Discusses results of International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement's recent Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), an international comparison of 35 countries wherein American students finished ninth. The web address for the PIRLS reports is www.pirls.org. (PKP)

Examines the efficiency and sensitivity of five accuracy-based phonological awareness tasks for monitoring the development of these skills in kindergarten and Grade 1 students. Discusses the results and their implications for using accuracy-based measures of phonological awareness skills as part of a comprehensive assessment of young children's…

Criticism of Stephen Karshen's June 2002 "Kappan" article "Whole Language and the Great Plummet of 1987-92: An Urban Legend from California." Argues that Karshen's analysis of the California Achievement Program reading scores is wrong. (PKP)

Warns that college reading instructors must be aware that standardized tests do not measure the types of skills taught in reading classes. Argues that reading instructors need to develop an awareness of what the scores on standardized reading tests do and do not tell them. (RAE)

Presents a 15-item annotated bibliography of books, articles, and conference presentations published between 1991 and 1994 and abstracted in the ERIC database on the dilemma English teachers face--most students can read, but far too many neither read widely nor effectively. (RS)

Examines relationships between levels of phonological awareness and early reading ability. Finds significant correlations between metaphonological abilities and reading for kindergarteners but weak or nonexistent correlations in the tasks involving sensitivity to phonological similarities for first graders. Notes that all children who developed…

Reading levels of 161 Louisiana inmates were tested with the Peabody Individual Achievement Test, Slosson Oral Reading Test, and Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine. Average level was fourth to sixth grade, indicating that inmates had difficulty reading prison intake materials and were unable to benefit from correctional education…

Intensive reading practice using recorded books permits teaching to the levels needed for success. High interest, high-level reading material recorded in small amounts with a slow pace and short phrases can accelerate the progress of low-level readers. (SK)

Asserts that the means by which student achievement in reading are reported should be a focus rather than an afterthought. Discusses key questions related to developing report cards that serve a variety of audiences. Provides guidance and models of report cards that are more closely aligned with the literacy curriculum than traditional report…

Describes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and its activities. Offers a summary of the 1990 NAEP reading assessment, and describes the 1992 reading assessment. Looks ahead to future NAEP projects and student assessment. (PRA)

Provides a nine-item annotated bibliography of publications in the ERIC database related to literature and the language arts. Offers useful resources that satisfy a variety of professional needs. (MG)

Investigates whether poor readers differ from their reading age controls in terms of their ability to make rhyme judgments, and determines whether intelligence levels affect the kinds of difficulties they experience. Finds that average intelligence poor readers performed with the same overall accuracy as their reading age controls. (MG)

Describes a reading model that suggests seven components essential for meeting the reading instructional needs of all students in a school. Notes that the model provides differentiated instruction for below-average, average, and above-average readers. (SR)

Although systematic monitoring of student progress has been associated with improved achievement, few teachers engage in progress monitoring because of testing-time requirements. Compared accuracy of 14 trained fourth- and fifth-grade general education students' curriculum-based reading assessments of second and third graders to accuracy of…

Calls into question the validity and usefulness of classifying poor readers into learning disability and nonlearning disability categories on the basis of the discrepancy between their IQs and reading achievement scores. A review of the research indicates that the premises on which this classification rests are not valid. (SLD)