The goal of Head Start is to develop the cognitive and social-emotional skills of children from low-income families to prepare them to succeed in kindergarten and beyond. Houston Independent School District (HISD) collaborates with four federally funded Head Start agencies: AVANCE, Gulf Coast Community Services Association (GCCSA), Harris County…

Teaching reading to low-level English as a Second Language (ESL) students can be a challenge, according to the author. At times, teachers are teaching adult students to read in English when some in class are not literate in their first language. In such a situation, they are not mapping a sound-symbol correspondence onto a known oral language, as…

"Reading maturity" is a construct that looks broadly at reading development encompassing not only basic reading skills but reading habits, attitudes, and dispositions. It has a rich history and this article calls for a need to make reading maturity a necessary part of the literacy curriculum. It offers a working description and reviews…

Students, as one specific group of school stakeholders, have unique perceptions of school climate, which predict academic performance. In the Program for International Student Assessment 2009 Shanghai survey, 5,115 students from 152 schools participated. The results from this study showed that compared with their peers in the countries of the…

Read-aloud is a technique predominantly utilized at the elementary level. This study was designed to research the effectiveness of this technique at the middle school level, specifically students who were not receiving special education or additional reading intervention services. For the current investigation, students in two middle schools…

The current investigation will synthesize numerous studies conducted across the nation at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Meta-analytic techniques will assist parents and educators in making evidence-based decisions while adding to the research supporting educational reform and promoting best practices in both educational models.…

This article reports on pre to post changes found in learners who participated in the Relative Effectiveness of Adult Literacy (REAL) reading interventions study (n = 81). Changes reported cover the types of texts learners read, the frequency of self-reported reading, perceptions of how well they read the texts, and their perceptions of how…

Districts throughout the nation are engaged in comprehensive transformation to "turn around" low performing schools. Standardized test scores are used to gauge student achievement; however, academic gains may lag behind leading indicators such as improved school climate and effective leadership. This study examines 16 underperforming…

Alternate assessments have been used for the last 10 years to evaluate schools' efforts to teach children with significant cognitive disabilities. However, few studies have examined the reading skills of children who participate in these assessments. The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of the reading skills of this population by…

Handwriting is a complex skill that, despite increasing use of computers, still plays a vital role in education. It is assumed that children will master letter formation at a relatively early stage in their school life, with handwriting fluency developing steadily until automaticity is attained. The capacity theory of writing suggests that as…

This article provides an extensive review of the literature on the use of repeated reading to improve the reading fluency and comprehension skills of elementary-age students with learning disabilities. A systematic review of the published literature from 2001 to 2011 was conducted and nineteen (N = 19) research-based repeated reading studies were…

This article investigates gender inequity in the National Merit Scholarship Competition. Results suggest the competition favors males due to their higher mean score on the mathematics section and greater variability on all sections of the PSAT, which shares differential validity concerns with the SAT in terms of gender. These instruments are…

The academic achievement gap between African American and Caucasian students continues to be a major concern for policymakers and educators. This gap started to shrink in the 1970s and 1980s with integration, but the 1990s showed the achievement gap was on the rise again. The characteristics of the neighborhoods where children live and attend…

The purpose of this qualitative heuristic case study (supported by quantitative data) was to investigate the change in reading comprehension after implementation of a fluency intervention. The study participants were five students on tier 2 of the Response to Intervention pyramid. The study was guided by three research questions. RQ1: Why does…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of a middle school flexible interdisciplinary block schedule would increase eighth-grade students' reading scores, as measured by the Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS). A 90-minute middle school flexible interdisciplinary block schedule served as the independent variable and…