This quarterly newsletter contains articles on a variety of subjects relevant to teaching English as a second language. The first article concerns cloze procedures to test reading ability; the article includes a list of procedures in non-technical terms for teachers to follow. The second article discusses the use of games in teaching English as a…

This study was aimed at providing statistical and experiential descriptive data of value to those concerned with the type of elementary school organizational structure and facility that best serves individualized learning. Test subjects consisted of 70 boys and 62 girls enrolled in or graduated from a nongraded open plan elementary school program…

This volume contains criterion referenced reading tests for 12 objectives to be mastered in a Spanish-English bilingual kindergarten. The emphasis is on encoding and decoding tasks, vocabulary development and reading comprehension. (AM)

Reading is the most basic of skills. Reading provides access to other skills and knowledge, facilitates life-long learning, and opens doors to opportunity. The National Institute for Literacy is authorized by the U.S. Congress to collect and disseminate information on the components of reading and the findings from scientific research. The…

The James Irvine Foundation launched the Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) initiative in 1999 with the goal of improving the academic achievement of children in the lowest-performing schools in five California cities. In 2004, CORAL adopted a more targeted approach toward reaching this goal by integrating a regular…

This report provides an analysis of the participation and performance of students with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the 1996, 1997, and 1998 Basic Standards of Reading and Math tests given to all 8th grade students in Minnesota annually. There is very limited availability of data on the performance of LEP students on these tests because…

This article reports a six-month study that used a matched-pairs pre-test, post-test control group design to measure the relative effectiveness of extensive reading with remedial reading students in a Philippines secondary school (n = 60). Ninety percent of students at the school come from low-income homes where reading materials tend to be…

States are engaged in serious efforts to raise student achievement, paying particular attention to narrowing the achievement gap between high- and low-performing students that has persisted in public schools for decades. The achievement gap is particularly troubling because, all too often, those at low achievement levels are minority, special…

This report summarizes some AISD activities to support reading and mathematics instruction in grades K-5 for the 2004-2005 school year.

The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program was offered in 10 high schools and 6 middle schools during the 2005-2006 school year. AVID began in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in 1999 as a way of helping more students become eligible for college. Students who were considered academically "average," based on…

Despite a body of evidence that curriculum-based measurement of reading (R-CBM) is a valid measure of general reading achievement, some school-based professionals remain unconvinced. At the core of their argument is their experience with word callers, students who purportedly can read fluently, but do not understand what they read. No studies have…

By exploring the kindergarten program found in two public elementary schools in a middle-class neighborhood in central Alabama, a study examined age at school entry as a critical factor in achievement in Alabama kindergartens. The sample consisted of 100 kindergarten students (53 boys/47 girls; 96 white/4 black)--77 were 63 months or older, and 23…

The following criticism of current practices for determining reading readiness are discussed: (1) the variables measured by readiness tests are in many cases unrelated to instruction, (2) while the variables measured are correlated with reading achievement, this association does not attribute causality, and (3) the criterion selected for measuring…

The purpose of this study was: (1) to determine to what extent teacher rankings of reading readiness compare with reading readiness test results, (2) to determine to what extent teacher rankings of reading readiness compare with pupil socioeconomic status, and (3) to determine to what extent readiness test results compare with pupil socioeconomic…

This study investigated (1) the difference, if any, between the achievement in reading readiness of younger kindergarten children (4 years 9 months to 5 years 1 month upon school entrance) and older children (5 years 5 months to 5 years 8 months at entrance), (2) whether kindergarten positively affects the reading readiness achievement of children…