This action research project describes a program for improving literal and inferential reading comprehension skills aimed at increasing overall academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of third, fourth, and fifth grade students in middle class communities located in the Midwest. Evidence for the existence of the problem includes…

A mismatch between the intended purpose of a curriculum strategy and the discourse understandings of students that enable them to engage in the activity is a common occurrence when the purposes of the curriculum strategy are not apparent to the students. This is more likely to happen in schools in multicultural societies. Experiences in a…

This "how-to" booklet was compiled by Oklahoma's "Phonics Task Force" to help teachers of K-3 students further incorporate phonics into daily reading instruction using a systematic approach--one that is logical, sequential, and orderly. The booklet states that the use of phonics in Oklahoma's core curriculum has been promoted…

This report describes a program to increase sight/functional vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. The targeted population consisted of one 2nd-3rd grade and one 6th-8th grade cross-categorical self-contained class, located in an elementary school and a middle school. The schools were located in a northeast suburb of a major city in the…

This study investigated the effect of extended-time limits in terms of performance levels and score comparability for reading comprehension scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). The first part of the study compared the average reading comprehension scores on the ITBS of 61 sixth-graders with learning disabilities and 397 non learning…

Reading while listening (RWL) is an instructional technique in which children associate unfamiliar written words with their corresponding familiar sounds. In RWL children listen to a text (often a "talking book" on audiotape or computer software) while following along in a printed version. A study examined the effect of RWL, with reader…

This book makes a scholarly contribution to the debate about standardized testing in American education by using the methods of discourse analysis to examine not only representative material from reading tests but also children's responses to it. The book is particularly attentive to the role of culture in shaping children's understanding of what…

This report describes an effective instructional technique for advancing reading comprehension through a balanced reading program. The targeted population consisted of third- and eighth-grade students from three middle class communities located in the south suburbs of Chicago. Reading comprehension concerns were documented through data obtained…

This study investigated whether seventh- and ninth-grade students who did prewriting activities in English class preceding a related literature comprehension test would produce higher raw test scores on literal and interpretive questions than would students who did not use prewriting. The study took place in 1993 and 1995. Participants included…

Methods to control the test construct and the efficiency of a computerized adaptive test (CAT) were studied in the context of a reading comprehension test given as a part of a battery of tests for college admission. A goal of the study was to create test scores that were interchangeable with those from a fixed form paper and pencil test. The first…

Many storytellers, educators, and researchers advocate that storytelling can contribute significantly to early literacy development. Early childhood education needs to embrace literacy programs that actively employ storytelling to bridge students' established oracy skills and their newfound literacy skills. By doing this, children will encounter a…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has increased the importance of assessment in K-12 education. Designed to ensure that all students meet high academic standards, the law currently requires states receiving Title I funds to test all children annually in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and report student performance disaggregated by…

The North Carolina Pretest?Grade 3 is administered to all grade 3 students during the first three weeks of school. The pretest measures the knowledge and skills specified for grade 2 from the reading and mathematics goals and objectives of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The pretest is used in the determination of growth in student…

The achievement gap between low-income African American students and their White counterparts remains substantial. To address this, researchers have begun to examine the impact of culture on cognitive performance among African American students (Lee, 2001; Foster, Lewis, & Onafowora, 2003). The findings from this work suggest that when aspects of…

The National Reading Panel (NRP) issued a report in 2000 that responded to a congressional mandate to help parents, teachers, and policymakers identify key skills and instructional methods central to reading achievement. The panel identified five areas that they found to be critical to effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics,…