Discusses debates in society on needs in education, particularly reading achievement of students and the needs of teachers. Considers the issues of whole language versus phonics instruction and sequencing student learning in reading instruction. Concludes that these and other issues, such as technology use in reading instruction, need to be…

Examines the cognitively high-level text processing, or macro-processing, of expository passages. Investigates reading comprehension during the sixth and ninth school years. Finds that girls outperformed boys regardless of the comprehension measure and also finds that performance on both measures, but particularly on hierarchy-rating, correlated…

Developed a model and an operational measure of collective teacher efficacy and tested the measure in a pilot study involving 70 teachers. Also used the instrument to study collective teacher efficacy and academic achievement in 47 urban elementary schools. Results show collective teacher efficacy to be positively associated with student-level…

A table was produced to facilitate comparisons among standard scores on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Revised, in order to assist diagnosticians in determining intraindividual strengths and weaknesses, and thus contribute to instructional planning. (DB)

Describes a process for assessing children's reading that involves observations, interpretations, forming hypotheses, making curricular decisions, and going through the process again. Describes how this process, called "Hypothesis Test," has proved useful to a number of teachers with whom the author has worked. (SR)

Presents a position statement of the International Reading Association arguing that all schools (elementary, middle, and high schools) should include a qualified reading specialist as a core member of the educational team. Discusses why reading specialists are needed; what they do; their roles in instruction, assessment, and leadership; and the…

Presents an essay that is the result of group-centered activities by graduate students and a faculty mentor in a leadership training program for prospective educational administrators in California. Notes that the class produced some forward-moving and future-thinking core recommendations for reading improvement and achievement in multicultural…

Examines importance of a school climate characterized by high levels of academic emphasis. Drawing on effective-schools research and social-cognitive theory, uses hierarchical linear modeling to show that academic emphasis accounts for differences among urban elementary schools in student math and reading achievement. (Contains 48 references.)…

Evaluates the relationship between within-district transfers and achievement among elementary schools in metropolitan system. Negative correlations were indicated with significant differences in reading, mathematics, language and total achievement battery scores favoring schools with little or no student mobility. Discusses implications and…

Examines relationships between temperament, social skills, and academic competence with reading and math in first grade students. Parents and teachers rated students (N=104) with social skills battery at the beginning of the year and psychoeducational battery at the end of the year. Teacher ratings of persistence and approach/withdrawal and parent…

Analyzed the 1994 Grade 4 Maryland National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) regarding the effects on reading achievement and engagement of: students' amount of engaged reading, parental education, gender, balanced reading instruction, and reading opportunities. Amount of engaged reading predicted reading achievement after controlling for…

Investigates differential effects of small classes on academic achievement among disadvantaged elementary students using data from Tennessee's Student Achievement Ratio Project. While positive effects of small classes are evident on both reading and mathematics achievement, there is no evidence of differential effects for low socioeconomic status…

Examined the effect of the Alliance of Quality Schools project, a 5-year intervention for at-risk Florida students, on student reading performance after the 5th year. Effects on academic achievement for elementary and middle school students varied by grade level and year. The highest increase in student performance occurred in 4th grade for…

This article discusses the characteristics of the gifted reader including above-average ability in key skills, task commitment, and creativity. Underachieving gifted readers, identification procedures for gifted readers, and classroom programming for gifted readers are addressed, and the advantages and disadvantages of enrichment and acceleration…

Inner-city families with babies received books under Project Bookstart. Follow-up of 41 children in their first year of school showed that, compared with 41 who did not participate in the project, participants were significantly farther ahead in six measures of literacy and numeracy. (SK)