Concludes that IRIs can be useful, flexible assessment and instruction tools in the hands of knowledgeable teachers. Offers suggestions for their use. (FL)

Indicates that oral reading, turning the text into a big book, interpretive activities, and repeated shared readings can give even young children a command of the text. (FL)

Examines teachers' decisions to make adjustments in their preplanned discussion routines to better facilitate students' comprehension of previously assigned content area materials in terms of how texts figured into those decisions. (FL)

The Language Experience Approach (LEA) creates reading materials and writing opportunities through integrated use of the learner's language and experience. Individualized LEA involving a "dictation" approach (child dictates experience; teacher records and reads back experience) is beneficial for hearing-impaired students in terms of increased…

Reviews research on elementary school teachers' feedback to students' miscues in basal and content area reading. Describes the sustained feedback paradigm that developed from the Direct Instruction Programs. (Author/HOD)

Reviews research findings on ability grouping. Attempts to document the mechanisms through which stratification in schools influences student achievement, focusing on within-classroom ability grouping in 12 first grade classes. Results indicate that grouping has no direct effect on reading achievement by the end of the year. (JDH)

To account for racial differences in learning, the report examines educational technology--the conditions and activities that constitute instruction--in three Chicago area school districts. Results show that black students are exposed to restricted learning opportunities because of district and school differences in the availability of…

Analyzes Caldecott winners and honor books of the 1980s and compares the findings to those of earlier studies to discover if the depiction of sex roles and characteristics has changed. Concludes that the newer books reflected a shift toward sex equality and provided some changing sex characteristics and roles--but not enough. (FL)

Describes a three-week seminar for education students that simulated the environment of the classrooms in which they will eventually teach and focused on the writing process, the reading process, and the reading-writing relationship. (SRT)

Describes how in the 1960s and 1970s critics of the schools as well as the transitory interests of the schools themselves were the greatest forces for change in basal reader programs. Discusses how current demand for high test scores has influenced those who prepare basal material. (Author/NH)

Exploration of concepts crucial to development of new computer-based learning environments focuses on process rather than product and the computer's ability to record, represent, and communicate the underlying process. Cognitive, pedagogical, and sociological issues relevant to creation of learning environments in five domains (empowering…

Reports the results of a three-year study of factors related to variations in home reading frequency among children and parents participating in a project designed to encourage home reading. Factors investigated include: social class, employment status, adult reading habits, illness, contact with school, and parent attitudes toward helping their…

Shows that a wide variety of textbook characteristics play a role in influencing teachers' selection process, and that some of these interact with teacher characteristics. (FL)

Describes the activities in a first grade classroom in a small rural school district where reading instruction mirrors the kinds of reading done in the real world. (FL)

Describes ways to involve parents in supporting quality reading instruction through communication and activities. The New Haven (Conn.) Public Schools used school book lending, newsletters, school-sponsored family nights, daytime parent visitation, and other strategies to increase parent participation. (SRT)