This booklet shows teachers and administrators how their school districts can use the Reading Authority List of the Reading Information System I (I-RIS), an analytic process for making decisions about language arts curriculum materials. Following an outline of I-RIS, pages of the Reading Authority List are accompanied by guidelines for using the…

The final report documents goals and achievements of Project CUE, a 3 year project to assist teachers of language impaired children to adapt regular reading readiness curricula to the students' needs. Objectives are listed, including conducting a needs assessment, selecting a basal reading series, and disseminating information on the project, and…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two instructional strategies for six phonic word-attack skills objectives. The study was undertaken in order to identify training procedures for helping teachers to become more effective at reading instruction. Written criterion-referenced phonic word-attack skills pretests were…

Investigates the degree to which instruction in teachers' manuals relates to the stories in basal readers. Finds that the instruction in teachers' manuals relates to children's stories less than 33% of the time. (SKC)

An author recommends that young children read good fiction rather than stories in basal readers. Recounts her dismay when one of her books was adapted for a basal reader and the language was changed and simplified. (NKA)

Describes reading-textbook evaluation and selection processes and argues that improved basal readers are likely to be developed if textbook adoption procedures improve. States that basal reader evaluation criteria and procedures should be developed and applied by those professionals most directly responsible for the teaching of reading. (Author/NH)

Compares two groups of primary-grade classrooms differing in their instructional approach to beginning reading to assess the relationship between learning activities, cognitive ability, and reading skill. (HOD)

This study attempts to determine if quantitative and qualitative bias regarding work modes, specifically professional and paraprofesional vs. technical-vocational, exists in selected elementary school text materials. (Author/JH)

Literature can: (1) humanize children; (2) educate the heart as well as the mind; (3) introduce children to new ideas; (4) develop their imagination; and (5) give them a sense of the just, the beautiful, and the true. Arguments in favor of basing school reading programs on good children's literature are given. (PP)

Presents a checklist that principals can use during classroom observation that provides objective information that can be discussed with teachers later. (MKM)

Presents sample passages from children's readers to show deficiencies in the coherence of such texts, particularly in the way they relate to accompanying illustrations. (GT)

This study identified a repertoire of early-life experiences to which young children with visual impairments need to be exposed to develop a foundation for literacy. By analyzing 254 stories from three published basal literacy series, 22 global areas of experience were determined to be essential. Guidelines for providing these experiences and…

Presents the author's perspective on why children deserve the opportunity to learn to read using high quality literature as opposed to basal readers. Examines (1) examples of good books; (2) ways to find the books; (3) benefits of reading aloud; (4) and advantages of literature-based programs. (MG)

Examines the first-grade materials in five new basal programs submitted for the 1993 Texas state adoption, comparing them with program materials currently in use in the state. Finds substantial changes in the more recent series. Interprets findings in terms of historical trends as well as recent developments in the literature-based and…