Because increasing the rate of student retention has become synonymous with higher college enrollments, there is a resurgence of interest in developmental programs and a need to identify what a developmental reading program can deliver in a total retention effort. Two issues from retention research confront college reading programs: the…

The reading program of the Reading Public Schools encompasses skills which facilitate reading a wide variety of materials, reading as a source of enjoyment, and reading as a lifelong activity. The goals for each student address word recognition skills, comprehension, reading skills needed to function in society, reading skills for individual…

This testimony presented before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities presents an expert's conclusions about the status of reading in the United States. It points to several studies comparing reading achievement scores of students today to scores of students of several years ago; discusses data that are used to…

This study investigated the behavioral differences between high and low achieving students in two Canadian inner city schools. One school consisted predominantly of first generation Portuguese, Greek, and Chinese children, while the other served a predominantly second or third generation population of English speaking Canadians. An academic…

A study investigated whether students instructed with expository (content area) materials in conjunction with the narrative materials used in the reading program would differ in reading comprehension achievement from students who were instructed with the narrative materials only. A control group of 19 fifth grade students was taught according to a…

The formative evaluation carried out indicated that helpful information and suggestions can be procured by a process evaluation developed on an on-going basis and that constructive feedback for possible program changes can be initiated almost from the very first day. Attempts to relate summative evaluation results to program patterns proved to be…

A study was conducted to determine the relationship between the reading attitudes of seventh grade high achievers and their teachers' perceptions of those attitudes. The 178 students and 12 teachers in the study completed a reading attitudes survey, with the teachers responding as they believed a high achieving student would answer. When a t-test…

In September 1978, the Lenoir City (Tennessee) school system initiated in two elementary schools a volunteer tutoring program called the Retirement Power in Education Project (RPIE). Fourteen volunteers, including twelve retirees, were trained to use Laubach reading materials in tutoring fourth and seventh graders. In evaluating the project one…

The comparative achievement effects of three types of worksheets across reading ability was investigated in fifth grade students of varying reading ability. Based on reading achievement scores, the students were divided equally into three levels (high, middle, and low) and assigned to worksheet treatment groups. The worksheets were designed to…

The study involving 105 learning disabled students (6 to 12 years old) investigated the effects of the sex and race of students to determine if these factors were salient to initial placement in elementary learning disabilities classrooms, to the amount or type of instruction received in reading, to the learning behaviors students exhibit in…

A study examined the success of a university based reading clinic conducted in the summer of 1979. Twenty-one students, in grades two through nine, participated in the clinic. Each student was pretested using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT) and then assigned to one of four graduate students. An individual educational plan was prepared for…

In learning to read, children must first understand the objectives of that skill: that the visible symbols communicate meaning and code certain features of speech. If a child does not understand this, learning will be impaired. For instance, children who are taught to read a language other than their native language learn better if instructions…

The Reading Comprehension and Spelling subtests of the Stanford Achievement Test were administered to 170 eighth grade students to test four null hypotheses about the differences between reading ability, spelling ability, and phonic generalization spelling errors. In addition, a specially constructed Phonics Generalization Spelling Test was…

A primary-level compensatory language arts and reading program for nine inner city schools in Edmonton, Alberta, is described briefly. During 1976-77 the program served 146 students, mostly in their first year in the program. Half of these were recommended to be returned to regular classes for the following year. Children were selected for the…

This report describes the efforts of the California State Department of Education in response to a 1975-76 evaluation report which indicated that in some schools, third grade reading scores were declining--specifically in schools whose entering students averaged below the twentieth percentile on the 1973-74 Entry Level Test (ELT) after three years…