Parents can help their children prepare for reading tests in a number of ways, not only just before the test, but also with everyday activities. There are generally two types of reading tests given to students: tests given by teachers throughout the year to see what information students have retained, and more formal, often standardized, tests…

Everyone who graduates from high school truly literate starts to develop that literacy in the earliest grades. Educators must look to schools where students are achieving the highest literacy standards and identify the practices that enable them to achieve those goals. This report tells the stories of eight such schools--Portland Elementary School…

As students progress through the different grade levels, reading across the curriculum needs to be emphasized because it provides opportunities for students to practice reading in each academic discipline. Becoming a good reader is a curriculum "must." On the kindergarten level, experience charts may be used as an early means of teaching…

Classroom behavior has been shown to be, in some cases, more important than measured ability for predicting young children's academic outcomes. This study examined the relationship between kindergarten children's work-related classroom behaviors and their kindergarten and first-grade achievement. A battery of achievement tests (receptive…

This theme issue of the NCREL's (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's) "Learning Point" focuses on how reading engages children. The cover story article is an interview (Marianne Kroeger and Stephanie Blaser) with Mary Foertsch, from NCREL, on what types of innovative strategies teachers employ to help students become engaged readers. A…

The purpose of this study was to determine if reading with a buddy and participating in a literature discussion would have an effect on reading comprehension achievement. For six weeks, seven pairs of third grade students met three times a week to read assigned material and participate in small group literature discussions to construct meaning and…

Phonemic awareness and writing are thought to be important contributors to a child's success with reading. However, studies of "exceptional" children have shown contrary results. The Knowledge Sources theory is used to explain these results with regard to explicit and implicit generation procedures that have their source in the child's reading…

Noting that early reading achievement is increasingly being named as a top priority in venues ranging from national policy arenas to local schools and school districts, this book consolidates and summarizes research on early reading achievement, making it accessible to parents, teachers, administrators, and others concerned with children's reading…

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) and curriculum-based measurement (CBM) procedures are increasingly being utilized to assess student academic skills for educational decision-making, including screening, progress monitoring, entitlement and intervention planning. At the same time, school districts are increasingly compelled to administer local and…

A national literacy goal is that every child will read by third grade. Teachers must learn appropriate strategies to teach reading so that this goal can be realized; however, for some this goal may be overwhelming. The challenge comes into the reading class when looking at the unique differences and reading levels of the students. Teaching reading…

This report compares the relative effectiveness of education systems across the developed world. Data come from the Programme for International Student Assessment, Trends in International Maths and Science Study, and the International Adult Literacy Survey. Overall, educational performance in some OECD countries is consistently better than others.…

Intended for practitioners, this is the first booklet in the Research-Based Practices in Early Reading series published by the Regional Educational Laboratory at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. The 31-page booklet summarizes research on fluency and fluency instruction and describes strategies for fluency instruction. It also explains…

This study attempted to identify school district factors that contributed to variation in aggregate levels of student achievement in reading and mathematics. A number of independent variables were used to attempt to identify district level factors that impacted aggregate levels of student achievement. These included measures of pupil-teacher…

This document presents the transcript (and written statements) of a congressional hearing on the potential politicization of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the trustworthiness of the scores that the states received during the 1998 reading assessment. It addresses whether Vice President Al Gore's "release" of…

This brochure (which can be used in the classroom as a poster) is intended to provide "a quick way into" the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) English language survey and its findings. The brochure pinpoints the reading purpose and strands that the survey covered. It contains brief sections on performance over time; gender…