The literacy skills of General Educational Development (GED) program graduates were compared to those of high school graduates and high school dropouts who did not pass the GED test. The sample of 1,012 young adults (ages 21 to 25 years) studied was obtained by selecting all Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics who were studied in the Young…

A study described and evaluated "First Steps," an intervention program for low-reading first graders that was implemented in four rural schools in western North Carolina. First Steps borrows heavily from Reading Recovery but differs significantly in the areas of pre-post assessment, tutor training, and teaching procedures. Attention was…

There is considerable interest in reading assessment and the influence that reading assessment can have on what is taught and learned in school. However, little is known about how teachers, administrators, parents, and students communicate and understand reading assessment information. Lacking this knowledge, educators do not know what kinds of…

Containing many specific assessment, instruction, and organization ideas and strategies, this book provides "the basics" for this classroom reading assessment and instruction, and supports the importance of the individual classroom teacher's beliefs, decisions, and role. The book is intended for teachers taking certification, graduate,…

Providing guidance to language arts teachers and those responsible for curriculum development, this handbook provides a model competency-based language arts program that provides direction for Ohio school districts in developing local competency-based educational programs. The model includes the following for grades 1 through 12: (1) a model…

This report describes a cross-age tutoring program implemented to improve reading comprehension skills in a group of regular students in a rural elementary school. A targeted group of four fifth-grade students and four second-grade students were matched for cross-age tutoring sessions. The students developed reading comprehension skills through…

Critical variables that underlie the performance of a national sample of young adults on a diverse set of document literacy tasks were identified. The final sample was 3,618 adults. The identification of these variables provides an important first step toward building a theoretical model that would systematically account for the constructs of…

This study compared math and reading achievement in the fifth grades of two suburban elementary schools, one which utilized a traditional approach of pull-out special education classrooms and the other which utilized an inclusion program for special education services. The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was used to measure the math…

If portfolios are to be used to assess students' progress, it is essential for preservice teachers to have the opportunity to become familiar with the use of this technique prior to beginning their teaching career. At Eastern College, Pennsylvania, portfolio assessment is first introduced in the Developmental Reading course and further refined in…

Conducted as part of the 1992 Integrated Reading Performance Record (IRPR), a study investigated the oral reading proficiency of a subgroup of students participating in the 1992 reading assessment conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Subjects, 1,136 fourth graders, read aloud one passage and were audiotaped as they…

Offering guidance on diagnostic and developmental techniques illustrated by examples from the classroom, this teacher's guide helps teachers to assess pupils' understanding and day-to-day progress in reading and to identify appropriate next steps to help pupils make progress. Topics explored in the teacher's guide include pupils' attitude and…

A study was undertaken to determine the relationship between word recognition and comprehension achieved by second and fifth grade students using reading material at various levels of readability. The testing instrument used was the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scale containing levels from primer through eighth grade. A pilot study provided a…

A study investigated the effectiveness of an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Pull-out program on the reading achievement of Hispanic fifth- and sixth-grade participants. Earlier research on the effectiveness of such programs was inconclusive. Subjects, 30 randomly chosen students from a Chicago public school who received instruction…

Reading achievement and instruction receive wide attention in the popular press. Ways in which principals can increase reading levels in their schools are offered here. The text emphasizes the fact that principals have the power to create a "school of readers"; it offers current research in reading instruction and shares eight components needed to…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment (TSA); for the first time in NAEP's history, voluntary state-by-state assessments were made. In 1994, TSA was expanded to include non-public school students. The 1994 reading assessment considered students' proficiency in situations that involved…