This publication outlines tests that are included in the North Carolina Testing Program. The end-of-grade tests are curriculum based multiple-choice reading comprehension and mathematics tests that measure curricular competencies described in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. These tests are administered to all eligible students within…

Florida law requires that students achieve a passing score on the Grade 10 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) to qualify for a standard high school diploma (Section 1008.22(3)(c)5, Florida Statutes). Students who were administered the Grade 10 FCAT for the first time during the 2002 administrations or later must earn a developmental…

This report summarizes results of AISD's Technology Applications Readiness Grants for Empowering Texas (TARGET) program activities for the 2003-2004 school year.

Examines changing patterns in the school population and in reading achievement as reflections of social change. (MM)

Examined the relationships of reading and math achievement with intelligence and adaptive behavior in Anglo, Black, and Mexican American children (N=345). The variance accounted for by the full model (race, sex, age, and socioeconomic status) was significant for reading and math. Variance associated with race and socioeconomic status was…

Concludes that an ongoing, onsite, supervised inservice program providing regular diagnostic feedback to teachers doubled the reading comprehension gain scores of low SES Black intermediate-grade students from a large urban school district as compared to the gains of students whose teachers did not participate in program. (FL)

Examined the effectiveness of specific psychoeducational tutoring methods on achievement in reading, self-esteem, auding, and verbal language in 132 youths and adults reading below fifth level. Found subjects made significant improvement. Also tested the adequacy of a developmental reading model for adult illiterates. (Author/JAC)

From the perspective of reading specialists, factors contributing to reading difficulties include visual and auditory limitations, instructional and environmental problems, and emotional difficulties. A hierarchy of word recognition skills is presented. The usefulness of diagnosing children learning disabled or dyslexic is examined in the context…

Future efforts to assist with reading-disabled students should include: early identification and intervention, more effective differentiation of students, increased individualized instruction, an increase in specially trained personnel, and a greater variety of specialized materials. (JN)

Second-grade children completed a reading task during the first half and at the end of the school year identifying words preceded by a congruous, incongruous, or neutral sentence context. The effect of context on reading times decreased with development and practice and increased with word difficulty. (Author/DB)

Deplores the preoccupation with isolated skill teaching among reading teachers. Calls for reading competencies to be taught in the context of reading that has meaning, interest, and significance for the reader, and stresses the importance of instruction in the thinking strategies that contribute to mature reading. (ET)

Rorschach inkblot tests were administered to 25 second graders who had been classified either as poor or excellent readers. The poor readers showed perceptual difficulties, less capacity for organizing or integrating separate facts, and less emotional reactions to the environment. Implications for teaching poor readers are suggested. (Author/GDC)

Later scholastic success is most highly related to early measures of achievement, affective status, and underperformance; affective status significantly predicts later social adjustment. Thus, neither poverty nor low achievement, both currently favored as Title I allocation criteria, should be used as sole indicators of need. (CP)

Describes a study in which seventh-grade students achieved higher scores on a cloze test after reading stories that contained their own names and those of people and places familiar to them. (MKM)

Traditionally research into the effects of teacher behaviors on learning outcomes has involved direct observational techniques. This paper departs from tradition and describes the initial development and use of a new instrument measuring student perceptions of numerous key teaching behaviors. (RL)