This issue of a monthly serial publication of the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP), which is available only online in PDF Format, examines efforts underway in Colorado, Maryland, and Montgomery County, Maryland to increase student achievement in reading (related to Goal 3 of the NEGP). After an overview, it discusses Colorado's efforts to…

This edition of "NAEPFacts" highlights findings from the first attempt by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to measure elementary students' oral reading on a large scale. This article presents data on 1,136 fourth graders' oral fluency and its relationship to 3 other aspects of reading ability: comprehension,…

This issue describes the state of reading and literacy in the United States from kindergarten into adulthood. Data from a number of sources make it possible to draw a picture of literacy at all educational levels. The most striking and troubling observation is the wide differentials between racial and ethnic groups, beginning in kindergarten and…

Research shows that children who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade perform poorly in other subjects and have difficulties throughout the course of their schooling. The knowledge exists to teach all but a small percentage of students to become proficient readers. Despite this knowledge, a troubling number of children do not learn…

Since colonial times, definitions and estimates of illiteracy in the United States have been debated. The Census Bureau's major indicator is number of years of schooling completed. However, average grade-level attainment is high, whereas estimates of levels of reading ability remain low. In addition, these measures are inadequate for adults. A…

This focused newsletter features articles about reading, reading research, and teaching reading. The newsletter's lead article, "The Challenge of Improving Reading," enumerates the problems that schools and families can encounter when trying to raise student performance in reading. Another article in the newsletter, "The Longest…

Elements of economic production theory are applied to the relation between time and student learning. The analysis takes into account that individual students matter, that students are often taught in classes, and that jointness in production is the rule rather than the exception. The values teachers place on the different possible educational…

Within the context of President Bush's Reading First and Early Reading First initiatives to improve early literacy skills for preschool children and reading literacy skills for primary children, a national invitational conference on successful reading instruction was held in Washington, DC, on November 12-13, 2001. It focused on determining how…

This theme issue of the NCREL's (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's) "Learning Point" focuses on how reading engages children. The cover story article is an interview (Marianne Kroeger and Stephanie Blaser) with Mary Foertsch, from NCREL, on what types of innovative strategies teachers employ to help students become engaged readers. A…

A study developed criteria for judging state standards for the English language arts and reading and analyzed the 28 current standards documents. The criteria used for judging the standards relate to the purpose, audience, expectations, and assumptions of the standards documents; the organization of the standards; disciplinary coverage of the…

Sharing concerns and interests of New York State educators in the improvement of literacy, this annual journal raises educational issues such as appropriate, effective instruction and assessment for all of New York's children. A central thread found in many of the articles is the importance of authentic or meaningful experiences that invite…

Much debate is concerned with providing quality reading instruction to students who experience difficulty. This bulletin explores the various approaches advocated for teaching reading instruction to at-risk students, discusses the research underpinnings of these approaches, and examines the practical implications of the models. Two approaches…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of a remedial reading program upon reading attitude, reading achievement, self-concept, and intellectual achievement responsibility; (2) a reading…

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 Long-Term Reading Assessment show that overall student reading performance, as tested at age levels 9, 13, and 17, has increased for both 9- and 13-year-olds since the first assessment in 1971. Scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in most racial/ethnic and gender subgroups reflected…

The importance of all children achieving adequate reading outcomes by the end of third grade cannot be overstated. Awareness is growing nationwide of the dividends of early reading success and the dire consequences of early reading failure. Schools need a prevention-oriented assessment and intervention system to prevent reading difficulties from…