Describes how early literacy practices were extended to accelerate the literacy progress of at-risk third- through sixth-grade students through a summer school model and an intersession model for year-round schools. Concludes that both models produced impressive gains in reading achievement, with the year-round intersession model producing the…

Notes the goal of the National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction is to describe current reading teacher education and identify program factors that lead to excellent reading instruction and reading achievement. Describes how the commission analyzed features of teacher preparation programs and…

Examines the cognitive-linguistic factors underlying literacy development in monolingual children and children learning English as an additional language (EAL) over a three-year period. Reveals similarities between the two groups of children in the study on reading accuracy, but children learning EAL had lower levels of vocabulary and…

Offers a series of questions to help readers establish a chronology of feelings about reading, based on the facts of their earliest reading history. Argues that by answering these questions the reader will understand what kind of reader they can become. (MG)

Considers the complex and highly interactive features of the instructional setting when evaluating the reading context. Emphasizes that the focus should be on assessing the elements of the context that are most likely to impact specific students' performance in reading and writing. (MG)

A Skills Reinforcement Project for 46 sixth grade students (many of whom were Black and Hispanic) not quite qualifying for the local (Pasadena, California) gifted program provided Saturday classes and a 2-week summer residential program. Significant gains were made in mathematics (but not reading) achievement resulting in increased program…

Two studies evaluated long term effects of the Direct Instruction Follow Through Model with 624 fifth and sixth graders and about 500 high school and older students who had received Follow Through instruction. Achievement and college acceptance results consistently favored the Follow Through groups over control groups with strongest effects in…

Examines the consonant substitution, sequencing, omission, and addition errors of severely reading disabled teenagers in recognizing consonants in orthographically regular nonwords, and compares the results with responses to identical stimuli by normal children of the same age and reading level groups. (Author/DJD)

Defines grade level as an age grouping that yields an achievement distribution approximating a normal curve, with the distribution average at grade level in a typical school. With an average teacher, an average child gains a year. Educators must accept this normal range of reading achievement and adjust instruction to it. Includes eight…

Data from a study on silent classroom reading with 105 learning disabled students (aged 6-12 years) are reanalyzed using linear structural equation modeling. It appears that, when entry-level abilities are controlled, silent reading did not have a significant effect on posttest reading performance. (TJH)

Studies two nonidentical twin boys with severe, specific developmental language disorders with respect to their linguistic, neurolinguistic and pragmatic development. Finds that, in spite of poor linguistic awareness, the boys acquired normal reading/spelling skills; however, the boys differed considerably in some aspects of reading and spelling…

Describes alternative assessment approaches that provide important information about students with reading difficulties. Criticizes the medical or diagnostic/prescriptive approach to diagnosis. Presents a four-step diagnostic process derived from the holistic/wellness model. (HB)

A study was conducted with 782 elementary school students to determine whether the Homan-Hewitt Readability Formula could identify the readability of a single-sentence test item. Results indicate that a relationship exists between students' reading grade levels and responses to test items written at higher readability levels. (SLD)

Explores reading strategies used by two groups of readers differentiated in terms of academic performance subsequent to their first year in law school. Finds that students in the top quartile used different strategies than students in the bottom quartile. Suggests that attention should be paid to literacy requirements and practices as students…

Education can benefit from knowledge derived from cognitive and developmental psychology. Family demographics have actually improved between 1970 and 90 and so have NAEP scores. Three innovative programs demonstrating cognitive science applications include the Teaching Number Sense elementary math program, reciprocal teaching (reading strategy),…