The evaluation process and results asociated with 1989-1990 reading (kindergarten through grade 12) and language arts (kindergarten through grade 5) programs of the Des Moines (Iowa) Independent Community School District are presented. The evaluation is divided into four parts: context; input; process; and product. Language arts instruction…

This guide was developed to provide adult education teachers in Arkansas with a listing of competencies correlated with appropriate materials at each level. The guide helps teachers select materials to individualize student instructional plans. It provides a variety of alternatives such as books, workbooks, software, video, and suggested reading…

West Virginia Northern Community College provided workplace literacy education and training for employees of Weirton Steel Corporation and Union Carbide Corporation. For Weirton Steel the training included 4,040 hours of instruction in fundamental literacy skills (reading, writing, speaking, and math), oral and written communications (including…

A project was developed to teach literacy to adult students over 40 years old, using job-related materials in a computer-assisted approach with volunteer tutors. The project used the Penn State Adult Literacy Courseware, consisting of six computer-based modules and an Apple IIGS microcomputer. Volunteer teachers already working with adult students…

A study examined the effects of a "pen pal" letter writing exchange on undergraduate college students and second grade children. Subjects, 23 second graders, completed a letter writing attitude survey, and then (after receiving an explanation of what a pen pal is) exchanged letters with the undergraduates over a l5-week period. Results…

Focusing on the effects of three interventions on students' reading and writing of persuasive discourse, a study investigated (1) whether the writing of persuasive discourse can be improved by instruction, and (2) the effect of reading on writing and of writing on reading within the persuasive mode. Subjects, 100 Canadian sixth graders stratified…

Noting that conceptions of the cognitive representations and processes involved in discourse comprehension and production recently have undergone an important shift in orientation, this paper points out the importance of the shift to the conception of the nature of texts, of text understanding, and of cognitive processes in knowledge creation and…

Intended to complement two other summaries about writing across the curriculum at Gallaudet College for deaf students, this report describes the first academic year of the college's writing across the curriculum program (WAC), detailing various instructors' projects and their personal opinions about the program, as well as how the students felt…

Noting that teachers sometimes fail to draw on students' prior knowledge, this guide focuses on helping teachers both to think about the cognitive processes involved in learning and to design activities that provide students with a solid introduction to various learning tasks. The first section briefly discusses current theory and research in…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) was developed by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in response to Texas House Bill 72 (1984), which mandated a new basic skills assessment program for mathematics, reading, and writing at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. This document is one in a series of Instructional Strategies Guides…

Informed opinion suggests that problems of underachievement in school relate to the lack of particular kinds of experience, discontinuity between school and home, and linguistic and cultural diversity. If a literacy program were based on up-to-date knowledge of the processes involved in reading and writing, and what is known of early literacy…

To provide students with a rhetorical stance and motivation, a college freshman composition class adopted the ideas of the "radical" literacy educator, Paulo Freire, who believes that literacy should allow students and teachers to become truly conscious of the world. Class projects were initiated in which the students had as much…

Focusing on the development of literacy, this book discusses the teaching of reading and writing through stories, songs, and poetry. It is argued that, to develop literacy, teachers must know what to teach, how to Teach efficiently, and how to assign practices through which children learn. The book is organized into three general parts. The first…

In the last 10 to 15 years, a number of higher education institutions have initiated model cooperative programs with high schools to strengthen secondary composition instruction. The Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP) in California involves a 5-week summer seminar in which both secondary and postsecondary instructors write the kinds of compositions…

The articles in this volume were written by teachers with an average of 15 years experience teaching writing from the primary grades through college. Each article is the fruition of one to three years work with students and teachers after a summer institute. The authors of the articles discuss such topics as (1) personal experiences as a teacher…