One of the greatest predictors and characteristics of a high school dropout has been poor reading skills. Students with low achievement levels in reading by the end of third grade are at greater risk of becoming a dropout. The study sought to determine whether the Corrective Reading Program impacted reading comprehension and fluency skills of…

This article presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of a revised version of the volunteer mentoring programme, "Time to Read." Participating children received two 30-minute mentoring sessions per week from volunteer mentors who carried out paired reading activities with the children. The current…

This study examined the effects of online reading instruction for at-risk fourth-grade students in Philadelphia. The authors used a multiple baseline design to assess the extent to which the students increased their oral reading rate given systematic supplemental online reading instruction. Tutoring consisted of 4 sessions per week with 50-min…

This study investigated a Tier 2 intervention in the context of a response-to-intervention (RTI) model for 123 fourth-grade students identified as having a high probability of reading failure. A randomized control trial was used to evaluate the effects of a 24-session multicomponent supplemental intervention targeting fluency and expository…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of a repeated reading and question generation intervention entitled Re-read-Adapt and Answer-Comprehend (RAAC) with a modified RAAC intervention without the repeated reading component. The sample included 30 students in Grades 3 through 5. The students received services in reading within a…

This study examined the effects of three types of reading interventions on the science text reading of secondary students with learning disabilities (LD). Twenty 10th-grade students with LD participated in the study. Using a within-subjects design, the relative effects of three different instructional approaches--text reading, vocabulary learning,…

The purpose of this article is to provide teachers, tutors and parents with an effective and enjoyable approach to practicing reading fluency, increasing comprehension and encouraging the joy of reading, based on the theories and methods of Sally L. Smith. This method can be applied and adapted to individual student's needs. Sally Smith, the…

In January 2008, the school-wide data for Alice Birney Middle School in North Charleston, South Carolina were concerning. According to the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Reading data, 40% to 48% of the students fell below the 25th percentile at each grade level. The authors realized that these students were not all undiagnosed special…

English teachers share the blame for the lack of imaginative responses from students to the texts they bring to students, given their penchant for focusing on the most technical elements of literature rather than on its emotional resonance. In classrooms, teachers often concentrate too heavily on what Janet Allen calls the "products" of their…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers dealing…

As part of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model, curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an evidence-based assessment system that uses screening and formative assessments to help guide instruction. The two primary purposes of this study are to examine the relations between the easyCBM benchmark measures and a statewide large-scale assessment and…

This study examined the effectiveness of a remedial reading program on improving reading fluency and comprehension among elementary school students. Twenty-four students were selected to participate in the 8-month program. Results indicated reading fluency and reading comprehension scores improved significantly across the academic year for both…

We statistically examined the oral reading fluency of 295 adults with low literacy by analyzing total words read per minute and word error rates. We identified four fluency-ability groupings based on standardized assessments of reading-related skills (phonemic awareness, word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension, and general ability). Our…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of fluency development and focus on instructional approaches that are intended to improve fluency that go beyond the most frequently recommended strategy of repeated readings. Repeated reading is the most recognized approach for developing fluency, and although repeated readings have shown…

Emphasis on regular mathematics skill assessment, intervention, and progress monitoring under the RTI model has created a need for the development of assessment instruments that are psychometrically sound, reliable, universal, and brief. Important factors to consider when developing or selecting assessments for the school environment include what…