Surveys the status of statewide reading assessment practices in the United States. Finds that the typical state uses an existing national standardized test or its own local standardized version and that only 10 percent of states are on the cutting edge of reading evaluation. Suggests that, at the statewide level, reading assessment has not kept…

Reports on a survey of Native Canadian adults (with limited reading skills but not currently in adult programs) about their perceptions of literacy. Discusses (1) purposes and values of literacy; (2) types of goals; (3) past barriers; (4) preferred learning environment (they preferred "watch then do" learning); and (5) current barriers.…

Describes the results of a survey of classroom read-aloud practices in the United States. Contrasts read-aloud practices with a "model" of what they might be. (PRA)

Examines learning and teaching strategies by giving a one-hour workshop on techniques for reading technical material to undergraduate psychology students. Uses a blank information map, a set of behavioral objectives, and instructions for notetaking as study aids. Demonstrates that using information maps and behavioral objectives improves exam…

Finds that the Reading and Writing Family Constellation Disclosure (measuring family impact on reading and writing abilities) can help teachers assess students on a holistic basis and develop appropriate remediation plans for them, providing particular insights into a student's unresponsiveness to remediation. (SR)

Investigates children's peer group discussions of a storybook, an information book, and an informational storybook. Finds older students collaborating more, drawing more on peer information, participating in longer discussions, and making more confirming and challenging responses than younger children. Finds that children stayed on topic longer…

Examines proficient and less proficient high school comprehenders' use of strategies as they read three passages with different top-level structures: collection, causation, and comparison. Finds that both groups of readers use similar strategies. Finds that proficient comprehenders use more previous knowledge on the collection passage and more…

Finds that kindergarten children trained in phonemic awareness significantly outperformed control children in phoneme segmentation, letter name and sound knowledge, and reading phonetically regular words and nonwords. Notes that they produced invented spellings rated developmentally superior to those of the control children. (SR)

Examines students' perceptions of themselves as readers, their reading difficulties, and the strategies they use to solve reading problems. Suggests that poor readers in the elementary grades, especially those with word recognition problems, experience difficulties because they lack knowledge about when and why a particular strategy is effective.…

Examines previous studies of the effects of prediction activities, prior knowledge, and text type upon reading comprehension. Finds the three elements unimportant to ordinary reading. Observes that many schema theory concepts arose from analysis of difficult reading. Suggests that the schema theory variables may arise only in atypical reading…

Examines the effects of real-life reading software versus skill-based reading software on inner-city public school students. Finds that students using the real-life reading software felt significantly better than those using skill-based software about their work with the computer and themselves as readers and writers. (RS)

Finds that students understand reading and writing as demonstrations of what they know, with the purpose of giving teachers what they want, and the hope of getting an "A." Shows that they begin to believe themselves so incompetent that they no longer enjoy reading and writing; indeed, they read and write as little as possible. (SR)

Examines information-processing differences among four types of readers differing in reading comprehension and speed. Finds that good comprehenders outperformed poor comprehenders on all types of tasks, but the results were less clear for the high- and low-speed readers. Proposes differences in working memory as a source of individual differences…

Maintains that practitioners have a goldmine of evidence upon which to design effective educational programs for beginning and problem readers. Outlines current knowledge of the beginning stages of reading acquisition for both normal and problem readers and relates this knowledge to current language arts curricular practices. (BS)

Examines how 73 picture storybooks portrayed Chinese and Chinese Americans and how the books reflect the Chinese culture. Finds that most present positive images of Chinese and Chinese Americans, that cultural inauthenticity is the main flaw of many books, and that more picture books are needed that feature flesh and blood contemporary Chinese and…