Current policy, media and curriculum initiatives across western nations are drawing literacy and literacy pedagogy toward enticingly simplistic understandings of literacy as commodity. Increasingly they focus on "fixing" perceived literacy problems by assuming the primacy of early years literacy and "top-up" intervention…

Direct, explicit, and systematic instruction of critical skills has been a hallmark of effective teaching for many years. In this study, we implemented a quasi-experimental pre-/post-test design with nonequivalent groups to determine the effectiveness of syllable skills instruction on reading achievement. Classes were randomly assigned to control…

"Reading Recovery"[R] is a short-term tutoring intervention designed to serve the lowest-achieving (bottom 20%) first-grade students. The goals of "Reading Recovery"[R] include: promoting literacy skills; reducing the number of first-grade students who are struggling to read; and preventing long-term reading difficulties. The…

A daily intensive supplemental reading and writing program was developed to assist students who were: 1. identified with a language disability and 2. identified as at-risk for reading failure in an urban elementary school. The purpose of the program was to help these students understand and develop the connection between oral and written language…

This article describes the implementation of small-group reading instruction as secondary- and tertiary-level components of a three-tier model of prevention and intervention. The study consisted of 83 students who were targeted in the winter of kindergarten as being at high risk for reading failure. Intervention consisted of evidence-based…

A well-educated teacher equipped with diverse reading materials is the best single answer to the reading problem. (Author)

Examined experienced reading failure among 708 first- and third-grade children. Findings using test-identified failure revealed equal proportions of boys and girls represented in Reading Disabled category. Teacher-identified ratios of boys to girls receiving learning-disabled services were 2:1, exceeding test-identified ratios, whereas…

Describes how one Maryland school district overhauled its total approach to reading instruction and rescued its struggling students. The problem was more one of poor system design than poor instruction. The research-based intervention was a hybrid of reading recovery and phonics. From 1999-00, the rate of fifth graders reading below grade level…

The goal of the RF program, Part B of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), is to have all children reading at grade level by the end of third grade. There is no legislative precedent for this program, focused as it is on preventing reading failure in the early elementary years (US Department of Education, April 2002). Because the design of…

Reading Recovery, a popular one-to-one tutoring program that Bush administration officials sought to shut out of a high-profile federal reading program, has gotten a rare thumbs-up from the federal What Works Clearinghouse. The positive rating comes after prominent researchers and federal reading officials tried to dissuade states and districts…

We conducted two case studies to evaluate the effectiveness of individualized remedial reading instruction linked to direct measures of student learning and transfer. The participants were two first grade children at serious risk of reading failure. The instruction targeted decoding of one syllable short vowel words and first emphasized…

GENERAL GUIDELINES ARE PROVIDED, WHICH MAY BE ADAPTED TO SPECIFIC PROBLEMS AND CONDITIONS IN INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS. BACKGROUND MATERIAL DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN CORRECTIVE READING INSTRUCTION BY THE REGULAR TEACHER IN THE CLASSROOM AND REMEDIAL READING INVOLVING INSTRUCTION RECEIVED OUTSIDE THE REGULAR CLASSROOM. A REVIEW OF CAUSATIVE FACTORS IN…

A formulated definition of the term dyslexia is proposed in this paper in order to clarify the semantical confusion which exists among both specialists and the general public. Dyslexia is explained as a generic term for severe and puzzling reading disability, found to be both acute (where reading-age lags 25 percent or more below mental age) and…

The relationship between neurological impairment or brain damage and severe reading disability is investigated. Symptoms and causes of neurological impairment are listed, and reading disability theories are discussed. Smith and Carrigan offer a neurochemical explanation of reading disability based on synaptic transmission problems. Orton,…