Retarded readers were bused to a special "reading" school for small group individualized instruction. Matched controls remained at their home schools using the regular reading program. When compared on reading gains, reading attitudes, and self-concept, experimental students were superior only on comprehension for two of the three study years.…

Trained in affective methods, teachers in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) are helping students raise reading scores, improve comprehension, and feel good about learning. (Author/JM)

The importance of theory and experimental findings in giving direction, structure, and comprehensibility to research about self-concept is discussed. Analysis of the necessary affective variables to be included in the systematic experimentally-based development of effective educational programs in the affective domain is emphasized. (Author/AL)

Among 157 rural second graders, girls' scores exceeded boys' and Whites' scores exceeded Blacks' in four language competence areas (listening comprehension, paradigmatic language, sight vocabulary, reading achievement). While White girls scored higher than White boys except in the paradigmatic language measure, Black children scored almost…

A treatment designed to familiarize third graders with memory support strategies was delivered by parents. Results showed a complex pattern of effects, with treated students and classes significantly outperforming controls. Stable class-level Aptitude X Treatment interactions were also found. (Author/GDC)

The systems approach to learning used in the majority of classrooms today redefines reading as its component skills. Two different approaches developed by teachers to teach reading as the sum of its components are presented. (JN)

Two experiments designed to examine the effects on poor readers' comprehension of increasing their decoding speed indicated that the decoding training on single words and phrases increased the speed of word recognition but did not improve comprehension performance. (MKM)

The cultural environment as a major factor influencing reading achievement in primary schools is discussed. It is proposed that money be spent by Nigeria to improve the social and cultural environment of young beginning readers in rural areas to equalize their learning situations. The questionnaire is appended. (MLW)

Describes a modification of the cloze procedure which was used to assess the reading achievement of selected students in the Mariana Islands. (MKM)

Teacher interactions with second-grade students were coded to investigate sex differences in children's reading and mathematics performance. Results revealed that teachers made more academic contacts with girls in reading and with boys in math and spent relatively more cognitive time with girls in reading and boys in math. (Author/RD)

Reports on a study that examined the predictive power of five specific prereading skills tests for first-grade reading achievement and assessed their value as indicators of reading readiness. (FL)

Describes instruction that has proven effective in teaching Black children to read. (MKM)

Describes "Reading Clubs," a program designed and carried out by two first-grade teachers in which small groups of students (primarily second-language learners) thought to be at risk for failure were coached daily. Notes that 19 of the targeted 23 students were successful enough to move with their peers to second grade. (SR)

Used a one-year longitudinal study to examine the extent to which grammatical awareness in preschool predicted reading independently of preschool general verbal skills, phonological awareness, and word recognition. Found that, independently of other skills, grammatical awareness predicted word recognition and pseudoword recoding, but not reading…

This study compared the motivational orientations and metacognitive abilities of 143 Grade 7 intellectually gifted students in an Australian selective school with 133 average-achieving age peers attending comprehensive schools. Gifted students had greater confidence in their own control over successes or failures in school tasks, demonstrated more…