Argues that the secret behind truly powerful learning lies in developing students' metacognitive abilities. Presents an overview of the role of formative assessment in learning to read and in reading to learn. Discusses some research-based instructional techniques useful in helping students take executive control of the reading act. (SR)

Examines associations of multiple measures of naming speed, phonological awareness, and verbal intelligence with word reading in poor readers and good readers. Reveals that for poor readers naming speed and phonological awareness were associated with word reading, but not verbal intelligence--for good readers, phonological awareness and verbal…

Explores the educational contexts in which boys and girls make their reading choices. Finds that girls read more and read narrative fiction almost exclusively, while boys read less but in a wider number of genres. Examines the effect that teachers or curriculum have in supporting or challenging gender preferences for reading material selections.…

Describes a university class project designed to help pre-service and in-service teachers explore the ways children and adults respond to the same text. Considers the importance of discussion for the creation of meaning, the support of literary awareness, and insights about the nature of children's responses to reading. (SR)

Explores factors accounting for the success of poor readers (college students) tutoring other poor readers (elementary school students). Finds that using texts that gradually and repetitively introduced high-frequency vocabulary and engaging children in direct letter-sound instruction were important. Finds that scaffolding of reading and writing…

Examines teachers' beliefs and attitudes as their school district moved toward mandated and standardized literacy portfolio assessment. Notes that the three teachers value informal classroom portfolio assessment. Presents teachers' concerns as their district begins the process of mandated and standardized portfolio assessment. Notes that the…

Examined the influence of analogy instruction on nine students' spelling behavior in a second-grade reading-language program. Found that all students increased their use of an analogy spelling strategy over the course of the school year, suggesting that analogy instruction can be integrated successfully into a rich, reading-language arts…

Discusses "Earning by Learning," a program designed to increase reading attitudes of academically at-risk children by combining two strong motivational factors: cash rewards and adult attention/approval. Tests the program's success with second and third graders at a site in Georgia. Finds overall success in frequent book reading,…

Reports on four low-income families enrolled in a summer family literacy pilot program. Describes how all of the families used literacy for meaningful purposes. Notes that the purposes and degrees of literacy used differed in connection with the social-contextual factors in their lives. (SR)

Investigates the strategic literacy knowledge, abilities, and potential of five Latino/a subjects (three were bilingual). Employs qualitative research methods and cognitive strategy lessons. Finds that students, with instructional support, implemented the focal strategies emphasized during the experiment and engaged in extended discourse which…

Finds literature to be the most effective model for writing in the author's second-grade classroom. Discusses five ways that children borrow ideas from literature and the function of borrowed ideas. (SR)

Investigates the effects of task repetition on the writing skills of upper-level developmental reading students. Reports that productivity, use of source text, and representation of key ideas improved with simple repetition of meaningful literacy tasks. However, there was also an increase in copying from the sources. (Contains 38 references.)…

Addresses the affective quality of the parent-child relationship during shared book reading. Finds a significant difference in the affective quality of the parent-child relationship related to both the child's attitude toward reading and the child's reading fluency. Notes dyads who were affectionate during shared reading had children who were less…

Assesses 291 first graders on reading, intelligence, and phonological processing at the beginning and end of the academic year to determine the accuracy of three different approaches to identification. Determines the best procedure for identifying children at risk for reading difficulties before they received formal reading instruction. Concludes…

Determines if Accelerated Reader (AR) is beneficial to the reading development of young emergent readers' comprehension. Considers if AR will improve young struggling readers' comprehension skills and attitudes to improve so that they can more easily become true independent readers. Concludes that AR did contribute to children's reading…