In 1998 and again in 2002, samples of eighth grade students in California were tested in reading as part of the state-level component of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In each of these years, all eighth graders in the state were also required to participate in the state's accountability testing, which included the reading…

This study offers systematic trend analyses of NAEP national and state-level public school fourth and eighth graders' reading and math achievement results during pre-NCLB (1990-2001) and post-NCLB (2002-2005) periods. It compares post-NCLB trends in reading and math achievement with pre-NCLB trends among different racial and socioeconomic groups…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) $30 Million in Grants Awarded to Help Struggling Readers: Spellings Announces First Round of…

Finland is a country of great expectations on literacy and literacy education. High expectations and demands have, however, a darker side. High expectations of society, parents, and teachers may have an effect on the students' self-esteem. The economic recession in the early 1990s strongly accelerated the change in literacy demands and…

This report describes a program for improving word analysis skills in order to increase sight reading, reading accuracy, and fluency. The targeted population consisted of second and third graders in a suburban area close to a large metropolitan city in a Midwestern state. The problems of low word analysis skills were documented through Qualitative…

This demonstration booklet illustrates the kinds of exercises or test questions and tasks used in the assessment of student achievement in reading and in writing by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Each student will be asked to complete the background section and the cognitive sections in one subject, and the assessment will…

This demonstration booklet illustrates the kinds of exercises or test questions and tasks used in the assessment of student achievement in reading and writing by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Each student will be asked to complete the background section and the cognitive sections for one subject, and the assessment will…

Accelerated Reader is a computer program designed by Advantage Learning Systems to assess students' reading comprehension levels and keep detailed and accurate reports of such findings. This research studied the Accelerated Reader program with a second grade class over a 6-week time frame. One class of 20 students read books picked from the…

This study explored the relationship between an increase in the percentage of certified teachers and gains in performance on reading and mathematics achievement tests among New York City Schools Under Registration Review (SURR) elementary and middle schools. It examined whether the percentage of certified teachers related to student outcomes…

The goal of this study was to describe and measure the effects of continuous, as-needed intervention in reading for 92 children in Grades 1-2, to determine whether the severity of reading disability (RD) could be significantly reduced in the catchment schools. The authors hoped that this kind of professional development would help to discriminate…

This speech by the United States Secretary of Education questions why so many American students are failed by the nation's educational systems. The speech cites data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which finds that fewer than a third of the country's fourth graders can read proficiently at grade level. It also reports…

Southwest Educational Research Laboratory's (SEDL's) reading project examines early literacy in Grades K-2 and the prevention of early reading failure. The goals of this effort include the following: developing a framework of the cognitive foundations of learning to read that organizes research information; using that framework to organize…

Encouraging teachers to utilize procedures and techniques that help their students become active, willing lifelong readers, this handbook has been compiled to serve as a guide for integrating the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment's (PSSA) definition of reading as a dynamic, interactive process into classroom practice. The handbook…

This executive summary reports on the number of students not reading on grade level in all second and third grades throughout Louisiana. The report notes the provisions of the legislation that requires such data be generated, and discusses selection of the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) as the uniform assessment instrument to be…

This work investigates the relationship between the programmatic and classroom instructional factors of schools and students' reading and writing achievement in 14 high-poverty schools. The study finds that schools which rated higher on a scale of collaborative leadership showed greater student growth in reading fluency and writing. Classroom…