This study examined the effects of a peer tutoring program that used a Direct Instruction (DI) reading curriculum. Students identified as gifted and talented delivered instruction, using the DI reading program, to their struggling reading peers. The students used a cross-skill peer tutoring instructional format. The results indicated that all of…

This study investigated the prevalence and stability of latent classes at risk for reading disabilities (RD) in elementary-aged children whose first language is Spanish. To this end, children (N = 489) in Grades 1, 2, and 3 at Wave 1 were administered a battery of reading, vocabulary, and cognitive measures (short-term memory [STM], working memory…

We statistically examined the oral reading fluency of 295 adults with low literacy by analyzing total words read per minute and word error rates. We identified four fluency-ability groupings based on standardized assessments of reading-related skills (phonemic awareness, word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension, and general ability). Our…

In 2009, the United States Department of Education conducted a competition for a second round of Striving Readers grants. Its dual purpose was to: (1) Raise middle and high school students' literacy levels in Title I-eligible schools with significant numbers of students reading below grade level; and (2) Build a strong, scientific research base…

Reading deficits among students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) are well documented. One approach to addressing these deficits has been providing students with intensive and explicit reading instruction. In this study, 31 students with E/BD and reading deficits in self-contained settings were provided with 8 weeks of…

In this study, a school district adopted Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS), a scientifically based, class-wide peer-tutoring program for reading. Sixteen new K-PALS teachers were assigned randomly to receive ongoing support from a university expert or from experienced K-PALS teachers within the district. K-PALS teachers who…

Turning around chronically low-performing schools requires a multifaceted school-wide, systematic effort that includes strong leadership and data-based decision making. School-wide efforts to turn-around low-performing schools should address the academic, social, and behavioral needs of all students. One evidence-based, systematic school-wide…

States and districts have been encouraged to consider responsiveness to scientifically based instruction and intervention (RTI) as one of many markers of eligibility for special education under the category of learning disabilities. In this article, the authors describe variations in determining responsiveness, and cultural and linguistic…

Recent evidence suggests that invented spelling is valuable in predicting reading development, revealing which prereading skills children possess and still need to learn, and promoting development of early literacy skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of letter-sound knowledge, phoneme awareness, and word reading…

The educational community is discussing response-to-intervention (RTI) as an alternative assessment method. This study investigates assessment elements (beginning text level, ending text level, and number of weeks' participation) of the Reading Recovery (RR) program as part of a future RTI model. By means of a discriminant function analysis, third…

This study examined the effects of a Direct Instruction (DI) reading program combined with Precision Teaching during a public school's summer program. Students received instruction from "Reading Mastery" programs for a six-week period. Students also practiced specific reading skills including letter-sound identification, sounding out…

Students with learning disabilities face real reading challenges. Research into the reading performance of culturally diverse students indicates improved reading performance for culturally diverse students when text matches students' cultural perspective. This quasiexperimental research investigates whether Caucasian and African American students…

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of in-class componential analogy training on 4th, 8th, and 10th graders' performance of verbal analogies. (MT)

Analysis of comparisons of subtest scores of 76 students (grades two - six) on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests revealed that, although correlations for the total group were highly significant in both comparisons, a grade level analysis demonstrated wide variability in results. (CL)

Occasionally, differences in test scores seem to indicate that a student performs much better in one reading area than in another when, in reality, the differences may not be statistically significant. The author presents a table in which statistically significant differences between Woodcock test standard scores are identified. (Author)