In the nearly two decades since the 1990 MENC preconference symposium on Multicultural Approaches to Music Education in Washington, DC, music educators have come to recognize the need to include a variety of world musics in all music curricula, from elementary classrooms to advanced performing ensembles. Accordingly, a significant increase in…

This study explored the perceptions of women of the Baby Boom generation regarding the potential impact of gender role stereotypes contained in the children's reading series utilized in elementary school classrooms from 1946 through 1964. Particular emphasis was placed upon the prominent reading series of the Baby Boom Era, the Scott, Foresman and…

Students with high-incidence disabilities struggle with reading comprehension due to difficulties in background knowledge and metacognitive skills, including use of self-monitoring and other strategies. In the United States, these students typically receive the majority of their instruction in general education settings. However, there is little…

Basal reading series are used in a majority of classrooms in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of fiction and nonfiction genres included in four recently published first and second grade basal reading series and to compare the frequencies to studies of older basal reading series. Based on the work of…

Despite over 25 years of research supporting the instruction of comprehension strategies, it seems that such instruction is not readily found in many classrooms or basal readers, resulting in students that struggle with analyzing and comprehending text. This is particularly true in the primary grades. Originally designed with seventh grade…

Reports from research and the larger educational community demonstrate that too many students have limited ability to comprehend texts. The research reported here involved a two-year study in which standardized comprehension instruction for representations of two major approaches was designed and implemented. The effectiveness of the two…

The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of one class of sixth grade middle students enrolled in a Title I reading class. The class consisted of 15 students. Through instrumental case study, qualitative data were collected over 24 weeks through (a) interviews, (b) observations, and (c) documents: student…

Many students who are at risk and those with disabilities struggle with listening. Too often, teacher training programs and basal reading series do not emphasize the importance of listening for learning and literacy. This article discusses the relationship between listening and literacy and offers listening activities that complement an existing…

Israeli 1st-grade children in two different schools in the same neighborhood who were using either a gender-stereotyped or a gender-fair basal reader were asked to judge for a series of female-stereotyped, male-stereotyped, and gender-neutral activities whether they were characteristic of females, of males, or of both. Children using the…

The process of teaching the child to read has gone through many stages of progress. Word, sentence, and phonic methods may each contribute to the process, and that undue emphasis on any one of these methods demands too great a sacrifice in quality and interest. The "Merrill Primer" is built on the familiar rhymes of Mother Goose and…

The chief difficulties in teaching a child to read are focused in the Primer (ED622318) and the First Reader. If the teaching in the first year is wisely done, the later work in reading should go forward smoothly and steadily. Every step in this fundamental work must be carefully planned and developed. The First Reader, therefore, should be a…

There is no more direct way to the interest of children in the second school year than through the story. All thought of drudgery vanishes and the lesson is a real source of delight when the reading book furnishes one good story after another. This "Second Reader," therefore, is a book of stories -- stories in prose and verse. Fairy…

An appreciation of the best there is in literature is one of the chief aims of the reading lessons. It is therefore essential that the material used in every grade should have intrinsic value. It must be good literature and it must also be worth while for its own sake, from the child's point of view. With this aim in view, the selections in this…

This "Fourth Reader" is designed to meet the children on their own level and to lead them by easy stages to a higher plane. Special attention has been given to keeping the vocabulary within range of the pupil's ability. The earlier part of the book contains selections that are simple in vocabulary and sentence structure, and the later…

This "Fifth Reader" contains a large amount of wholesome adventure and experience stories, including some of the great stories of world literature and selections from notable writers. The spirit and the language of the author have been preserved in stories abridged from longer works. Selections were made with a view to the needs, tastes,…