"Best ideas" are chosen because they correspond with and confirm existing beliefs, are perceived as advantageous, are relatively uncomplicated, and can be experimented with. "Best ideas" for reading instruction would be chosen both by reading professionals at the university and by teachers in the classroom on the basis of which…

The two components of this document are: (1) a brief position paper; and (2) a related but independent bibliography of references on using computers in reading/writing instruction. The paper presents six recommendations for the intelligent use of computers in the teaching of reading and composition, discussing the guidelines of the International…

Teachers, supervisors, and administrators need to have perspectives pertaining to the future in a quality reading program. A forward looking reading program emphasizes the following aspects: (1) starting instruction where each student presently is in achievement; (2) teaching diverse word recognition techniques; (3) increasing the purpose for…

Readers' theater has much to offer at all levels of student development. When incorporating readers' theater into the curriculum, definite principles of learning from educational psychology need to be emphasized, including: meaningful experiences for students; provision for individual differences among students; and appropriate sequence in…

The handbook presents guidelines and suggestions for the use with handicapped students of the cloze procedure, a method for systematically deleting words from a prose passage and evaluating the reader's success in supplying them. Chapter 1 considers the use of the cloze procedures for assessment purposes and notes the differences between cloze…

Teaching strategies that promote cooperative learning within heterogeneous, small groups of students, can be effective ways to deal with mainstreamed students in content area instruction. Cooperative learning not only develops academic competencies, but promotes positive peer relationships. To set the stage for cooperative learning, students must…

Traditionally, students of ancient languages have been taught to translate rather than read. The four most popular current approaches to language instruction--the grammar-translation method, the direct-reading or inductive approach, the audiolingual method, and the structural approach--all have inherent deficiencies that are magnified when applied…

The three articles in this newsletter focus on ideas, programs, activities, and research concerned with reading in the content areas. The individual articles contain a discussion of the general approaches that characterize many successful content area reading programs, suggestions for educators who are considering establishing such programs in…

Focuses on the selection and evaluation of courseware for use with a reading program. Gives examples of courseware to support the ideas presented, together with a sample checklist for software evaluation. (FL)

Discusses five ways to determine the amount and quality of prior knowledge children bring to a topic: (1) free recall tasks, (2) word association tasks, (3) structured questions, (4) recognition tasks, and (5) unstructured discussion. (FL)

Looks at vision problems in the areas of visual acuity, visual skills efficiency, and visual perceptual-motor development, and points out symptoms of each that children might exhibit. Suggests things teachers might do to help. (FL)

This brochure is the work of the Partnership for Reading, a collaborative effort of the National Institute for Literacy (NIFL), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the United States Department of Education. The brochure's collaborating organizations seek to make evidence-based reading research available to…

After an 3-year period of debate and consideration, Congress has reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Signed into law by President Bush in January 2001, the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act of 2001 will bring many significant changes to schools nationwide. The purpose of this brochure is to help educators in…

This book addresses the importance of the California Reading Initiative (CRI) to children who are struggling readers or who have reading disabilities. It notes the CRI focuses on disseminating information from research results and fostering teaching practices drawn from this research. This book emphasizes aspects of reading instruction for…

Based directly on the findings from the National Research Council's report "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," this guide offers a "checklist" that will help teachers and principals recognize at a glance the key characteristics of quality reading programs identified in the research. The guide does not describe any single way to…