This booklet contains a short summary of what scientific research says about how children learn to read and write. It also discusses things you can do with your child at three different grade levels -- kindergarten, first grade, and second and third grades. These activities will help the child become a reader. In addition, this booklet contains a…

Suggests educationists Develop a more critical attitude toward surveys on reading. (RB)

Discusses the value of knowing how to read, cites statistics revealing America's commitment to the reading movement, but points out that American is not a literate nation in relative terms. (Author/RB)

The study concludes that there is no significant positive correlation between reading ability and length of stay in the Job Corps. (Author)

The relationship of reading ability to the dropout problem is discussed. (CK)

Ways of helping beginning readers to understand the abstract quality of language are discussed. (CK)

Pupils at different reading ages (RA) read narrative texts with or without illustrations. Good readers at RA7 used illustrations to identify textual messages, process information, and comprehend texts. For poor readers, illustrations were of limited help or actually increased errors. Good readers at RA9 were least affected by the illustrations.…

Explores and shatters the myth that students' reading scores were much higher in the first half of this century than they are now. (WD)

Differences in visual encoding speed for reading is related to differences in ability to access memory codes for other meaningful patterns. This difference is shown in the advantage of better readers in reaction time in deciding if two line drawings belonged to the same category. Better readers have faster access for any meaningful pattern. (PJM)

The effect of television viewing on children and their reading ability is discussed with emphasis on encouraging both parents and children to be more discriminating viewers. (DS)