Finds first-grade boys whose teachers believed that boys are as successful as girls in beginning literacy scored approximately the same as girls on the Stanford Achievement Test, while first-grade boys whose teachers believed that boys are less successful than girls scored considerably lower than girls. Discusses how teachers' expectations or…

In San Antonio, four schools are using the kindergarten level of the computer-based Waterford Early Reading Program to determine whether well-designed educational technology can bridge the gap between successful and disadvantaged schools. New technology and an old-fashioned buddy system are infusing classrooms with effective, dynamic teaching…

Focuses on African-American students' math and reading achievement in a Spanish-English two-way immersion program, from grade 1 to grade 4. Shows African-American students perform significantly lower than do majority White students on achievement tests at all grades. There is no significant difference between the two ethnic groups in Spanish…

Reports on a survey designed to identify how Talking Book software is being used to support reading development in U.K. classrooms and the potential benefits of adapting such software to meet individual learners' needs. Preliminary results highlight the success of this software for both early readers and older children experiencing difficulties in…

Using linear modeling, the Prospects dataset was employed to examine effects of instructional and school organizational characteristics on first- and third-graders' math and reading achievement. Results supported environmental and interactive instructional approaches, but not a coupling (coordination) approach. Collegiality, support for…

America must focus on educating its population according to its own "whole-child" standards and prioritize education funding. The "American Way" involves watching TV, participating in organized sports, and allowing teens to work. It would be hard to make necessary social concessions to meet higher standards. (Contains 20…

Finds that the reading performance of English-as-a-second-language students and English language learners immersed in regular education classes in a large urban school district was far below grade-level performance, across all categories of measurement; but that the performance of English language learners who had successfully exited from…

Reports a one-year study in a fourth-grade classroom to help students become able readers and instill in them a desire to read. States that the reading program included silent reading, choices of reading materials, sharing of literature, and appropriate adult modeling. Reports increases in reading rates, comprehension, vocabulary, and amount of…

Explores the relationship between practice at reading, student reading performance, and organizational features using data from a computer-assisted student self-assessment of reading comprehension program (The Accelerated Reader). Finds student reading ability strongly positively related to amount of in-school reading practice; amount of reading…

Investigated the developing metalinguistic capabilities of Hispanic primary school children who are becoming bilingual but whose English achievement is below average. Examines whether native and second-language vocabulary and degree of bilingualism contribute to performance on a bilingual task, and whether native- and second-language vocabulary…

In Manitoba, the Literacy Groups Project provides evidence that struggling second-graders can attain average grade-cohort reading levels through a small-group pull-out program if certain criteria are met: assigning students to groups according to a narrow range of reading levels, and finding materials to support teacher efforts in the small-group…

This article focuses on the reading instruction provided to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). It reviews the knowledge base of early reading instruction and summarizes completed and ongoing research efforts relating to the instructional status quo for students with EBD in reading and efforts to improve academic outcomes. (CR)

This article reports on an introspective study that examined the effect of EFL learners' L2 reading proficiency on their L2 lexical inferencing while reading an English expository text. The knowledge sources and contextual cues they used in the process, the level of success they achieved, and their rate of learning and retention of the inferred…

This exploratory study analyzed longitudinal data from 18 institutions to track the literacy development of 1,054 students during the first three years of college. Reading comprehension and attitude toward literacy activities were assessed at the beginning and end of the study. Students responded annually to questionnaires about college…

Many people predicted that 2005 would be the year that schools nationwide began feeling the bite of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, as states ratcheted up their performance targets and more schools failed to meet those benchmarks. But such dire predictions are not playing out uniformly across the states. Of the 33 states and the District of…