From l979 to l985, data were gathered from approximately 600 students in 24 Dutch elementary schools to determine changes occurring in the interrelationships among the reading skill components of decoding, reading comprehension, and spelling ability. Information for each student was obtained from reading performance test scores recorded at the end…

Reports on an eight-year longitudinal study of Dutch children on the relationship of the development of reading ability in primary schools with general academic success. Finds that young children with reading problems in primary school keep them throughout their educational career. (CFR)

This investigation--the first Dutch longitudinal research project on reading and spelling spanning the whole 6-year period of primary education--examined (1) whether it is possible to identify certain aspects of literacy--namely decoding skills, reading comprehension, and spelling skills--within verbal intelligence as latent variables, and…