence would introduce systematic variance into Iranian EFL learners' overall and task-specific performance on task-based reading comprehension tests. One thousand, seven hundred, forty-three freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students, all majoring in English at various Iranian…

This article examines how controlling statistically for baseline covariates, especially pretests, improves the precision of studies that randomize schools to measure the impacts of educational interventions on student achievement. Empirical findings from five urban school districts indicate that (1) pretests can reduce the number of randomized…

This study examined the prevalence of reading problems and self-reported symptoms of attentional deficits in a sample of adjudicated adolescent males (N = 101) aged 12 to 18 years who were residing in an alternative sentencing residential program. Thirty-four percent of the youth had reading problems while only 9% of the boys had self-reported…

The Accelerated Reader/Reading Renaissance program (now called Accelerated Reader Best Classroom Practices) is a guided reading intervention in which teachers direct student reading of text. It involves two components. Reading Renaissance, the first component, is a set of recommended principles on guided reading (or teachers' direction of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 28 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) a method of individually appraising the precursory skills of beginning readers; (2) the effects of instructing third grade students in interpretive reading…

This report presents the results of various standardized measures administered to Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) students and control students in the school year 1975-1976. In contrast to previous comparisons, KEEP employed more rigorous procedures for the selection of the control students and for the conditions of test administration.…

The main objective of the overall Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) was to help the classroom teacher acquire the key reading diagnostic strategies (e.g., Cooter, 2003; Desimone, 2009; Garet et al., 2001; Timperley & Phillips, 2003) relevant to K-1 struggling readers (e.g., Desimone, 2009; Garet et al., 2001; Guskey, 2002; Joyce &…

A study evaluated the validity of the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) grade-3 reading assessment from 2 perspectives: its relationship to 21 other measures of reading via factor analyses, and the sensitivity of the IGAP to instruction in 3 schools via multiple regression. Data were collected in a longitudinal study involving 350 students.…

The summary information in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public in Alberta, Canada with an overview of results from the January 1997 administration of the English 33 Diploma Examination. The information in the report is most helpful when used in conjunction with the detailed school and jurisdiction…

Among the measurement techniques receiving greater attention is the context-dependent item set or testlet. The context-dependent item set consists of a scenario and related test questions. This item format is generally believed to be able to tap higher level thinking. Unfortunately, this item form leads to inter-item dependence within item sets…

Providing 66 ready-to-use informal diagnostic tests and other evaluative aids, this book helps reading specialists and classroom teachers identify students' individual reading problems to prescribe effective corrective or remedial instruction. Each test in the book is printed in a full-page format and is ready to duplicate as many times as needed…

The summary information in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public in Alberta, Canada with an overview of results from the June 1998 administration of the English 30 Diploma Examination. The information in the report is most helpful when used in conjunction with the detailed school and jurisdiction…

Intended as a comprehensive collection of knowledge about managing college-level reading and study strategy programs for practitioners, administrators, and researchers, this book provides a review of the theoretical, empirical, and programmatic issues in the field. Chapter 1 ("Reading, Writing, and Academic Literacy" by Sharon L. Pugh…

The merits and disadvantages of standardized and informal reading tests for limited English proficient readers are discussed. A growing reliance on standardized ("formal") tests due to their ease of administration and scoring is criticized because the tests are seen as: inadequate for describing students at high and low ends of the scale; not…