Literacy games are just another strategy in the ultimate goal to increase reading and overall student academic performance. Activities such as the Fall reading game, which focuses on the Fall season, which encourage reluctant readers to take the beginning steps toward developing the skills they would need to become accomplished readers are…

If students were as engaged in reading as they are in video games, television, and sports, the world would be rife with proficient readers. Using a variety of instructional strategies, teachers can make the reading experience more meaningful, increase comprehension, and build proficiency. Mastering cognitive skills can change student reading from…

In this article, the author argues that maintaining the SATs regime and all it has done to damage students and teachers represents something unforgivable in the education policy of the government. He contends that a way must be found to rid the schools of SATs and all that they embody, and replace them with something more worthy of students and…

Research shows that boys have a tougher time that girls learning to read, and they score lower in reading achievement tests. The school literacy initiative was to help reduce the gender gap in reading and get boys in grades 4-6 excited about reading. To achieve this goal, the Cool Guys Reading Club, promoting reading as a cool activity, was born.…

The double-deficit hypothesis provides a framework for identifying students at-risk for persistent reading difficulties. I examined the temporal stability of four double-deficit subtypes (no-deficit, naming-speed deficit, phonological deficit, and double-deficit) in 197 low-performing, first-grade readers. Concurrent analyses in fall and spring…

Recent research on effective schools (e.g., Pressley et al., 2001) identified consistent associations between students' literacy achievement and teacher practice. In this study, the author extended those correlational findings by conducting a controlled experiment to test the claims about 1 practice recommended by recent effective schools…

A reading specialist who worked in a high-poverty urban elementary school that initially did not have an exemplary reading program provides seven lessons that can serve as a guidepost for other reading specialists. Several approaches that led to improved reading achievement of upper elementary school children are described. The seven lessons, when…

Learning to read a relatively irregular orthography, such as English, is harder and takes longer than learning to read a relatively regular orthography, such as German. At the end of grade 1, the difference in reading performance on a simple set of words and nonwords is quite dramatic. Whereas children using regular orthographies are already close…

This article considers the problem of estimating dynamic linear regression models when the data are generated from finite mixture probability density function where the mixture components are characterized by different dynamic regression model parameters. Specifically, conventional linear models assume that the data are generated by a single…

Previous studies have reported, but not explained, the reason for a robust association between reading achievement and antisocial behavior. This association was investigated using the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994-1995 birth cohort of 5 and 7 year-olds. Results showed that the association…

Using the first 4 waves of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), this piecewise 3-level (time-student-school) growth-curve model provides a portrait of students' reading growth over the first 2 years of school. On average, students make much greater reading gains in 1st grade than they do in kindergarten.…

We report on comprehensive school reform (CSR) reform in 48 schools over 6 consecutive years. In 1998, a total of 24 schools received CSR awards to improve student achievement. Control schools were carefully matched on 26 demographic variables to form a comparison group. Students' average performance, as represented in publicly available school…

The objectives of this paper are three-fold. First, a model is proposed for unifying massive amounts of conceptual and numerical information flowing from the measures of the accountability movement in Ohio and the materials that are publicly available to educators. Second, this model is translated into useable forms of information that help…

General outcome measures (GOMs) provide educators with a means to evaluate student progress toward curricular objectives. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is one type of GOM that has a long history in the research literature with strong empirical support. With the increased emphasis on instruction linked to state standards and statewide…

In response to Mr. Kozol's December article, Mr. Slavin maintains that, while everyone is entitled to form his or her own opinion of Success for All, Mr. Kozol misrepresented the program. In particular, Mr. Kozol neglected to mention the substantial gains made by students in the very schools that he is so concerned about. (Contains 2 figures and 9…