This document represents Volume I of a two volume study to determine the extent to which four elementary level social studies programs reflect the multi-racial, multi-cultural nature of American society. The document is presented in three parts. Part I covers the Michigan Social Studies Textbook Act, an historical overview of previous Michigan…

This document, Volume II of a two-volume report on the extent to which four elementary level social studies programs reflect the multi-racial, multi-cultural nature of American society, contains individual reports of each reviewer. Fifteen reviewers examined textbooks and accompanying instructional materials according to the degree to which they…

Using a Curriculum Characteristics Inventory questionnaire, this study identifies teacher concerns and interests about curriculum materials and discloses teachers' attitudes about the nature and characteristics of curriculum materials. Teachers rated six characteristics in the following order of priority: 1) relevance of subject matter, 2)…

An overview of some of the important developments in the psychology and teaching of reading during the past ten years is presented in this booklet. Four developments that are characteristic of the decade are described in an introduction: reading and social conscience, growth in reading research, increase in interdisciplinary advisory committees,…

This article presents a rationale for incorporating reading activities with science. It emphasizes that science investigations can provide a background for, and an interest in, reading among students. Three approaches for using science as a vehicle for reading are given: (1) the unit approach; (2) the tradebook, activity card approach; and (3) the…

THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF STUDIES DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE THE SUITABILITY OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS WITH REGARD TO LEVELS OF DIFFICULTY IS REPORTED. THE STUDY ATTEMPTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER SOME RANGE OF DIFFICULTY MAXIMIZED THE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION STUDENTS GAIN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF READING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS. IN ORDER TO FORM 129 PAIRS…

Two bibliographies, each of which is divided into two parts, provide information on reading in the content areas of language arts and literature. The first part contains abstracts of documents selected from six basic ERIC/CRIER references. The second part lists annotated materials from a seventh reference in order to provide access to literature…

Addressed to teachers of composition and to other professional students of prose, this book develops a philosophy of composition based on the nature and history of writing. Chapters discuss distinctive features of written speech, the normative character of written speech, progressive tendencies in the history of language and prose, refinement of…

Content area teachers at the secondary level should teach students specific techniques for handling the reading materials in their disciplines. This paper points out the need for administrators to overcome attitudinal barriers of content teachers with regard to teaching reading skills and shows how compulsory attendance laws have led to the…

This report describes the development of an experimental program of job reading training designed to provide a level of functional literacy appropriate to minimal job task reading requirements in six major career clusters. Program effectiveness for both general and job reading training is described in data based on the reading performance of some…

Evaluations of 46 items of secondary level instructional materials used in distributive education are presented in the document to assist teachers in their choice of instructional materials for students. The development of an assessment instrument is described. The evaluation was conducted by a task force of distributive education teachers trained…

This book is primarily for the in-service teacher and discusses specific practices required in corrective reading. Some of the chapters and topics include: "Appraising Reading Problems in the Classroom," which discusses steps in remedial reading, the teacher's role, causes of reading failure, characteristics of a good reading program, and the…

The need for preparing materials which are comprehensible to disadvantaged children led to this study in which verbs were simplified in an effort to determine whether such simplification might increase the likelihood of passages being understood by disadvantaged black students. The hypothesis was based on a 1927 study which found that 18 verbs,…

Work Unit REALISTIC was undertaken by the Human Resources Research Organization to provide information concerning demands for reading, listening, and arithmetic skills in selected military occupational specialties and to provide information relevant to the matching of personnel literacy skills to job demands for such skils. This report describes…

Using string-manipulation algorithms, FORTRAN computer programs were designed for analysis of written material. The programs measure length of a text and its complexity in terms of the average length of words and sentences, map the occurrences of keywords or phrases, calculate word frequency distribution and certain indicators of style. Trials of…