Background: Children with fluent and accurate word reading in the presence of poor text comprehension are impaired on a wide range of reading-related tasks. Aims: This study investigated the consistency of skill impairment in a sample of poor comprehenders to identify any fundamental skill weakness that (i) might be associated with poor text…

The purpose of this book is to introduce the research on readability, defined here as reading ease. The first part of the book covers how people read. A series of national literacy surveys show that the average person in the U.S. and most other countries are adults of limited reading skills. For example, the average adult in the U.S. reads at the…

Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

A study investigated the achievement of sixth-grade students in an integrated language arts curriculum. Subjects, 228 students in two schools in Southwestern Kansas, were divided into a treatment group of 128 students (who were taught using an integrated approach to language arts instruction) and a control group of 100 students (who were taught…

A questionnaire was distributed to 81 sixth-grade students in an effort to find out the reasons why they chose one book over other books. The 2-item questionnaire was also used to compare reasons given by male and female students to see if there were differences in their responses. Subjects were from 4 classrooms chosen at random from 7 classrooms…

A naturalistic study explored a classroom in which multiple history text resources were present and actively used by fifth-grade students. The teacher used the textbook and supplemented it with a wide assortment of trade books. Students worked in small groups of 3 to 5 students. Data included field notes of classroom observations and in-depth…

This study collected baseline data on the nature of elementary and middle-grade students' reading engagement level, locus of control, and stage of ethnic identity development (based on J. A. Banks' typology of ethnic identity), and to determine the extent to which selected literature and the instructional interaction in these students' classrooms…

Some educators (Ravitch, 1990) have suggested that students use multiple source documents to study history. Such documents could be primary sources, such as Congressional bills or eyewitness accounts, or secondary sources, such as later commentaries. This study examined the processes used when 19 tenth-grade high school students were presented…

A study attempted to determine how students in literature-based reading programs compare to students in basal-based, skill-oriented reading programs in terms of their interest in reading. The study was carried out on a sample of 215 pupils in 9 third and fifth grade classrooms from school districts in Eastern Kansas and Northeastern Oklahoma.…

This report describes a program for improving reading skills. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students from urban and rural communities in Northern Illinois. The problem of underachievement in reading was documented by reading inventories, writing samples, and writing prompts. Analysis of probable cause data revealed…

A study examined the use of the accelerated reader (AR) computer program to increase the reading comprehension scores on the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) of sixth-grade students compared to the previous year when they did not use the program. The study reviewed results and methods from previous research regarding use of the AR program. Subjects…

A study examined retelling as a reading comprehension-enhancing technique. Subjects were 26 urban, lower socio-economic fourth graders from New Jersey (Essex County), including 10 girls and 16 boys. A control sample answered questions as a follow-up to reading basal stories; an experimental sample retold the stories as a follow-up. Comparable…

A quasi-experimental study compared achievement effects of various configurations of the Success for All (SFA), schoolwide reform model for elementary schools serving many at-risk students, from full implementation (certified tutoring, full-time school-level facilitator, and the family support team) to implementations lacking some elements felt to…

A study examined children's memory of stories under three varying conditions and focused on how different interaction styles and children's innate abilities affect literacy development. The three conditions tested closely mirrored the three story-reading styles evidenced by teachers of young children were: (1) a control condition where there was…

According to results of the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), teachers of fourth- and eighth-grade students were using a variety of assessment methods to measure their students' progress in reading. At both grades, teachers' reports indicated that in comparison with multiple-choice questions, written paragraphs were used…