A two-year project involved two elementary school faculties in planning curricular change. Both schools selected two major goals: to improve reading achievement scores and student self-concept. University personnel served in a consultant/trainer role. The school staffs expressed doubt about the feasibility or the necessity of the self-concept…

As part of the development of a functional literacy test for fourth through eigth grade children in Title I compensatory education programs, this report defines functional literacy for children and enumerates criteria for evaluating existing tests. Criteria for selection of a test include: (1) content, empirical, and construct validity; (2)…

This brief report is a compilation of academic test score data collected on children in the Responsive Educational Programs sponsored by the Far West Laboratory. In some cases sampling was done and statistical tests run. In other situations sampling was not possible and comparisons are made with national norms. Diagrams and figures are given for…

The findings of a comprehensive review of the literature concerning reading instruction at the postelementary level are presented in this report. The report first summarizes literature dealing with the perceived decline in reading achievement. Next, it reviews current instructional programs and suggestions for their improvement that have been made…

A prior national evaluation suggested that children enrolled in the Parent Education Follow Through Program performed equal to or better than non-Follow Through children on several achievement subtests. The present study involved multivariate analysis of first through third grade achievement data in three Parent Follow Through communities. The…

THE PLACEMENT BATTERY CONSISTS OF TWO TESTS FROM THE COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION BOARD (READING AND LISTENING), A GRAMMAR PROFICIENCY TEST, AND AN ORAL INTERVIEW. FRESHMEN WHO SCORE WITHIN A CERTAIN RANGE ON THESE TESTS ARE PLACED IN SECOND YEAR INTENSIVE FRENCH (TWO CLASS PERIODS A DAY). PREREQUISITE FOR THE THIRD YEAR COURSE IS NOT THE…

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of six approaches to beginning reading instruction (basal, linguistic, phonic, programed reading, i/t/a, and unifon) in schools serving educationally disadvantaged children and to determine the effectiveness of lay aides in project classrooms. Subjects were approximately 4,000 pupils in primary…

The Oakland County, Michigan, first-grade study of the effectiveness of three approaches to beginning reading was extended to the second and third grades to investigate differences in their effects on reading and related language development. Each of 11 research teams chose three classrooms which used either the Initial Teaching Alphabet approach…

The inconclusive results of research comparing beginning reading methodologies in the 1960s led many schools to change their approaches to beginning reading instruction. In the 1970s the focus has shifted from the belief in a single method as superior for all children to the attempt to match methodology to the needs of individual children. A…

The third report required by the Maryland Educational Accountability Act, this report contains a description of the implementation of the Maryland Accountability Program on the state and local school system levels, including present achievement and future plans; demographic data for the state, local school systems, and schools; assessment data on…

This report evaluates a program designed to increase the reading ability of disadvantaged elementary school students in New York City. Three hundred twenty-five students, grades three through six, from three Harlem elementary schools were enrolled in the program on the basis of being at least a year below their expected reading levels. The…

This report provides illustrations of practical applications of behavior modification to a variety of reading skills and is intended to be directly implemented in any classroom where reading is taught. The initial chapter is a brief orientation to behavior modification. It stresses that the trainer must answer the question of what behavior is to…

This investigation attempted to determine the feasibility of using selected wordless picture books and non-narrated films to facilitate reading achievement. The participating students transcribed oral language and written language about various aspects of the wordless picture books, and non-narrated films were used as the bases for reading…

This report investigates the question of whether a combination of attitude and achievement results of pupils can be used in an objective way to identify the more effective reading and math compensatory programs in a state. This question is held to have particular relevance in Connecticut since two-thirds of the state's compensatory programming is…

The problems stated for this study were: (1) to determine the additional cost per month of reading gain in the Dougherty County reading program--funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act--for elementary students (grades 1-6); (2) to compare the previous cost per month of gain for students enrolled in the Title I program…