This document contains the test administration plan for the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST), a test used to assess the college-level skills of Florida students in the early years of college. The plan contains the procedures to be followed during the year in the administration of the CLAST. The document specifies the responsibilities of…

The Texas Study of Students at Risk (TxSSAR) is a comprehensive evaluation examining the effectiveness of three state-level programs with the common goal of helping students at risk of failure to achieve academically. The study comprises investigations of the Optional Extended Year Program (OEYP), the Texas After School Initiative (TASI), and the…

The Culturally Appropriate Teaching (C.A.T.) method combines the "Back to Basics" paradigm with a culturally oriented approach and has proved to be successful in Black colleges and adult education programs. The C.A.T. method improves the reading levels of students by two years per semester and gives them standard English as a skill in one or two…

An experiment which assessed the effects of parental involvement in the teaching of reading showed highly significant gains by children (aged 6 to 9) who received extra practice at home in comparison with control groups but no comparable improvement by children who received extra help at school. (Author/MJL)

Reading achievement determinants for Wilmington, Delaware, fourth graders show a positive relation between achievement and the student's perception of positive teacher attitude and also of positive parent attitudes. Improved data included student intelligence quotient, pre-test and post-test reading scores, and individual teacher characteristics…

The Canadian Readiness Test Learning Rate subtest and the Auditory Reception and Spatial Relations Concepts subtests on the Experimental Reading Readiness Test show high reliability in measuring the reading readiness of beginning first graders. The Experimental Test has a high coefficient of reliability as a total test. (SB)

Discusses some current concepts of the laterality/reading relationship. An overview of Samuel T. Orton's hypotheses of cerebral dominance and "strephosymbolia" is provided, and both visual half-field and dichotic listening studies as direct, empirical tests of laterality are discussed. (MKM)

Overviews three experiments exploring the value of extensive reading in English as a foreign language for college students in Japan. Notes that in extensive reading, students do self-selected reading with minimal accountability, i.e. writing brief summaries or comments on what they have read. Findings reveal extensive reading to be superior to…

Discusses the International Survey on Reading Abilities in Primary School (IGLU) and its data on achievement in reading, mathematics, and natural science. Compares this data to that collected by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Identifies achievement relevant correlations such as gender, migration background, socioeconomic…

The Corsicana (Texas) high school assistant principal recounts how 34 consistently failing math and reading senior underachievers successfully passed the Texas statewide tests after they were taught all coursework through their preferred learning styles in a supportive environment. (Author/DB)

Finds that 25 Spanish-dominant Mexican-American students in a transitional bilingual program for grades one-three maintained Spanish reading achievement scores above national norms, and had English reading scores that equaled or surpassed those of 118 English-dominant Mexican-American students in regular classes. Contains 28 references. (SV)

Developmental and criterion reading and writing measures were administered to 300 primary-level students, revealing that elimination of IQ in the definition of learning disabilities would dramatically affect who is identified as learning disabled. A two-stage assessment model analyzing absolute criteria without IQ and relative criteria with IQ is…

Results from 197 elementary school students (97 males and 100 females) aged 6, 7, and 8 years from New Zealand suggest that only poor and younger average readers clearly read better in context than in lists. Good readers, even when younger, seem to be less reliant on context clues. (SLD)

A followup of 380 limited-English-speaking Hispanic children in 20 Texas elementary schools found that most acquired English oral language skills at expected rates and were reading in English at expected levels by third grade. Reading achievement was related to instructional factors and early oral competence in either language. Contains 22…

Reanalysis of data from a study by G. G. Duffy and others (1987) identifies changes in the knowledge of cognition (KOC) of 177 poor readers in the third grade over an academic year and the association of changes with strategy use and comprehension. KOC's role in reading is discussed. (SLD)