This Striving Readers evaluation examined the impact of a targeted intervention for struggling adolescent readers and investigated the impact of a whole-school literacy model on students in participating schools. This study was conducted in ten middle, nine high, and two 6-12 schools in seven rural school districts serving large percentages of…

Full-day pre-K students from the 2001-2002 cohort were more likely to pass the 2010 7th-grade reading TAKS than were kindergarten students from the 2002-2003 cohort who were assumed eligible for pre-K but did not attend pre-K in 2001-2002. There is a full report and a separate executive summary report. [For the executive summary of this study, see…

This article presents a study of ethnic Differential Item Functioning (DIF) for 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade reading items on a state criterion-referenced achievement test. The tests, administered 1997 to 2001, were composed of multiple-choice and constructed-response items. Item performance by focal groups (i.e., students from Asian/Pacific Island,…

This study examined the effect of the "Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling" ("LETRS)" professional development curriculum on the reading achievement of second graders. The authors examined data on more than 5,000 second graders from ninety elementary schools in four states during the 2005-06 school year.…

Presented at the Annual National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores the growth trajectory of the SAT Reading scores and examine what demographics and variation may cause changes and affect growth.

This paper considers how some features of our recent schooling improvement research in New Zealand could be thought of using a Reading Recovery lens. Three powerful Reading Recovery concepts (among many in the Reading Recovery theoretical base) are used to reflect on our research and development work to increase achievement in reading…

This study explored the relationship between childhood traumatic exposure, such as violence and loss of a significant other, and reading achievement. With a sample of 163 urban elementary children (grades 2-5), the impact of traumatic events on 3 years of reading scores was examined. Results suggested that violence exposure had an adverse effect…

In this study, we examined 56 first-grade struggling readers' phonics and reading achievement in classrooms served by SRA Reading Mastery, a scripted model of early reading instruction against the achievement of 52 first-grade struggling readers in classrooms served by one of four other, non-scripted reading models. We also studied the…

Health literacy involves basic reading and numeracy, which allow a person to function as a health care consumer, by reading, understanding, evaluating and using information in health documents. For thirty years, the gap between the reading level of most of the public, eighth grade, and the reading level of most written health information, above…

This study explored the reading attitudes and achievement, as well as genre knowledge, of tenth, eleventh, and twelfth-grade students who participated in Scaffolded Silent Reading, Sustained Silent Reading, or a control group. The Reading and You attitude survey, Degrees of Reading Power achievement measure, and Genre Assessment were administered…

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of self-efficacy on the performance of General Educational Development (GED) and high school graduates enrolled in developmental reading skills courses. The sample for the study consisted of 100 high school and 31 GED graduates enrolled in developmental reading courses in a midwestern community…

The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between the amount of time a student with special needs spends in the inclusive classroom and their achievement passing rates in mathematics and reading. TAKS passing rates for mathematics and reading for third graders in 2007-2008, and the same cohort of fourth graders in…

The nation's young Black males are in a state of crisis. They do not have the same opportunities as their male or female counterparts across the country. In order to get a complete picture of the depth of the issues, the authors look most closely at the reading and math achievement of the fourth- and eighth-grade Black males in the large city…

Illiteracy rates are increasing. The negative social and economic effects caused by weak reading skills include political unrest, social and health service inequality, poverty, and employment challenges. This quantitative study explored the proposition that the use of computer software games would increase reading achievement in second grade…

This study examined the increase from 2007-2009 in Kentucky's fourth- grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scores. This increase was notable because it came after a fifteen-year period of no change. This analysis of change included composite and sub-scale--"Reading Literary Experience" and "Reading to…