The impact of a parent-school partnership program on elementary school children's reading achievement and attitudes is being evaluated over five years. The program involves the parents in children's reading activities and allows them to influence their children's attitudes toward school achievement. Participating parents agree to support seven…

This paper analyzes data on trends of black student achievement from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Focus is placed on reading and math. Eleven graphs are provided and analyzed to discern trends for population estimates of average reading and math achievement scores for black and white school children at ages 9, 13, and…

Many big cities have instituted systematic retention to replace social promotion policies. This study examined the extent to which retaining low achieving students in their current grade for an additional year has a built-in effect on the average reading scores for the grade in which they were retained and the grade they would have been promoted…

Fifth in a series of studies examining reading discrepancies in Cleveland, Ohio public schools, this report analyzed the spring 1986-1987 reading data so that accurate and usable information and recommendations would be available to decision-makers for related planning, curriculum design, and implementation functions of the district. Students in…

The adoption by Seattle (Washington) Public Schools of the Prescriptive Reading Inventory Reading System (PRI-RS) was a decision driven by the district's commitment to effective schooling. The PRI-RS is a criterion referenced approach to the instruction and assessment of reading skills, and it consists of five levels, A through E, coordinated with…

This report presents the findings of a study that examined the impact of compensatory education services on children's academic achievement in grades 1 to 6. Examination of data from the 1976-79 Sustaining Effects Study of Title I revealed the following major conclusions: (1) small positive gains in reading achievement are related to participation…

The dissertation reports on a study which examined the mainstreaming practices and decisionmaking processes used in Pittsburgh Public Schools' elementary schools and investigated whether learning disabled (LD) students assigned to mainstream academic classes differed academically and behaviorally from non-mainstreamed LD students. The study was…

This paper reports preliminary findings of a 3-year study examining the ability of qualitative and quantitative measures of the home environment variables (HEV's) to contribute to the prediction of third- through fifth-grade students' achievement and growth scores in reading and mathematics. Data were obtained for 198 parent/student pairs from…

Sixty-six grade six students were subjects in a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a direct instruction paradigm for teaching children the reading comprehension skill of main idea identification. Both experimental groups (strategy and basal) and the control group received eight lessons of 30 minutes each. All instruction occurred over a…

A study compared the academic achievement, classroom behavior, and emotional stability of 21 elementary school students from single-parent families to that of 21 students from intact, nuclear families. Behavior checklists were used to ascertain classroom behavior, and academic achievement was assessed through analysis of test scores on the…

In 1977 the Dallas Independent School District devised a 5-year state-mandated improvement plan for increasing student test scores in priority goal areas. This paper describes the planning process as it evolved, the problems faced by large districts, and the 5-year student achievement results. The original plan contained eight priority goal areas,…

This report presents evaluation findings for the 1982 summer cycle of "Reading and Math Through the Community as Classroom," a Title I funded program operated by the Division of Special Education, of the New York City Public Schools. The program was designed to provide supplementary remediation to 1,197 mildly to moderately handicapped…

The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports suggest that the issue of declining quality in American education may be more complex than media accounts have portrayed it. If one looks at isolated communication skills, it appears that many students understand the fundamentals of reading and writing. The results also…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 26 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the comprehension monitoring abilities of tenth graders; (2) elementary school pupils' abilities to perform closure at various case grammar positions at their…

The purpose of the present longitudinal study was to determine how well a broad, comprehensive battery of tests administered in kindergarten predicts reading achievement in elementary school grades 1 through 6. The test variables were reduced to six predictive factors by factor analysis, and these, together with the variables, Child's Sex and…