Research on the cognitive components of academic achievement subjected White South African schoolchildren to several visual perception tests. Results indicated an association between measures of visual perception and tests of reading and arithmetic performance. Cognitive complexity emerged as an important differentiating feature of perceptual…

Physical, neurodevelopmental, psychoeducational, and child history characteristics were analyzed in 116 second-grade, inner-city children identified as good and poor readers. Ss were basically healthy with few findings of physical or neurological abnormalities, despite significant group differences in the prevalence of "soft signs" and in all…

The relative effectiveness of three measures of teacher expectations for predicting students' achievement was studied. Teachers' perceptions of student ability and the discrepancy between teacher-perceived ability and student-tested ability were related to achievement change. The amount of improvement the teacher expected was unrelated to the…

Noting the inadequate vocabularies of students in her college writing classes, the author calls for a revival of close textual reading at all educational levels as a means of improving reading and vocabulary skills. (PGD)

There exists a controversy as to whether or not minimal competency testing in the area is a sound educational practice. A review of reading research in three areas, developmental reading, functional reading and recreational reading was conducted to provide data relevant to the controversy. (RD)

The aim of this study was to examine what year-six reading instruction pupils were being given and what year-seven pupils needed and to explore the varying dimensions of the intervening expanse. (HOD)

Elderly persons (N=90) were tested for their reading ability and 126 documents from seven service agencies were analyzed for their readability. Results indicated two-thirds of the sample had reading abilities lower than eighth grade, whereas 98 percent of the documents had readability levels at or above ninth grade. (Author)

Details a study that examined whether second grade children who were achieving at various reading levels scored differently on perceptual and perceptual motor tasks. (FL)

Reports that reading achievement in the elementary grades is consistently rising and that older students may not be developing the higher level reading skills. (AEA)

Postelementary reading instruction is offered in many specialized developmental and remedial courses, but there is some awareness of reading needs in content areas and of the need for those teachers to accept responsibility. A review of the literature examines whether postelementary teachers teach reading as an integral part of their content area…

Modern educators recognize vernacular Black English as a variety of English that has its own system and rules. However, since most reading materials and school texts are in standard English, reading difficulties are often found in Black children who use a nonstandard dialect. The effects of negative teacher attitudes are described, and…

From observations of good and poor readers, it is concluded that on-task behavior is not significantly affected by whether reading is independent or teacher-directed. Good readers appear to spend significantly more time on task in contextual reading than do poor readers. (CJ)

H. Myklebust's Pupil Rating Scale (PRS) was administered to the first (N=92) and second (N=130) grades of a middle-class suburban elementary school to ascertain its effectiveness for predicting reading and arithmetic difficulties. (Author)

The resource room intervention was effective for increasing reading rates of LD children but the increased rates did not appear to be maintained in the regular classrooms. The group with the shortest stay in the resource room made significantly greater rate gains during treatment and continued during follow-up to learn at a higher rate. (Author)

Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the reading portions of the California Achievement Tests. (JT)