Surveyed more than 500 educators to determine whether basal reading programs control or limit teacher instructional decision making. Found no limiting action: rather than "de-skilling" teachers, subjects reported, the materials have an empowering effect by providing additional instructional ideas to draw from, adapt, or extend. (ET)

Investigates effects of reading group placement upon first and second grade students' growth in reading. Focuses on the balance between pace and success rate and on the effects of group characteristics on individual growth. Finds that group placement begins to adversely affect reading development only after children have acquired basic reading…

Two interventions, both using repeated readings combined with a simple error correction technique and precision teaching, were used with two at-risk elementary students to improve their oral reading skills. Both interventions (language experience approach stories and passages from a basal reading program) worked equally well. (JDD)

The article describes a continuum of instructional options for teaching reading to mildly and moderately handicapped students. Level 1 utilizes the basal text; Level 2 adds special individualized strategies to build fluency, comprehension, or accuracy to the mainstream basal program; and Level 3 selects other reading materials more appropriate to…

Observes primary grade teachers and students to determine if reduced class size alters the typical organization and procedures of reading programs. Discusses implications for schools and classrooms in terms of helping school personnel clarify their beliefs about reading and instruction and assisting them to act on their beliefs. (MG)

Six basal reader programs were examined in an effort to address questions raised by an earlier study of kindergarten reading instruction. It was determined that basal reading material did not allow teachers to offer flexible individual instruction to children and that first grade preprimers had an erratic prerequsite reliance on the phonics taught…

Examined whether the teacher-guided and student-independent practice and evaluation tasks recommended in basal teachers' manuals promote the application of two reading comprehension skills (main idea and cause-effect). Findings suggest that recommended basal tasks are not likely to promote the development of these skills. (MM)

Traces the experiences of two Spanish-speaking children of Puerto Rican origin learning to read and write English as they learned to speak it in mainstream first-grade classrooms in an urban school where instruction followed a basal series. Discusses their accomplishments in language and literacy in terms of issues in second language acquisition…

Examines the extent to which curriculum-based measurement (CBM) procedures can be implemented in a nonbasal reading curricula. Participants included 160 students from 31 second- through fifth-grade classrooms in two school districts. Discusses results in relation to CBM as an applied measurement methodology for use in both practical and research…

The first-grade components of three textbook programs--mainstream basal, combined phonics and literature, and phonics emphasis--were compared on cognitive load (e.g., number of different words) and linguistic content (e.g., number of monosyllabic, simple vowel words). Three levels of three components of a program--literature anthologies, decodable…

As more and more reading programs make the move from the basal reading series to authentic text, teachers are asking the same question: How do I choose appropriate books for my class? Teachers of students who are deaf or hard of hearing are no exception. In this article, the author describes her use of Dr. Seuss books in early reading instruction.

Using multiple analytic methods, we examined the fit between 2 concurrent policy mandates in Florida--the adoption of core reading programs in high-poverty schools, and the retention of third graders who scored at the lowest levels on the state assessment. We first examined 2 contemporary third-grade basal reading programs for the guidance offered…

Through the ethnographic methodological tools of formal and informal interviews, observations, participation in coplanning sessions, and analysis of literacy curricula, the researchers of this study found that effective teachers are finding ways to work successfully within the current political climate influenced by No Child Left Behind and the…

A study examined the hypothesis that illustrations found in first-grade basal texts do not always relate to context. Six texts were analyzed to determine the percentage of illustration miscues appearing in each story. The basal readers used were: "Story Clouds," Scott Foresman Reading: An American Tradition (1987); "Red Rock,"…

A study examined the usefulness of the instructional recommendations in basal reader program teachers' manuals for discussing race in multicultural stories. Three recently published basal reader series widely used in the Capital District of New York State were used in this analysis: Harcourt Brace (1995), Houghton Mifflin (1993), and MacMillan…