The purpose of this book is to give media specialists, teachers and/or teacher helpers and parents a guide to using beginning chapter books to encourage first and second graders to read independently. The book contains in-depth lesson plans for 35 early chapter books. Each lesson contains bibliographic information plus setting, characters, plot,…

This report describes a program implemented to improve reading comprehension in the content areas. The targeted population will consist of students in grades two, three, four, and five, in five midwestern schools, four public and one private. The problem of poor comprehension will be documented through test scores, parent and student surveys, and…

A study discusses the effects of a second year of one-on-one intervention on the literacy development of struggling second graders. Twenty-six children participated in the study and were assigned to either a second year of intervention or a control group that received no further intervention services. Participants in the intervention group…

This report summarizes the work and findings of the National Reading Panel, charged by Congress to assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. The introduction to the report discusses the charge to the panel by Congress, establishment of the panel, the panel's…

This report presents the reports of the subgroups of the National Reading Panel, charged by Congress to assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. Each of the chapters 2 through 6 contains its own executive summary and appendixes in addition to the report of the…

This approximately 20-minute video discusses the work and the findings of the National Reading Panel, charged by Congress to assess the status of research-based knowledge, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. The panel found that the most effective way to teach children to read is through systematic and…

This article presents conceptual models of relationships between print size and reading speed and preferred viewing distances. These models illustrate how various factors can influence reading behaviors and influence decisions about the optimal angular size of print and resolution reserve. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Describes "Start Making a Reader Today" (SMART), a volunteer tutoring program that helps K-2 students at risk of reading difficulties. Finds that the program improved students' word reading, reading fluency, and word comprehension, though level of performance at end of second grade was still much lower than that of average-achieving…

Video feedforward can create images of positive futures, as has been shown by researchers using self-modeling methods to teach new skills with carefully planned and edited videos that show the future capability of the individual. As a supplement to tutoring provided by community members, we extended these practices to young children struggling to…

The ability to read and write for a variety of purposes is essential to success in school and in contemporary society. The purpose of this investigation was to conduct an exhaustive review of the literature and a meta-analysis of literacy research in the field of deaf education. Computer and manual searches of 40 years of peer-reviewed journal…

This study examined the effect on at-risk second graders of twice weekly peer-tutoring: sessions with repeated readings combined with once per week tutoring by a college student. The college student addressed onsets and rimes appearing in errors made by the second graders during peer tutoring and noted by the peer tutors. The authors monitored…

This study examined literacy instruction in 14 first-grade classrooms of English learners (ELS) in three schools in a large urban school district in southern California over a two-year period. Pre- and posttest measures of oral-reading fluency for 186 first graders, representing 11 native languages, were the outcome data. Reading-fluency data were…

This paper discusses fluency's role in reading development and suggests ways of incorporating fluency instruction into the literacy curriculum through a range of oral reading approaches. It concentrates on two distinct groups of learners: students who are making the shift to fluent reading (generally second and third graders) and those who have…

When older students fail to gain rapid and accurate decoding skills by the third or fourth grade, they not only struggle with reading comprehension, but they also fall behind their average reading peers in academic performance and achievement--and they rarely catch up. When presented with academic tasks that require reading, these students often…

This article describes the application of experimental analysis methods for identifying reading fluency interventions for two elementary school students (fourth and fifth grade) referred for reading problems. For each student the experimental analyses examined use of rewards, instruction, and a treatment package containing both reward and…