Argues that, to provide effective instruction for all students, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Discusses the need for reading specialists, what a reading specialist is, and the roles of the reading specialist with regard to instruction, assessment, and…

Investigates eight first-grade whole language classrooms in terms of what phonics skills and concepts were taught, where phonics instruction occurred, and how it was conducted. Shows gains in ability to decode and encode words for all students. Finds that teachers responded to individual needs of learners, and that skills were taught within the…

Administers three measures of phonological processing to Chinese first graders. Notes that earlier research indicates a strong relationship between children's phonological processing skills and early reading ability in alphabetic orthography. Finds that this relationship is not specific to reading an alphabetic orthography--the relationship…

Proponents of national tests claim they are needed to provide individual student test scores and to yield aggregate statewide and nationwide data. However, other sources already provide mountains of data, and U.S. school children are already the most tested in the world. The tests proposed by Congress will be harmful, since there are inadequate…

Defines and discusses at-risk readers, and reviews assessments of student classroom performance. Strategies that have been successful with at-risk readers in the elementary classroom are discussed, including dramatization, parallel drama, semantic guides, word images, connecting reading and writing, and media-intervention. (SLD)

Describes how one teacher infused reading strategy instruction into her first-grade classroom literacy program. Discusses strategic literacy instruction, noting independent reading strategies. Describes the variety of approaches the teacher uses to foster emerging students' development as strategic readers (including demonstrations/modeling,…

Considers how children with hyperlexia who learn to read spontaneously before the age of five are impaired in reading and listening comprehension but have word recognition skills well above their measured cognitive and linguistic abilities. Reevaluates three adolescent hyperlexic students eight years after an initial evaluation. Finds levels of…

Addresses the issue of teacher purpose in using technology for reading and literacy instruction. Notes that computers were used mostly for motivation and self-esteem and not for raising achievement. Argues that educators need to critically think through the multiple realities they face as they consider the use of technology with disabled readers.…

Discusses debates in society on needs in education, particularly reading achievement of students and the needs of teachers. Considers the issues of whole language versus phonics instruction and sequencing student learning in reading instruction. Concludes that these and other issues, such as technology use in reading instruction, need to be…

Examines the cognitively high-level text processing, or macro-processing, of expository passages. Investigates reading comprehension during the sixth and ninth school years. Finds that girls outperformed boys regardless of the comprehension measure and also finds that performance on both measures, but particularly on hierarchy-rating, correlated…

Developed a model and an operational measure of collective teacher efficacy and tested the measure in a pilot study involving 70 teachers. Also used the instrument to study collective teacher efficacy and academic achievement in 47 urban elementary schools. Results show collective teacher efficacy to be positively associated with student-level…

A table was produced to facilitate comparisons among standard scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised, in order to assist diagnosticians in determining intraindividual strengths and weaknesses, and thus contribute to instructional planning. (DB)

Describes a process for assessing children's reading that involves observations, interpretations, forming hypotheses, making curricular decisions, and going through the process again. Describes how this process, called "Hypothesis Test," has proved useful to a number of teachers with whom the author has worked. (SR)

Presents a position statement of the International Reading Association arguing that all schools (elementary, middle, and high schools) should include a qualified reading specialist as a core member of the educational team. Discusses why reading specialists are needed; what they do; their roles in instruction, assessment, and leadership; and the…

Presents an essay that is the result of group-centered activities by graduate students and a faculty mentor in a leadership training program for prospective educational administrators in California. Notes that the class produced some forward-moving and future-thinking core recommendations for reading improvement and achievement in multicultural…